We are in the midst of the toughest down-cycle in a generation. How is top talent dealing with it?
Not well. Last year we found that 36 per cent of top-tier workers reported high levels of anxiety; 12 months later, the number had jumped to 89 per cent. A lot of people with top credentials are feeling very destabilized, and job insecurity is huge. We’ve had so many rounds of RIF’s (‘reductions in the force’ -- the Wall Street lingo for mass layoffs), but I think it’s the repeated rounds that cause so much anxiety. Even if you survived the last one, will you survive the next? Another big issue is loss of income. Bonuses are down more than 50 per cent, and in the financial services industry, a person’s bonus can be 80 per cent of their salary. So real income is down significantly and at the same time, people’s savings are being depleted, with assets having dropped significantly in value. In short, there’s a lot of anxiety around whether you’ll be able to pay your mortgage, or pay for your kids’ private school --whatever your big-ticket items are.
What are some of the negative coping strategies that people are turning to?
The classic things: addiction to sleep medications is big, because insomnia is off the charts. The other classic coping strategies are eating too much and drinking too much.
What does the current ‘dysfunctional talent model’ look like?
Back in 2006 – a time of boom and ebullient profits -- we completed a study of what we call ‘extreme jobs’: high-echelon jobs that have gargantuan demands but also gargantuan rewards. At the time, there was a kind of equilibrium in place, because these ‘extreme workers’ were working really hard – on average 73 hours per week -- but at the same time, they were being extremely well paid. They also had lot of status and power, which can be very appealing, and often they were very stimulated and kind of ‘turned on’ by the challenges of their work. Whether they were developing a new video game, running an oil rig or developing a new derivatives product, the odds are that today’s knowledge workers are very self-actualized through their work. So despite the massive time commitment, the rewards of these jobs very much outweighed the burdens. As a result, people were opting into these jobs and enjoying them.
[This article has been reprinted, with permission, from Rotman Management, the magazine of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management]