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New fear Even prior to Sept. 11, local employees and employers shared an unsettling sense of uncertainty.
Workers weigh job security
in the aftermath of Sept. 11By Anna Elento-Sneed
The Pacific economy suffered through the Asian economic crisis. However, as the numbers of tourists slowly increased, our hopes for a return to "the good times" rose as well.
Not anymore.
Pacific employers must focus not only on profitability and providing quality products and services, but once again on the legal ramifications of employment-related decisions, including reductions in force and restructuring.
The aftermath of Sept. 11 has made the challenge of balancing the needs of both employees and employers even more critical for local HR professionals.
The Employment Law Alliance, of which Carlsmith Ball is a member, commissioned a survey on attitudes toward job security following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Data from its "America At Work" poll showed that contrary to popular perception, and despite a rash of massive layoffs , just over 60 percent of American workers are very confident that their employers are doing everything possible to avoid layoffs.
And even in businesses where there have been recent layoffs, employees do not think employers are using the events of September 11 as an excuse to justify those layoffs.
Stephen J. Hirschfeld, chief executive officer of the alliance and a partner in the California-based firm of Curiale, Dellaverson, Hirschfeld, Kraemer & Sloan LLP, said the poll indicates the American worker is generally confident but extremely anxious when it comes to his or her own job security.
"Contrary to much of what has been reported in the mass media, we see a work force that is generally trusting of their employers to do the right thing and not exploit the world crisis for corporate gain," he said. "We see an absolute need for employers to communicate with their employees like never before."
The national telephone survey of 1,000 working adult Americans revealed the following:
>> 62 percent are "very confident" employers are doing everything possible to avoid layoffs, while only 21 percent expressed "some confidence."Theodore Reed, whose research firm, Reed Haldy McIntosh & Associates of Media, Penn., conducted the survey, said women and older workers were generally more confident that employers were doing everything possible to avoid layoffs.>> 15 percent reported they are not too confident or not at all confident that their employers are doing everything possible to avoid job cuts
>> 38 percent of the American public believes union members are more secure in their jobs right now vs. 35 percent who think that union membership has no effect on job security.
The vast majority of those polled hold non-union positions but still believe their union counterparts are better insulated from layoffs.
>> Among those whose companies are in the midst of layoffs, 83 percent do not believe their employer is using the current crisis environment as an excuse to impose or accelerate layoffs.
>> 16 percent of those whose companies are in the midst of layoffs said they do think employers are using the current crisis environment as a rationale to either impose or accelerate work force reductions
>> Among working men and women surveyed, 21 percent of those sampled report their employer has either laid off workers recently or is expected to do so in the next month.
"There is no escaping the reality that the economy was soft before Sept. 11 and has gotten progressively softer," said Reed. "However, these results clearly indicate that some employees, between 10 percent and 20 percent of those whose companies have experienced layoffs, think their employers are using the crisis environment as an excuse to impose or accelerate layoffs."
Hirschfeld said the findings relative to union membership and job security were particularly interesting.
"For generations it was felt that a union card was a ticket to job security, both in the public and private sectors," he said.
"While the gap may be narrowing, the survey shows union jobs are still viewed as more secure jobs. So, even though this climate makes the job of a union organizer that much tougher as we just witnessed in the case of Nissan and the United Auto Workers, it's also an environment where a non-union employer who fails to effectively communicate is vulnerable to a successful organizing drive."
He said ELA firms are busy advising multistate, and multinational clients faced with the possibility of layoffs.
"Businesses have to exercise extreme care when considering layoffs, and that doesn't just mean being in full compliance with the host of applicable laws and regulations. They have to be compassionate and understanding and also understand that being at war doesn't mean that work place-related staffing regulations can be ignored."
Anna Elento-Sneed is a partner with Carlsmith
Ball LLP in Honolulu and a director of the
Society for Human Resource Management,
Hawaii Chapter.
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