Why workers maintain gains amid losses

Instead of seeing workers as resources to be used and then replaced, as was the case in the 1980s, employees are often seen now as "human capital" - something to invest in and nurture.

It's a concern that's been further heightened by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and their aftermath.

In addition, say outplacement experts, employers are sensitive to the fact that the economy may well pick up as quickly as it nosedived. To be able to rehire laid-off workers or attract new talent, they realize they must be careful in the way they downsize - or risk facing labor shortages because of alienated employees when the economy picks up again.

"Many companies are asking, how do we approach downsizing with severely strained financial resources, so we can do it right, and still have access to those people in 18 to 24 months," says China Gorman, COO of Lee Hecht Harrison, a global outplacement firm with headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, N.J.

One of her clients, she says, a Fortune 500 company that had to lay off several thousand workers worldwide recently, was so concerned about how it fired workers that it hired transition coaches for all its division presidents. The executives were coached in how to tell workers about the downsizing, and in explaining the reasons for it.

"The general feeling among the people being laid off was that they were being well cared for," says Ms. Gorman. "The care that the company took in planning and communicating the downsizing seemed to communicate to the folks leaving that the company wanted to do this very difficult thing in the very best way they could."

A handful of companies, including Southwest Airlines, have gone even further - promising employees there will be no layoffs at all. Such employers say they understand the importance of no-layoff policies in maintaining the morale of employees, and in future recruiting and retention efforts - all important elements of a company's overall productivity.

In the short term, of course, all the downsizing leaves thousands of people searching for jobs in a tight market, which gives would-be employees little room to make demands upon prospective employers.

"There are just more candidates on the market, which means employers have more choice," says Mark Mehler, co-editor of Career Xroads, a guide to career-management websites. "Money should not be the No. 1 criterion for a new job right now. Your objective is to get in. Once you're in, you can show them you've got the right stuff, and then you'll get the money."

But even those priorities are expected to shift when the economy improves. Career-development experts say that long before the economy worsened, many workers were searching for a sense of worth and value in their jobs, making them more likely to leave employers who didn't respect issues such as work/life balance.

When the economy picks up, they say, that trend will intensify once again.

"People are asking soul-searching questions," says Caela Farren, a career-development expert and principal with MasteryWorks. "The questions I get are: Is this really what I want to do? Do I want to spend my life with this company?

"Employees' expectations are higher," she says. "The bar has been raised, and it's not going to go back down."

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