The dark side of low turnover: Slackers stay

A rougher job market means fewer employees can jump ship. The problem: High performers are still likely to leave, while everyone else is sticking around.
Roughly 46% of employees are satisfied with their jobs, according to a recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Just over a quarter (26%) of the 3,000 respondents said the same in 2006.
That’s good news, right?
Not so fast. It might be easier to love your job when you have few other choices, says Ben Willmott, the survey’s co-author: “Job satisfaction may have edged up, but this may be the employee opinion survey equivalent of a fixed grin.” The grass used to be greener on the other side, but now there’s no grass there at all.
In other words, people are complaining less because they feel lucky to have a job — and that doesn’t mean they’re really satisfied, Willmott says.
In fact, the survey also revealed the serious effects the economy is having on morale. For example, 37% of employees said they worry about being laid off. More than half (52%) are more stressed, and 38% have seen an increase in back-biting office politics.
Keep the ones you want

In another survey, the Corporate Leadership Council found that “disengaged” employees (those who give a minimal effort) are 24% more likely to stay with their current employer than they were a year ago. Across the board, though, retention levels have stayed roughly the same.
In fact, a CareerBuilder poll taken in December found that one in five employees plan to change jobs in 2009, with most reporting that the economy would have little impact on their career plans.
The bottom line: A shaky job market may be convincing more employees to stay at your company — but not necessarily the ones you’d like to keep. Star players, on the other hand, will always have options.
What can HR do?
One key is convincing managers not to assume all employees are staying put and working hard. This is no time to give up on motivation and rewards, Willmott says, even if the rewards need to be low-cost. In fact, that’s even more important now because companies need to get maximum productivity from every employee.
Also, with the job market flooded with quality candidates, supervisors don’t to need to hang on to employees who aren’t pulling their weight. Of course, managers should try and get all workers to where they need to be, but there comes a time when their energy is better spent hiring someone new.