Two-thirds of Canadian orgs cite employee burnout as barriers to business goals

Canadian employers are increasingly worried about poor morale and employee burnout, according to a survey conducted by Right Management. The firm surveyed more than 2,000 Senior Executives throughout Canada on human resource issues. Right Management is the talent and career management expert within Manpower, the global leader in employment services.

Over two thirds of respondents (65 per cent) cited employee morale and burnout as a barrier to achieving their business goals in 2010. Fifty percent of respondents also pointed to the risk of losing top talent as a potential challenge, and 36 per cent were concerned with not having the skills required to compete.

What barriers or challenges do you see in achieving your 2010 business goals?

  • 65 per cent cite employee morale and burnout  
  • 50 per cent say the risk of losing top talent  
  • 36 per cent worry about not having the skills required  
  • 29 per cent focus on redeploying key talent  
  • 27 per cent are concerned about their ability to attract new talent  
  • 13 per cent worry about the loss of intellectual capital due to recent downsizing  
 
“Frustration and burnout in the Canadian workplace are directly related to the massive downsizings of that past 18 months,” says Right Management vice president, Dr. Henryk Krajewski. “What is most interesting is that productivity has actually increased over this time period. But, clearly such effort – doing more with less – has a shelf life, and these data indicate we are fast approaching that limit.” 

Krajewski further observes that finding managers well-equipped with the leadership capabilities and behaviours needed to handle the challenges of today’s fast-changing business environment is an increasing priority. “Therefore, new, more sophisticated attraction and engagement strategies are required”, Krajewski says. “Companies simply need to be doing more to attract the ever-shrinking pool of talent that has the capability to drive their business forward.”

Krajewski notes the prolonged period of slow economic growth presents a bigger challenge to companies today. “In the short term, organizations cannot just sit by and wait for improving economic conditions to make their problems go away before they make investments in hiring.” An organization with a stretched and stressed workforce lacking resilience and key skills is not a winning business strategy.

Right Management is the talent and career management expert within Manpower, the global leader in employment services. Right Management helps clients win in the changing world of work by designing and executing workforce solutions that align talent strategy with business strategy.