According to research by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Adecco Group, the most serious threat to organizations in this recession may be the recession's end. A company’s most important asset is its employees, and Adecco's latest Workplace Insights Survey indicates that most employers will see a high level of employee turnover when the job market rebounds.

These survey results demonstrate that employees are willing to make sacrifices to keep their jobs, but employers who have used the recession to mistreat their workforce will pay dearly in employee turnover when the recession ends.

Survey results demonstrate:

• More than half (54%) of employed Americans report that they are likely to look for new jobs once the economy turns around.
• Your youngest employees, who bring new ideas and skills to the workplace, are knocking on your competitor's door. Of the employees surveyed, 71% between the ages of 18 and 29 are likely to look for new jobs once the upturn begins.
• More than half (55%) of employees who are willing to accept a pay cut to keep their job, will accept a 10% salary decrease or more. But, recognize that financial difficulties lead quickly to a job search.
• Less than 1 in 10 of the Generation Y employees surveyed are willing to accept a pay cut to keep their jobs compared to 1 in 5 workers from the other generations (Baby Boomers, Gen X).
• 44% of employees over age 60 have been forced to delay their retirement plans.
• Only 22% of employees are saving money in anticipation of a potential layoff.
• 40% of American workers believe the recession will last another full year, and potentially into the third quarter of 2011.

You can reduce this potential employee turnover by the nature of the total work environment you offer for employees. These twenty recommendations about reducing employee turnover are common-sense, basic and incredibly hard to find in organizations today. Do you do these right things right? See Recession-Planning for Employees.

Susan Heathfield is a Human Resources expert. She is a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resources issues and in management development to create forward thinking workplaces. Susan is also a professional facilitator, speaker, trainer, and writer.