With the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and looming recession hitting everyone’s finances, Cezanne HR’s survey – completed in November– discovered that nearly 50% of managers believe HR teams should prioritise health and wellbeing programmes to support staff. The survey, conducted by the UK’s leading supplier of HR software, aims to improve excess levels of staff turnover during periods of recession.
“The worsening economic situation and cost of living crisis has sent shock waves through out society”
– Paul Bauer, Cezanne HR’s Head of Content.
With the cost of living crisis affecting employees and employers financially, the findings analysed what effects a recession may have on UK and Irish businesses. Cezanne HR’s survey found:
- Nearly 90% of senior business leaders believe their businesses are or will be negatively impacted by the current economic situation. Over 55% say this is already the case.
- Over 70% of managers say their staff are worried about how the recession will affect their jobs, with 60% concerned about redundancy
- Nearly two-thirds of UK and Irish businesses have already or will freeze or reduce recruitment efforts due to the volatile economy
- 80% of managers are worried a recession will drive rates of excessive staff turnover, with job insecurity cited by over a third as the reason
- 77% of managers say supporting employee morale is their top priority in a recession.
Paul Bauer, Cezanne HR’s Head of Content commented: “The worsening economic situation and cost-of-living crisis has sent shockwaves through our society. With businesses having to take tough decisions, energy and food prices surging and job insecurity, many people are finding times incredibly stressful and worrying.”
“It’s comforting then that our survey found managers saying that during a recession, their HR teams should prioritise employee health and wellbeing- they really are putting their employees first.”
What can HR do to help their employees in this time of crisis?
With what HR can do to successfully support their employee’s health and wellbeing, Paul said that “HR teams need to ensure they have a sound framework in place to support people’s physical and mental health. This can include providing sources of professional help, such as counselling, to more formal benefits, such as an employee assistance programme.”
You can discover the full rundown of the results and what they mean for HR here.
About Cezanne HR
Cezanne HR is a UK HR software leader for mid-sized and growing UK and international organisations. They provide a modern, secure Cloud HR system that lets companies quickly and effectively digitise, streamline and improve human resources management.
