People the world over are increasingly forced to make uncomfortable adaptations in light of the current economic crisis. CEOs are forced to trade in their Bentleys for BMWs, office workers are forced to go from white collar jobs to shoe selling jobs, and those of us lucky to stay are keeping it all bottled inside.
As this articles point out, these are all recipes for disaster. When things get tough, people tend to show up more than usual. Not wanting to be perceived as the weak link, people take fewer days off, work longer hours and put up the strong silent type image – all in the hopes of currying favor with their office overlords.
This, not surprisingly, is not good. From purely a health standpoint, this is simply making a bad situation far worse. From a managerial standpoint, as the article points out, this is a catalyst for decreased productivity. Even though there are more people and more hours, there is more stress, more room for human error, and other pitfalls.
Companies must encourage their employees to speak with their managers about their fears and concerns. Our livelihoods depend on our jobs, and, obviously, our worry about not having one has palpable effects on our mental health and productivity. It's important that employees feel that there is someone with whom they can talk in confidence about their situations. Not too difficult in terms of manpower and the right thing to do in terms of running a company during difficult times.