2009 was a real wake up call for just about everyone, and it was one for a lot of HR and rewards professionals too.  The merit pay budget cuts (or eliminations and/or actual pay reductions), mass layoffs, rising fear and plummeting morale rocked the employee-employer relationship to its core.

But wake up calls can be a good thing too.  Right out of college, between undergraduate and graduate school, I was a crisis counselor at a mental health center emergency services unit. I learned a lot about life there, and one of the many lessons I took away was that sometimes you have to hit rock-bottom before, before you can start climbing back up (2009 was rock bottom, let's hope).

If you're an HR or rewards pro responsible for dealing with issues like employee relations, organizational change efforts, and "motivating the troops," than maybe 2009 should have been your wake up call.  After the the past 18 months of budget cutting, layoffs and other forms of retrenchment, the foundation of the employee-employer relationship is looking a bit shaky and in need of reinforcement and/or rebuilding.

Shoring up employee engagement (or re-engagement) or should become a clarion call for us in the "people" business.  So will addressing the issue of employee retention, as numerous studies have shown that a large slice of the labor force is ready to bolt for greener pastures when the opportunity presents itself.  It's quite likely that engagement will become the "new" retention, as happy and engaged employers tend not to bolt for the proverbial greener pastures, because they already feel pretty good about the pasture they're already in.

Many compensation professionals will say that restoring the 2009 take-ways, and addressing competitive pay gaps are key for employee retention. And while I can't disagree with this conceptually, since dollars do matter, I believe the issues needing attention go far deeper than just dollars alone. 

It's about addressing the relationships we have with our people and restoring (or building from the ground up) a sense of belonging, a sense of appreciation and recognition; and a true valuing of the workforce that has come under a silent (but morale-crushing) attack in recent years, even if its been totally unintentional.

I saw a good post last month about workplace trends and issues for 2010 by the Herman Group, and thought it's a good (and brief) read on some of the issues being discussed here.

Over the next couple of months, I'll try and address some of these issues in more detail. 

Until then, I hope your 2010 is off to a great start!

Earlier this week I posted an review of recent research on how employers are dealing or planning to deal with the upcoming recovery in relation to maintaining employee engagement, while limiting employee turnover at the Compensation Cafe.

While some of the findings were what you might expect, others were quite a surprise, such as most employer's plans for addressing pay issues and other elements of employee satisfaction, and an employee's propensity to potentially turnover.

See the post here.