CHICAGO, November 15, 2011 - Middle management positions were a significant casualty of recession-era layoffs, but new research from Sologig.com- CareerBuilder's job site for healthcare professionals - indicates that many healthcare employers saw counterproductive consequences and are now rehiring for those roles.
Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of healthcare employers has eliminated middle management positions since the beginning of the recession. Of these employers, 44 percent plan to bring back middle management jobs to bridge structural gaps and address market demands. The nationwide survey was conducted by Harris Interactive from May 19 to June 8, 2011, among 282 healthcare employers.
When assessing the impact of downsizing middle management, healthcare employers who made cuts cited both positive and negative effects. While 81 percent reported that cuts netted beneficial results such as cost-savings and more efficient operations, 74 percent stated there were several structural and emotional drawbacks:
- Lower morale (47 percent)
- Workers less motivated (27 percent)
- Training is less effective (26 percent)
- Less communication given regarding company news (25 percent)
- Less succession planning (23 percent)
- Less recognition for workers (22 percent)
"Operating with leaner staffs is beneficial so long as it doesn't detrimentally affect the culture and productivity of the workplace," said Rob Morris, product director of MiracleWorkers.com. "Healthcare employers are bringing middle management back because they give balance and direction within complex organizations. They play important roles from onboarding new employees and tracking progress to building positive morale and maintaining chains of communication - all things that are difficult to do without."
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 282 U.S. healthcare hiring managers and human resource professionals (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) ages 18 and over between May 19, 2011 and June 8, 2011 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 282 one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 5.84 percentage points. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.
About MiracleWorkers.com and CareerBuilder®
MiracleWorkers.com is a network of skill-specific healthcare sites designed to recruit talented healthcare professionals. For more information, visit www.MiracleWorkers.com.
MiracleWorkers.com is a division of CareerBuilder, the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and a+ttract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 40 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to recruitment support. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.