Employees divided on changes made to reward

Employees are divided on how they receive changes to their reward package during the recession, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

The study surveyed over 700 UK workers who have been impacted by changes to their reward (pay, benefits and bonuses), working hours or who work for organisations that have made redundancies.

Almost half (49%) of respondents to PWC’s Managing tomorrow’s people: how the downturn will change the future of work report, said they understood their employers’ decisions as times are tough. Just 8% said the changes made them angry. 

A further third (34%) said they found such decisions de-motivating and just 3% said they were motivated by their employer taking decisive action. Some 6% did not agree with any of these sentiments.

Jon Terry, partner and head of reward at PWC, said: “Pay and promotion freezes, changes to pension schemes, cuts in recruitment and slashed training budgets, combined with poor communication, have eroded the bonds of trust between some employers and their employees. In contrast, other organisations have excelled at doing more with less to engage and develop their employees in an unstable employment landscape where many individuals view their career prospects as stagnant or diminishing.

“As the long-term impact of people decisions taken during the downturn begins to be felt, the winners and losers of the war for talent are starting to reveal themselves, with those who continued to focus on investment and employee engagement emerging as clear leaders. Those which continued to offer their employees new opportunities and invested in their people pipeline are now at a competitive advantage.”