The recession has provided some painful lessons for workers on all levels — even CFOs.

And what have the chief bean-counters learned? No, it’s not some arcane costs/profits ratio.

It’s this: Companies need to nurture employee morale.

One scary stat

Robert Half Management Resources put the following question to 1,400 chief financial officers across the U.S.:

Which one of the following is the greatest lesson you have learned from the recession?

The CFOs said they’d:

• Place greater focus on maintaining employee morale — 27%
• Take decisive measures more quickly to avoid multiple rounds of cost-cutting — 22%
• Make sure we have enough staff to maintain productivity — 22%, and
• Implement more detailed succession plans — 15%.

Possibly the most disturbing results of the survey: 13% said they either hadn’t learned any lessons or couldn’t think of an answer to the question.

That clueless 13% notwithstanding, it’s got to be heartening for HR pros to see that people still count, no matter how dire the overall economic picture might be. And once the recession lifts for good, employees will remember how they were treated when things got tough.

Tags: CFO, chief financial officers, cost-cutting, morale, productivity, recession, Robert Half, succession plans