Employee morale and burnout are the biggest concerns among Canadian employers, far outstripping the concerns over attracting new talent, according to a survey by Right Management.
Morale and burnout topped the list of concerns with 54% of respondents saying they were worried. The risk of losing top talent was a close second, at 51%. Other barriers to achieving their business goals for 2011 included the following:
- not having the skills required (31%);
- lack of high potential leaders in the organization (31%);
- redeploying key talent (25%);
- ability to attract new talent (25%); and
- loss of intellectual capital due to recent downsizing (10%)
“Beginning more than two years ago, nearly all Canadian companies trimmed their workforce and in the process boosted productivity, but at a cost,” said Kevin Noronha, vice-president at Right Management, pointing out that burnout and morale topped the list in last year’s survey.
“In both surveys the next-ranking issues had to do with losing talent, being deficient in skills and lacking leaders in the pipeline…and these worries actually flow from the first. With miserable morale a company can’t hold onto its best people, much less attract new talent,” he added.
The survey consisted of more than 3,000 senior executives across Canada.