London, United Kingdom: Cezanne HR, the leading UK-headquartered supplier of modern, easy to adapt HR software for mid-sized and growing businesses, has conducted an exclusive survey to discover what effects a recession may have on UK and Irish businesses.

Senior leaders and managers say HR need to prioritise health and wellbeing programmes during times of financial crisis

With the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and looming recession hitting everyone’s finances, Cezanne HR’s survey – conducted in November this year – discovered that nearly 50% of managers believe HR teams should be prioritising health and wellbeing programmes to support staff. Improving employee communications, preventing excess levels of staff turnover and upskilling the workforce were also stated as being important priorities for HR during a recession.

In addition, Cezanne HR’s survey also discovered that:

  • Nearly 90% of senior business leaders believe their businesses are or will be negatively impacted by the current economic situation. More than 55% say this is already the case.
  • Over 70% of managers say their staff are worried about how the recession will affect their jobs, with 60% concerned about redundancy
  • Nearly two-thirds of UK and Irish businesses have already or will be freezing or reducing recruitment efforts due to the volatile economy
  • 80% of managers are worried a recession will drive rates of excessive staff turnover, with job insecurity cited by over a third as the reason
  • 77% of managers say supporting employee morale is their top priority in a recession.

Paul Bauer, Cezanne HR’s Head of Content commented that: “The worsening economic situation and cost-of-living crisis has sent shockwaves through our society. With businesses having to take tough decisions, energy and food prices surging and job insecurity, many people are finding times incredibly stressful and worrying.”

“It’s comforting then, that our survey found managers saying that during a recession, their HR teams should prioritise employee health and wellbeing- they really are putting their employees first. Of course, whilst the downturn in the economy means that many businesses can’t pay more to employees or step in to solve their financial issues, they can – at the very least – work hard to ensure their employees are safe, healthy, satisfied and engaged with their work.”

What can HR do to help their employees in this time of crisis

When it comes to what HR can do to successfully support their employee’s health and wellbeing, Paul went onto say that “HR teams need to ensure they have a sound framework in place to support people’s physical and mental health. This can include providing sources of professional help, such as counselling, to more formal benefits, such as an employee assistance programme. In any instance though, the first step has to be in creating more meaningful engagement with their people.”

You can discover the full rundown of the results and what they mean for HR here.