More than three-quarters of about [...]]]> It’s easy to blame a lack of savings solely on the recession – unexpected job losses and shrunken portfolios – but I found the same issue four years ago when I surveyed midlife women for my book Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth about Work, Relationships and the Rest of Life .

More than three-quarters of about 500 highly accomplished women reported they didn’t have the kind of day-to-day funds and savings they thought they would have at this life stage. The result: Their career and life decisions were being driven as much by a need for money as by personal desires. Many said, quite simply, that they had bought too much meaningless stuff when they were younger – some still were – and were now paying the price.

The recession has not really changed people’s fundamental attitudes toward money so much as reinforced underlying personal proclivities. Those who, by temperament, already have a small appetite for risk and economic insecurity will become even more prudent, jealously protecting their savings and living stingily. They’ll put security over all other factors in making career and life choices, often even staying in jobs they hate, or turning down opportunities that carry more risk and less income. Others with less need for security or a more free-spending attitude were temporarily sobered by the recession. But now, they are slowly drifting back to their pre-recession lifestyle patterns and personal inclinations.

Attitudes about money are weighted by hefty psychological anchors.

For many, money is a proxy for status. We all know people who chase high-paying jobs for the prestige and ego boost, without any thought about whether the work is a good fit, interests them or they really need the money. Many big-salary seekers spend every penny they earn, and often more, to buy lifestyle accoutrements that reflect their status, and to shore up their self-esteem.

We use money as a way to fulfill other, sometimes not so obvious, needs – whether to salve consciences feeling guilty about putting work before kids, or to find a sense of comfort when it can’t be found elsewhere.

One friend, at the time a vice-president of human resources, bought a mink coat she could ill afford and hid it from her husband for several years in her car trunk. She told me she bought the coat because her job made her feel dirty: She hated what she saw going on around her in the senior ranks of her employer and what she had to do to stay in the good graces of her fellow executives. Buying the coat and wrapping it around her gave her a sense of comfort; in essence, it fulfilled the same kind of psychological need that a “blankie” does for a child. It may not seem rational but I understand how spending money can not only comfort but also feel like a way to cleanse.

I once did a workshop for senior executives at one of the big car companies in Detroit. I was disgusted by the hostility they displayed behind closed doors when discussing workers and dealers. Before flying home, I went to the nearest shopping mall. I was determined to spend – to the exact penny – what I had earned on the assignment. I knew that was illogical, but it made me feel better.

Sometimes we tell ourselves that the obsessive pursuit of acquiring or spending money, or both, is a way of keeping a kind of psychic score. One chronically unhappy and angry woman I used to know gave up a comfortable position to take a killer job.

“If I’m going to go to the wall, I want a whack of money,” she said. “And then, I’m going to spend it, every penny. I’ve earned it and deserve to enjoy it.”

If she was being brutally honest with herself, she would have said something like: “I am always unhappy. Having a big job flatters my ego and is my attempt to fill the emptiness void.”

Anxieties about aging can also lead to dysfunctional attitudes about earning. A 60-year-old client recently bought a very expensive house he can’t afford. He reasoned that taking on a hefty mortgage would force him to continue working –and he would therefore always be a “player.”

On the other hand, one can be too careful, which can be equally unhealthy. Just like fifty-something women looking back at photos of their younger, trimmer selves rue thinking they were too fat to wear a bikini at the time, we can regret that we were too prudent and, as a result, passed over interesting opportunities.

Indeed, many of the woman I surveyed said that they wished they had been prepared to take more risks. One self-employed 30-year-old friend contemplating a major renovation put the horns of the dilemma this way: She could increase her mortgage and be chronically anxious about work, or she could wait 15 years and do the renovation when she could better afford it.

But if she postponed, she worried she would regret having lived in a house desperately in need of work when she could have just bitten the bullet. At least she’s smart in being able to distinguish between her needs and her wants.

Unfortunately, many can’t make this distinction. The result is a gnawing sense of deprivation, or spending money that one doesn’t have. The better choice is to feel good about what we have, rather than mourn what we don’t. Indeed, perhaps we can all take a money-managing clue from one of my clients.

Whenever she and her husband bought a home, their policy was never to take out a mortgage greater than what one of them could carry on a single income. Friends teased them about their cautiousness, but they felt good about what they were doing.

Tragically, my client’s husband had a stroke when he was 43 and can no longer work. It’s a horrible curveball, and the going is certainly tough – but at least they have a home.

MONEY SENSE

Understand its meaning to you

Does making more money make you feel better about yourself? Do you worry about not having enough? Do you use it as a way to keep score? How do these attitudes influence your career and consumer choices?

Look at attitude underpinnings

Our beliefs about money are often closely tied to messages our parents delivered, including how they behaved with it. They may, for instance, have always displayed anxiety about having enough money. Or you may have been told that frugality is important. Or you may have learned to be very cautious about how you spend and save because a family tragedy radically altered your family’s financial circumstances.

Know how much you really need

Be realistic about your current financial situation and actual needs. Don’t let old scripts dictate current actions. For instance, you are in a different financial situation – and risk-taking ability – when you are no longer paying for a child’s university bills. Keep the realities of what you need in check with the decisions you make. And remember: Studies have shown that, beyond a minimum threshold to meet needs, more money does not buy more happiness.

Avoid knee-jerk career decisions

Bad decisions can play out in many ways. People with high security needs place too much emphasis on the safety and not enough on whether the job is a good match. Those who use money as a means of keeping score are overly influenced by the salary and bonus potential.

Don’t take a job simply because you think it’s secure

There is no such thing as a secure job.

Feel good about what you have

You set yourself up for constant disappointment, envy and dissatisfaction if you constantly bemoan what you can’t afford. Take an inventory of all the good experiences and things that populate your life; when lusting after something you can’t afford, remind yourself of what you have.

Don’t compare yourself

Many people look at what others have, and by contrast, what they don’t have, leading to feelings of deprivation. But what they fail to take into account are the trade-offs others have made.

Look at opportunity costs

Any time you are about to make a discretionary purchase, ask yourself: How much time did it take me earn the cost of this? What will you need to give up to make this purchase?

Have a cushion

As financial planners say, pay yourself first by saving a set amount of money every month to protect yourself against job loss and other unexpected curveballs.

Be financially literate

Know your savings, assets and liabilities.

Be realistic about kids’ needs

People fret all the time about the effect of not being able to afford something their kids want. But you will not inflict any long-term emotional damage by denying them the hot new toy or cool shoes.

Satisfy cravings with a substitute

If you are longing for an indulgence, rather than deprive yourself, buy a cheaper luxury item. Maybe you can’t afford a new designer handbag, but you can splurge on the most expensive nail polish.

Separate wants from needs

There are lots of things that would be nice to have, but ultimately they will not have any effect on the quality of your life.

[A version of this article originally appeared in the Globe and Mail, February 16, 2010]

Barbara Moses, Ph.D, is an international speaker, work/life expert, and best-selling author of Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth About Work, Relationships, and the Rest of Life. Her state-of-the-art on-line tool Career Advisor (like having a personal career counsellor on your computer) is being used by organizations world-wide. For more: www.bmoses.com <http://www.bmoses.com/>

Learn more about Barbara, Career Advisor, or read more of her articles at her website, http://www.bmoses.com<http://www.bmoses.com/>

A client recently moved into a new senior human-resources job. She loves it, she says – but feels too guilty to admit that to friends and former co-workers who are all miserable in their jobs, if they’re even lucky enough to still have a job.

Another client also got a new offer but turned it down. Though [...]]]>

A client recently moved into a new senior human-resources job. She loves it, she says – but feels too guilty to admit that to friends and former co-workers who are all miserable in their jobs, if they’re even lucky enough to still have a job.

Another client also got a new offer but turned it down. Though it was the job of her dreams, it was in a much less secure industry. In these times, she just wasn’t willing to take the risk.

These two incidents capture just how emotions and attitudes have changed in the wake of the recession.

In 2010, there will be continuing reverberations from the grinding siege mentality of the last 16 months that has eaten into not only career prospects and pocketbooks, but also into psyches.

How will the next year shape up? From the comments of about 60 respondents to an online survey of senior managers and professionals that I conducted, along with what I’ve seen and heard from HR clients, here are some top trends that will dominate the workplaces of 2010.

LINGERING MALAISE

The wounds associated with prolonged employment anxiety have crushed spirits.

Many workers, especially the very introverted or those with high security needs, will continue to feel anxious about their livelihoods, regardless of their industry’s fortunes. It will take time well beyond the economic recovery for them to regain optimism about their career prospects.

More hard-boiled workers will more quickly rebound. But we are unlikely to see unbridled optimism return in most workers over the next 12 months. Nor will many workers have great expectations for their careers, even those young professionals who, before the recession, were criticized for their cockiness.

Those who have felt stymied in their career or resent what the last year and a half has wrought on their company’s culture will begin to make moves to explore options outside their current employer. But the jitters will remain: For the next several months at least, it will be more of a gradual reawakening than a mass exodus.

EXHAUSTION, RESENTMENT

Long work hours, bigger workloads, pared staff and career disappointments have left workers feeling depleted and cynical – and it will affect how they relate at work.

Workers who feel deprived will aggressively hoard resources. This will add more fuel to Darwinian organizational climates.

In such atmospheres, people are quicker to lose their tempers and be more defensive. The result – a continuing decline in workplace camaraderie and civility.

BOREDOM RISES

The recession created two classes of workers: those who, having lost resources and co-workers, found themselves with too much to do, and those who, with projects shelved and business down, found themselves with too little to do.

Either way, cuts to projects, lack of internal career opportunities and the reluctance of employers to assign tasks to anyone who can’t hit the ground running have left many workers feeling bored.

That means many talented people are at jobs they can do with their eyes shut; in essence, they are being punished for being able to do their work. The employer ends up with a competent worker but one likely not giving his or her best.

SECURITY OVER PASSION

Before the recession, work in tune with values or offering meaning was at the top of most people’s career wish lists. Now many, like my client, have put the importance of a steady paycheque over the excitement of a great job.

It will take time – and healing – before people’s sense of personal security and confidence returns, and desires for work they can feel passionate about are put on the front burner again.

GENERATIONS SCREWED

Every generation is feeling its members are most bearing the brunt of the recession’s effects. They see the generation above them blocking their progress and the generation below as competition for plum jobs.

This has created resentment that their work life has not unfolded the way they thought it would – whether they’re older workers who can’t afford to retire or Gen Xers eyeing executive jobs not about to be vacated.

Many worry most about the effects on young workers. Some of these twenty-somethings will simply give up, vulnerable to drifting into depression as they play video games all day.

Others will see it as a temporary setback, and will adapt by taking whatever short-term work they can find, often in fields below their training.

But, long-term, this pluckiness will serve them well: It will stimulate the self-reliance that characterized Gen Xers who experienced similar career challenges in the nineties.

Still, young workers will miss out on the critical early experiences that set the foundation for progressing into leadership positions. This development phase is when they learn, for example, how to deal with co-workers’ personalities, how organizations work and how to negotiate office politics.

AVERSION TO RISK

This will continue to express itself in many ways, from gathering huge amounts of data to support every business decision to over-collaboration – decisions being made by committee regardless of how individual members can add value.

Also a product of risk aversion is a paint-by-numbers approach to staffing. Employers will favour those who look, act, and dress like everyone else in their organization.

This homogenization permeates the culture. A number of HR clients have told me that “outliers” – people who don’t conform to organizational behaviour codes – are the first to be fired, put on performance alerts or marginalized.

That’s not a good recipe for diversity.

UNKINDER EMPLOYERS

Most survey respondents complained about their employers’ extreme tightfistedness, not only regarding money but also kindness.

This comment from a banking HR vice-president captured the sentiment: “You have to beg for every penny to do your job at the minimum and then they act like they are doing you a favour or you are somehow overly needy.”

The result of employers’ mean-spiritedness is low staff engagement. In part, this is because so many workers are simultaneously bored and overworked. As well, overcollaboration dilutes an individual’s sense of ownership of an idea or work, leading to an attitude of “why bother since I won’t get any recognition or personal satisfaction.”

Finally, while some employers have communicated harsh corporate realities sensitively and with compassion, many have been brutal. Staffers think: “Why should I kill myself? They could care less about me.”

The result is employees do their work joylessly, communicating their dissatisfaction to colleagues toiling with similar feelings. But employees do have long memories and will eventually act on them.

REACH FOR THE STARS

Toward year-end, expect to see recovering organizations start to worry again about retention, and rekindle their development, coaching and career-planning initiatives.

But it won’t be for all. Many will pay particular attention to their star performers. And that will increasingly breed a two-tiered approach: rich development activities and other goodies lavished on young high performers, while everyone else is ignored.

But special treatment for stars may have a paradoxical effect on morale. Some, especially those in more collegial jobs or with lower needs for recognition, will feel uncomfortable being singled out and not enjoy the limelight.

COMMITMENT-PHOBIC HIRING

Job seekers will continue to complain about how brutal the market is and the rudeness and rigid expectations of recruiters and employers. The trend of having many interviews spread over a long time period will continue.

Another continuing trend is hiring temporary contractors instead of permanent full-time workers. This staffing strategy will spread into senior ranks, so that even executive jobs will be filled temporarily. This will provide employers the flexibility of having the right skills when needed, without incurring long-term costs if and when those skills are no longer required.

But employers will lose out when they start to rebuild. These senior temps will leave for permanent work and decimate the leadership ranks.

Equally important: The loss of these leaders will further undermine employees’ sense of belonging and belief in their future in that organization.

How to restore optimism

Leaders:

• Communicate what is going well and share positive plans.
• Act like there are things to look forward to.
• Replace grim and harried countenance with a smile.
• Realize that one-off gestures like on-site massages will not be enough. Indeed, such gestures without other genuine displays of goodwill might actually back fire and foster greater employee cynicism.

Workers:

• Instead of griping and spreading the dissatisfaction virus, be aware of how your grumpiness affects others. Think about what is going well in your job and what you are accomplishing despite depleted resources, instead of how awful everything is and what you are failing to get done.
• Take comfort in what is going well and what you enjoy, whether it is colleagues or new things learned.

When feeling down, remember that whatever is happening on the job is not a permanent state of affairs. Give yourself a deserved pat on the back.

[This article originally appeared in the Globe and Mail, January 13, 2010]

Barbara Moses, Ph.D, is an international speaker, work/life expert, and best-selling author of Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth About Work, Relationships, and the Rest of Life. Her state-of-the-art on-line tool Career Advisor (like having a personal career counsellor on your computer) is being used by organizations world-wide. For more: www.bmoses.com <http://www.bmoses.com/>

Learn more about Barbara, Career Advisor, or read more of her articles at her website, http://www.bmoses.com <http://www.bmoses.com/>

I recently asked a 25-year-old friend what kind of effect she thought the recession has had on her career expectations. The answer: sobering.

For many years, her generation had been promised a lifetime of opportunity. Skills shortages, mass boomer retirements and talent wars meant there would be a feast of choices, and being passionate about [...]]]>

I recently asked a 25-year-old friend what kind of effect she thought the recession has had on her career expectations. The answer: sobering.

For many years, her generation had been promised a lifetime of opportunity. Skills shortages, mass boomer retirements and talent wars meant there would be a feast of choices, and being passionate about her work would be a basic right. Now she figures she’s lucky just to have a job, and she’s worried about the future. Expectations of being passionate about her job aren’t even on her mind any more. She “just wants to find a place to hide, which also pays the bills.”

My friend’s comments are fairly typical.

Many young people I talk to have significantly, and resentfully, lowered their expectations. They didn’t imagine themselves in this situation in their wildest dreams.

Nor did many others. Generation Y will be most affected by the cutbacks, downsizings and marked change in organizational cultures over the past few months, but the recession will take its toll on every generation’s attitudes and expectations. The question is how long-lasting the reverberations will be in reshaping the way people think, feel and act toward work and their careers. Here is a look at some of the fallout and how it may play out:

Deflated expectations

Gen Yers aren’t the only ones feeling like their work worlds have caved in. Many fifty-somethings, also raised on prosperity and ready to retire, had hopes of crafting a future combining travel, giving care, hobbies and income generation – all on their own terms. Those desires are now dashed as eroded finances mean they can no longer afford to leave.

Some will still be laid off or forced into retirement. But many who aren’t tossed out will be bitter as they come to terms with where they thought they would be at this life stage. Their bitterness will be communicated to colleagues, creating less-than-happy work cultures that will quickly tire of “freedom 75″ jokes.

Their continued need to work will also reverberate on families who were counting on soon-to-retire parents to become caregivers to their grandchildren. This, in turn, will leave some young parents disappointed as they revisit the work for money/stay-at-home decisions, and whether they can afford child care or are comfortable with non-familial care givers.

Frustrated dreams can be found in other pockets. Even many stars’ hopes and expectations are being dashed. At a recent conference, a career counsellor who works for a university MBA program told me that about half of the students, most in their late 20s and early 30s, with impressive track records, can’t find summer employment.

In previous years, they would have been aggressively courted. They are feeling angry, she said. “They aren’t accustomed to being rejected. They keep saying, ‘it’s unfair’ as if this was something being directed at them personally.”

Mean-mindedness

The anxiety and grumpiness the recession has wrought has revealed an ugly underbelly.

When I recently canvassed several people, many expressed what felt like schadenfreude. This comment was typical: “People are getting what they deserve. I’ve always been careful, both in my career choices and my lifestyle choices. Other people spent way too much money and now they’re paying the price.”

From the corporate point of view, similarly hostile views were expressed. And the performance bar has gone into the stratosphere. Several managers and executives said this was a way to get rid of mediocre employees, and anyone who wasn’t prepared to give 150 per cent.

As one manager put it: “I evaluate the willingness of my staff to take on extra duties as well as do stellar work in their existing job. Those employees that cannot or will not do this become expendable.”

This hard-line attitude will leave a bad taste in many workers’ mouths. Some will develop a lasting cynicism and suspicion of organizational motives. They will not expect anything good of their employers. Others will be traumatized. Whatever cockiness employers have accused Gen Yers of having, for instance, will be knocked out of some.

Others will develop a healthier self-reliance. They will understand that organizations will not necessarily look after them and they will have to look after themselves. The very talented will be vigilant in looking for new opportunities.

Some organizations that have found they can bully workers will not return to a kinder, gentler culture, where people’s feelings count for something and providing opportunity for work/life balance is a priority. Some organizations will repeat experiences of the recessionary nineties, never really staffing up again and sticking to a do-more-with-less mantra.

This is not organization bashing. Many of my clients and friends have senior HR jobs. They have done extraordinary staffing gymnastics to keep terminations at a minimum. They have communicated openly with workers.

Nonetheless, at a recent meeting of senior HR leaders , many said there would be permanent changes to their cultures. They were worried about future employee relations. They understood that some of the cost-saving moves they have made, such as cutting jobs, training and development, salaries and benefits, may have a lasting effect on morale. They were also particularly worried about keeping their star performers.

Designer staffing

The expectation today is that workers can hit the ground running, requiring little or no support or training. It doesn’t bode well in terms of the future leadership pool.

With so many people now competing for jobs, many recruiters have told me they are being given almost impossible-to-find wish lists of skills and experience for ideal candidates.

A year ago, some related experience or accomplishments would have been enough. Not now. This is having a serious impact on job seekers.

If organizations continue such an approach to staffing, the effects will be felt most acutely by career changers who made significant investment in going back to school to enable them to move onto a new career path; in debt and frustrated, they will, often resentfully, go back to jobs where they are a proven entity – if those jobs still exist.

Intergenerational tensions

Each generation thinks it wins the prize for “most screwed generation.” And each generation blames the preceding one for blocked career moves.

If such resentments existed before the recession, they have only been intensified by all the downsizings and freezes in staffing and promotions.

Twenty-somethings can’t get an entry-level job because these stepping-stone positions are held by thirty-somethings. Thirty-somethings who thought they would be in the management ranks are being blocked by forty-somethings. Forty-somethings who thought they would be in the executive ranks are being blocked by fifty-somethings who were supposed to retire.

This will severely delay development of younger and midlife workers. They will lack necessary skills, training and experiences when the economy recovers. The scarcity of opportunities, lack of development, disappointments, frustrations and anxiety may have a lasting impact on people’s psyches, in particular, younger workers.

Opportunities define a generation. The way we look at our careers, and our expectations about the work world, are shaped by the economic forces at play when we grow up, and the opportunities available in early career years.

Just as those people who came into young adulthood during the Depression were permanently marked by scarcity and frugality borne of their early career experiences, today’s young workers may be also permanently marked.

Or maybe they’ll become more like Gen Xers who entered the workplace in the recessionary nineties, during a time of massive cutbacks. The result: they became plucky, self-reliant career managers.

Barbara Moses, Ph.D, is an international speaker, work/life expert, columnist for the Globe and Mail, and best-selling author of Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth About Work, Relationships, and the Rest of Life. She is the president of BBM Human Resource Consultants. Her Career Advisor Website is an on-line career/life assessment tool likened to having a life coach on your computer. It is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies.

Here are some of the common ways these emotions will show up in the workplace, and [...]]]> We’re halfway through 2009, and employees are still experiencing hard times. Indeed, the economy has wrought widespread feelings of fear, anxiety and hopelessness. These emotions are reflected in how people feel and act at work, with serious repercussions on morale and performance.

Here are some of the common ways these emotions will show up in the workplace, and what can be done to combat the pervasive malaise.

DEPRESSION
Everywhere I go, I see what best can be described as depression. People may not be suffering from clinical depression, but if you think of the opposite characteristics – enthusiasm, optimism and a sense of efficacy – you will see these qualities are markedly missing in many workplaces. Indeed, this depression is so pervasive and contagious that even people whose employment may not be in jeopardy have caught the virus. It spells disaster for performance: Inertia, pessimism and lack of engagement do not translate into productivity or morale.

People need to feel that they have something to look forward to. They also need to feel there is a relationship between what they do and what happens to them: Right now, for example, many feel there is no relationship between performing well and keeping their job. For employers, this means showing employees how you appreciate the ways in which they add value.

Provide staff with opportunities to derive a sense of accomplishment. With so much doubt about their future, people need work that they can understand and control. Assign tasks that are doable and provide reinforcement.

Show appreciation for a job well done. Provide small perks, whether an interesting speaker or an opportunity to attend a conference. Talk about important projects coming down the pipeline. If spending money on development is an issue, offer up opportunities to work on interesting or high-profile projects or with people they can learn from.

And counter the sense of hopelessness: Reminding people of their competence helps them understand that, even if the worst happens and they do lose their jobs, they are still employable.

A DESIRE TO BELONG
In a time of crisis, people take comfort in the predictable and familiar. They want to be around those who care about them, make meaningful connections and appreciate having a shared history with these co-workers. They also want to belong to something bigger than themselves, looking for community at work and in their teams. Seeing everyone else in the same boat provides a sense of security, even if it is a false one.

Organizations can meet staffers’ needs to connect to others and feel a part of something greater by holding regular team meetings, arranging inexpensive social get-togethers and using charitable drives to promote a sense of group identity and pride.

This is the time to emphasize continuity, not change.

COMPARING YOURSELF
People look to what others think and how they behave to derive insights into how they should think and behave. So they trade information and pay attention to the rumour mills to sort it out. Some workers watch for positive cues from co-workers. They look at colleagues and think: “It can’t be so bad. They seem to be functioning as if they aren’t worried about their jobs.” They may also try to reassure themselves and each other with happy talk, saying things such as: “In the last recession nobody lost their jobs.” Often, such stories aren’t true but they do alleviate anxiety by providing a false sense of security. Others trade disaster scenarios, egging each other on with outrageous possibilities, such as: “Everyone in the department will be fired,” or “The company is going bankrupt.” Either way, it is easy for information to be misinterpreted in a falsely positively or overly negative panic-inducing way.

Employers need to be thoughtful about what and how they spread the word. Communications should be open, simple and sensitively worded. Repeat key messages over and over to counteract the rumour mill and to prevent workers from jumping to false best-case or unnecessary worst-case conclusions.

Avoid using vague qualifiers. For example, don’t say: “Assuming the economy recovers, there is a good chance we will be able to avoid significant layoffs.” Just say: “Nobody knows where the economy is going, but right now, we don’t plan to let anyone go.”

SECURITY OVER PASSION
Doing meaningful work in tune with personal values is perceived as an indulgence, the luxury of good times. In bad times, people put safety and community over being stretched and highly engaged on their career priorities. This leads to risk averseness, conformity and “group think” – precisely the kinds of behaviour that do not meet any organization’s current needs. And when clouded by fear, workers forget how their work is, in fact, meaningful, which leads to more disengagement.

Combat inertia and lack of engagement by reminding staffers that their work is important. Show them how it is meaningful and contributing to what is needed. Ask them to articulate how their work is consistent with their personal values and needs.

As well, encourage independent thinking by aggressively soliciting ideas and opinions. Create an environment that values healthy debate: You can’t be disengaged when you are tossing ideas around.

RECESSION FATIGUE
Everyone is tired of the gloom, doom and cutback chatter. It’s enough that workers get a daily onslaught of bad employment figures from the media. They don’t need the never-ending internal memos and reminders about the company’s ill fortunes.

Although you can’t control the external news, you can provide a respite from it. Instead of constant language of deprivation such as, “we will no longer allow/do/pay for …” share what you will allow, do or pay for, such as interesting new projects and plans, and how funds are being liberated for positive events.

And instead of worrying about what they can’t control, encourage employees to focus on what they can control and accomplish in their own work.

SHORT FUSES
Fear and anxiety coupled with a scarcity culture create raw nerves. People are quicker to jump the gun and take offence at the mildest comments or changes at work. And when people feel there isn’t “enough to go around,” they become territorial and competitive. Unfortunately, besieged managers are most prone to irritability. In turn, this increases everyone’s bad humour.

Whether a manager or an employee, before you fly off the handle, ask yourself: Why am I angry? Should I be angry? Am I projecting my own frustrations onto others? What is the cost of this to the well-being of others?

As an employer, think twice about how much you cut back and whether the short-term cost savings are worth the productivity loss associated with a lack of benevolence. Reducing costs shouldn’t translate into stripping everything people need to do their jobs.

And remember, if you raise the productivity bar into the stratosphere at a time when nerves are already frayed and they’re least capable of performing at that level, people will just implode or explode.

BOREDOM FACTOR
As organizations continue to pare budgets and cut interesting, new projects, accomplishment-hungry professionals are simultaneously overworked and underutilized. And when their skills and brains aren’t being put to maximum use, they get bored.

Ask staff to think of ways to renew themselves, whether by reconfiguring their jobs, mentoring younger workers or participating in task forces that require brainstorming and blue-skying possibilities. Encourage people to do something that will stretch them.

MANAGERS FEEL THE PAIN, TOO
Managers are hurting. They are pilloried on all fronts. They need to fire people, deliver bad news, and take away many of the fundamentals people need to feel good about the work they are doing. For all this, staff blame them. But while they are cutting the resources of others, they are also seeing their own resources being cut to shreds, not to mention worrying about their own job security.

It’s tough enough for seasoned bosses – those new to management are reeling. Many managers will anaesthetize the pain by making the simplest and least creative decisions about cost-cutting. Many divorce themselves from thinking about human costs.

But, although it hurts and it isn’t easy, managers will have to think more deeply, and weigh all of the short- and long-term implications of their decisions, including the effect of aggressive cost-cutting on morale, skill shortages and turnover.

And organizations need to be sensitive to the huge pressures being placed on managers, and provide them with coaching and support to help them in their juggling acts.

FUTURE INTERRUPTUS
Many people have been forced into rethinking career and life plans, whether to change jobs, go to school, take a sabbatical or retire. Some have no choice; many are reacting to mass hysteria and knee-jerk panic. Having to delay their plans leads to resentments, which, in turn, fuels anger and depression.

People need to take a realistic look at their finances and what they can legitimately afford. They need to be given ways to keep their plans on the front burner, rather than the back.

Most important, they need to be reminded that the economy will recover.

How to cope with the at-work blues
Feeling depressed at work?

Rest assured that you’re not the only one. There are many things that individuals can do to try to overcome the malaise that is pervading workplaces. Here are some suggestions for how to keep your spirits up:

Be kind to yourself
This is not the time to beat yourself up. Sure, there are a lot of things that may be making your workplace demoralizing, but there are still things you like about work. You may not feel like you are accomplishing things but you are. Remind yourself of what you are good at and like about your work. Take inventory of your accomplishments weekly and regularly repeat them to

Take your own counsel
With such low morale everywhere, it’s very easy to get sucked into the general depression. Push off group funk by refusing to be drawn into the maelstrom of others’ general malaise. Don’t get sucked into the rumour mill. Stay detached. Evaluate what you hear rather than immediately panicking.

Reframe your plans
Maybe the economy has caused you to rethink your plans, whether to change jobs, go back to school, take a sabbatical or head into retirement. Tell yourself you have not permanently changed course, but have put plans on hold for a few months. Anyone can delay gratification for a short period. What was true before the recession, for example, a desire to retire or change jobs, will still be true, just not immediately.

Be creative
Think about what you can do on a shoestring. Consider what new technologies you can take advantage of. Use this as a time to experiment with alternative ways of thinking how to solve problems. Put your hand up for new assignments or challenges.

Set achievable goals
You may have had your budget torn to shreds or seen projects you expected to work on shelved. Of course you’re disappointed. But don’t look at what you are failing to do or cannot control. Rather, focus on what you can achieve. Set new meaningful goals in the light of current budgetary restraints and what you can do. Don’t be a perfectionist.

Pick a mood elevator
It’s easy to get drawn in a funk. But if you’re walking around depressed, you are not performing well at work and it will spread to all areas of your life.

Lift your spirits with something that makes you feel better about yourself inside or outside of work, whether music, a laugh, exercise, hobbies or a compliment.

Cherish your friends
Nourish yourself with people who are important to you and can provide an independent perspective. They will also allow you to vent your anxieties, give you the sense that you are not alone, and offer comfort, support, and humour.

Get support
If you are having trouble coping or feeling signs of depression or anxiety, consider seeking clinical support. Take advantage of your company’s employee assistance program.

Be kind to others
Doing something nice for someone releases “feel good” chemicals in your brain. And given how most people are feeling today, a kind word can make a huge difference in someone else’s life.

Barbara Moses, Ph.D, is an international speaker, work/life expert, columnist for the Globe and Mail, and best-selling author of Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth About Work, Relationships, and the Rest of Life. She is the president of BBM Human Resource Consultants. Her Career Advisor Website is an on-line career/life assessment tool likened to having a life coach on your computer. It is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies.

And many of those trends are apparently contradictory. For example, organizations still cry the talent-shortage blues — and [...]]]> When I think of key trends that will play out in this and coming years, I am struck by how so many of today’s hottest corporate mantras, such as management development and succession planning, are reminiscent of the 1970s.

And many of those trends are apparently contradictory. For example, organizations still cry the talent-shortage blues — and yet young people without specialized degrees are having difficulty finding work, and many older workers are still experiencing age discrimination. These are contradictions that still need to be worked through in the years ahead.

Here are a number of trends that will continue next year and beyond.

Intergenerational tensions

When I wrote a column about young workers, I received a record number of e-mails. Older workers bemoaned the lack of work ethic among younger workers. Young workers scoffed at older workers: “When are they ever going to leave?” “They feel threatened by us and how we do things,” were typical comments.

But they’ll have to learn to get along. Abolition of mandatory retirement, as has occurred in many provinces in Canada, and a tough economy means many older workers will choose to stay on in the workplace for both financial and psychological reasons — leading to continuing frustration among younger workers eyeing those plum opportunities up the ladder.

Diversity broadens its meaning

For years, organizations have been paying lip service to the concept of diversity. But now, as organizations look to liberate talent wherever it may be found, they have become very serious about it.

This has brought about several changes. For one, the definition of diversity is being expanded to refer not only to the four traditional groups (women, visible minorities, those with disabilities and gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered people), but also to diversity of age, life situations, personality and motivation. In other words, diversity reflects all differences.

As well, the direction on diversity is changing: Whereas before it tended to focus on how people are different, such as visible minorities or those with disabilities, now the emphasis is on inclusiveness, creating an environment that is welcoming to everyone.

While this is laudatory, it can still create its own problems: Some privately wonder whether they or their co-workers were promoted because of their skin colour, for example, instead of their skills.

Heightened sensitivity also leaves many bewildered about what words are politically correct, and how to describe someone without insulting them or being accused of being a dinosaur.

Forget balance

Organizations increasingly recognize that more people are willing to quit jobs if their work demands encroach on their ability to meet personal commitments.

And people have also become more sophisticated in their thinking about the issue, no longer pursuing the Holy Grail of finding a perfect work/life balance. They recognize, for example, that it’s possible to have it all over the course of their careers, but not to have it all at once.

More people are prepared to make tough decisions, whether in favour of work demands or their personal lives, and understand the consequences of those decisions. That may mean choosing to work part time and being prepared to slow down career progress.

Leadership development

Leadership development has become sexy over the past few years. But some organizations became so caught up in the concept that people wanted to be “led” rather than managed that they neglected to teach people who were suddenly promoted the fundamental skills of managing others.

Now there has been a revival of management development, giving new supervisors the basics — from how to hire and fire, to how to use resources effectively, manage a budget, get things done through others and set priorities.

That’s giving first-line managers more support in their jobs. It also means more support for young workers catapulted into management positions in the past few years with little basic training.

But while the fundamentals of management are important, organizations increasingly recognize the importance of softer skills, such as emotional intelligence, and dealing with change.

It’s no longer about choreographing staff to do what you want them to do but is, instead, about creating a trusting environment in which people feel respected and are motivated to perform by an egalitarian exchange of ideas.

Work with meaning

Increasingly, people are defining success in highly personal terms. For many, it means doing work in tune with their values, making a difference in people’s lives, or doing work that speaks to them at a deep emotional or intellectual level. And it’s not only middle class workers who are saying “it’s about more than the money,” but skilled workers at all levels.

Degrees of separation

On the one hand, organizations are singing the skills-shortage blues. On the other, there are a lot of abundantly talented young people with general arts and social science degrees who can’t get entry-level professional jobs.

Ironically, while organizations talk about the need for broad knowledge, emotional intelligence and the ability to solve complex human problems, they ignore people who don’t have specialized degrees. But these general degrees have taught them critical thinking skills — the very skills that organizations are in search of.

Promotion for the wrong reason

Anticipating the skills shortage, organizations are trying to build bench strength by retaining and developing their talented younger workers. Sometimes this leads to poor job-placement decisions.

For example, in the desire to keep high-potential young workers, they may be placed in high-profile developmental positions for which they are ill-suited and trained. The result is demoralizing to other staff, especially those better qualified.

Older workers take this particularly hard. As one 50-year-old banker who was recently passed over for a job in favour of a 30-year-old with no experience said: “What am I? Invisible? Washed up?” Long term, the high-potential younger staffer also suffers if he is prematurely promoted and ends up in over his head.

Older workers seen as blockers

Although a number of my corporate clients have discussed the need to keep older workers engaged, in truth, talk to these older workers and many feel much like the 50-year-old banker. Organizations justify passing over older workers by saying: “They have no runway ahead of them,” a particularly nasty comment which makes them feel like second-class beings.

So they are kept on but do not feel valued. Many also know that the organization sees them as blocking jobs that could be developmental positions for younger workers.

Ambition ambivalence

Many people are torn: Go for the brass ring or nurture their personal life? They understand the cost of getting the big job and are wary of making sacrifices. Many ultimately will decide the effort/reward equation is such that it’s not worth it.

Authenticity reigns

People want to be able to express who they are in their work, and not have to adopt a corporate persona. This means that if they feel they have to compromise their values or repress their personality, they will look for another employer that represents a better fit.

Some skittish employers, however, in their desire to be inclusive and welcoming to everyone, fail to realize that what appeals to one person will not appeal to everyone. The result is a vanilla corporate culture, which neither appeals to anyone, nor particularly turns anyone off.

Coaching — caveat emptor

It seems like almost everyone wants to be a coach, be coached, or both. They want a leg up or to give people a leg up in this era of the invisible, overworked manager who doesn’t have the time to provide coaching and mentoring.

As organizations increasingly move to a self-service approach — in which the individuals are forced to fend for themselves in figuring out everything from what training to take to the best career options — people will pay for a person to help them achieve their goals.

Organizations are also willing to foot the tab for high-potential workers. However, because so many people have entered the coaching field recently, some are not up to snuff. It’s buyer beware.

The employee brand/experience

Organizations are turning their attention to building their employee brand, recognizing that they can’t build a successful external brand for clients if it’s not consistent with how internal staff experiences the company. The brand represents the personality of the organization whether that be flexibility, family friendliness, or challenging opportunities.

Employers use this brand to differentiate themselves from other potential employers, selling it to hire and keep staff. As one head of talent management said: “We want people to say: ‘I choose to work here because it is special and I can connect with its values and what it feels like to work here.’ ”

Midlife renewal

More people are availing themselves of interesting career options that don’t require a major career change. This takes a variety of forms.

A common one is developing a portfolio career: People identify their emotional, financial, and intellectual needs and ways of meeting them through paid and unpaid work. Another form of renewal is a career break, whether to return to school or volunteer in a third-world country.

Many also discover the joys of reconnecting with the path veered away from or not taken. They reconnect to underlying career themes. For example, the HR professional who, 15 years later, finds herself in the executive ranks, now wants to go back to using her professional skills. Sick of management headaches, missing the stimulation of professional challenges, or wanting to leave a legacy, she sets up as a consultant.

Barbara Moses, Ph.D, is an international speaker, work/life expert, columnist for the Globe and Mail, and best-selling author of Dish: Midlife Women Tell the Truth About Work, Relationships, and the Rest of Life. She is the president of BBM Human Resource Consultants. Her Career Advisor Website is an on-line career/life assessment tool likened to having a life coach on your computer. It is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies.