More than one third of line managers polled as recently as December reported that the economic downturn had not affected their organisations, it was revealed today.
Research firm Roffey Park found that the credit crisis had not filtered through to management level on anything like the scale widely believed.
It polled 858 managers last autumn for its report – Management Agenda 2009 – and 36% said the economic climate had had ‘no organisational impact’.
In November and early December it repeated the exercise with a smaller sample group and found no statistically significant changes in the results.
Research director Jo Hennessy said: “Not that much has changed since last summer. People feel slightly more under pressure at work, and have a little more insecurity about their jobs, but there is no more economic impact on their organisations.”
Thousands of jobs have been lost in the past couple of months as employers react to the worsening economic conditions. A report by the British Chambers of Commerce earlier this week revealed that the last three months of 2008 saw the biggest contraction in the manufacturing and services industries for 19 years.
The Roffey Park survey did find that the economic climate had become more of a priority for organisations over the past 12 months or so, with 41% of respondents saying it was a major challenge for this year, up from just 26% a year ago.
Recruitment, retention, skills shortages and succession planning have all taken a back seat to dealing with the economic conditions, according to the report.
