As the economy slows and layoffs mount, managers and workers must do more but do it with fewer people around. This crunch has already been felt at many local companies, and there is no doubt that managers are wrestling daily with workers' emotions that are linked to a changing and turbulent economy.

        “The good news is that because of the experience of the 1980s, managers and companies are trying to do it in a better way,” said Lee Hoffheimer, senior vice president/client services at Lee Hecht Harrison, a global career management firm with offices in Kenwood.

        Layoffs this time around occur in a climate of concern for the people who are newly unemployed, as well as those who remain at workplaces that are now smaller.

        “Managers recognize that at the end of the day, they've got to still retain and recruit and have a good workplace,” she said. “Those are the challenges.

        “People making the tough decisions care about their employees and care about them in ways that maybe they didn't have to before but they sure have taken it on as a responsibility today.”

        The firm, which works with companies in the process of downsizing, restructuring or merging, finds an anxiety in most workplaces that is also related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

        “People are clearly anxious and nervous about their jobs,” Ms. Hoffheimer said

A different approach

        That concern is well-founded. A recent report from Towers Perrin, which has a Cincinnati office and is one of the world's largest management and human resource consulting firms, finds that four of six companies are either implementing a reduction-in-force or thinking about it.

        But Brian G. Keating, vice president of human resources for Cincinnati Bell, said layoffs this time around are slightly different from in the past. The company has furloughed about 240 people this year, leaving a workforce of about 3,300.

        “We can't forget about the need to retain the folks who will be staying,” he said. “We are a little more mindful of that these days.”

        Another difference is that in past layoffs, companies figured out how many people needed to go then offered early retirement incentives. These days strategic planning occurs.

        “I would definitely agree there are key people and critical talent throughout any organization and title has very little to do with it,” said Mr. Keating. “Our internal processes make every attempt to identify that critical talent — regardless of title and salary level.”

        Peter Cappelli, the George W. Taylor Professor of Management and director of the Center for Human Resources at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, finds another difference between this downturn and others.

        No promises were articulated prior to past recessions about the value of corporate loyalty and commitment to workers. That is not the case today.

        Only a few short months ago, Mr. Cappelli said, companies were wooing workers, particularly Generation X employees — those younger than 35 — with promises of a comfortable work environment, rewarding team-building and enhanced career development.

        “Companies were spinning out the story that they love you and want you to be at the company forever, making an argument for a life-time career,” Mr. Cappelli said.

        “Now they come along shortly after that and say whoops, I'm sorry, we can't do this afterall. It was a remarkable and swift change.”

Importance of training

        For companies that made those promises, corporate credibility will suffer dramatically in the months to come. Another development is that companies may not see this slowdown as a way to curtail unnecessary activities.

        In the past, he said, firms embraced downsizing as a way to reduce payroll and costs, which in turn led to a reduction in irrelevant duties.

        “They would ask people to figure out what should be cut from the work and get rid of tasks that way,” Mr. Cappelli said. “Some companies did it on purpose — though I'm not sure that is going on here.”

        Training becomes extremely important but often training is one of the first cuts. Money is scarce, and it is difficult to justify spending for training unless it helps reduce production costs.

        Those cuts couldn't be coming at a worse time.

        “Institutional memory about past downsizing is lost and some companies are having to invent it from scratch,” Mr. Cappelli said.

        “It may be an appropriate time for training interventions but that's not happening and that's probably a bad thing.”

        Managing employees during a downturn may be a significant challenge for the supervisors left behind but the reduction-in-force represents a bigger psychological battle for the workers still on the job.

Decline in morale likely

        As the recession heads into a new year, many experts predict that managers will see a great decline in employee motivation, management credibility and worker morale.

        “It's the Reagan 80s back again, only this time it's hitting e-commerce as well as the U-Haul service,” said Al Gini, professor at Loyola University in Chicago and author of My Job, My Self: Work and the Creation of the Modern Individual (Routledge; $27).

        “Since Sept, 11, at least 650,000 jobs have been lost. It has hit high-tech, low-tech and mid-tech. Companies have cut the work force but the work doesn't go away. Everybody is forced to absorb a job-and-a-quarter or maybe a job-and-a-third.”

        Many workplaces have become buildings, plants and factories of increased fatigue, caffeine-fueled production and bummer morale.

        “But you don't see an increase in complaints because everybody sees the handwriting on the wall,” Mr. Gini says.

        “It's the old refrain: Who's the best boss in the world? You are! You are! Nobody complains. Everybody hunkers down and hopes it will all pass.”

Managers need to look forward

        So what's a manager to do?

        Mark J. Campbell, president of M.J. Campbell Associates, a Newton, Mass., consultancy that specializes in executive and team coaching, said employees need to be reminded that times will get better. He teaches at the Harvard University School of Public Health.

        “For many workers, it is hard to do anything but the bare minimum. People have to see a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “But that is something that managers often can't offer.

        “If they can, it will help people focus, but generally, people just can't operate as if business is normal and usual.”

        Supervisors will be under-the-gun to motivate and inspire. They may need training to do that more effectively but training is usually one of the first initiatives to go.

        “Training was certainly on the chopping block for this year after September,” said Jessica Selasky, president of the Cincinnati chapter of the American Society for Training and Development and president of Confidence Builders International Inc., a Mason-based training and development firm.

        “We'd call and hear that companies were cutting their training budgets for the rest of the year.”

        That could work to the advantage of consultants, however. If in-house training positions are eliminated, then outside consultants may need to be hired.

        “Smart companies know that if they've had layoffs, people who are left may feel like they could be the next to go,” Ms. Selasky said. “At some point companies are going to have to do some training. They still have teams and those teams are going to need some fine-tuning.”

        Managing tips for 2002

Year in Business: Cincinnati scene all shook up
Top 10 national business stories
Managers likely to become motivators
Morning Memo
Promotions & new on the job
The Success Coach
EU: Euro will give bloc greater voice