IN THE CURRENT economic environment, employers appear to have the upper hand when it comes to issues of employee retention, flexibility and productivity. But taking that for granted could prove a costly mistake. Microsoft is one company that believes having a consistent approach in how you manage and engage with staff, in both good and bad economic climates, pays dividends. The firm has been voted the best large company to work for by the Great Places to Work Institute Ireland for the last two years.

“Not looking after your staff properly during a downturn is a very short-sighted approach,” says Fiona Mullen, Microsoft’s human resources director. “If you do the wrong things . . . People have long memories. A good question for all employees to ask is: do our leaders treat people as well when things are not so good in the economy? It says a lot about a company.”

Well-resourced firms such as Microsoft are among those best positioned to ride out a recession and employees with good jobs here could consider themselves fortunate in the current environment so, on the surface at least, retention appears to be less of an issue now than it might have been. “Things look very different when the market is up and people are more inclined to look around,” Mullen acknowledges.

Microsoft is not immune from the downturn though. The Irish operation shed around 100 staff last year as part of restructuring but it also recruited some specialist staff and, as Mullen notes, “these are people who would have had other options despite the downturn”.

In a business driven by creativity and innovation, making sure the right people are attracted, retained and fully engaged is important at Microsoft. Having energised, highly motivated people is crucial to a business like Microsoft. “The worst sin of all is apathy,” says Mullen.

“Last year was an exceptionally difficult one for a lot of companies and that impacted on our business too. Markets are static or shrinking. We took some swift action in areas like redundancies and decided not to invest in certain areas we might have. Our employees are having to work harder because we have a smaller headcount but they have risen to the challenge,” says Mullen.

Seeing the big picture in people’s lives is also important. While staff at Microsoft enjoy good conditions, Mullen acknowledges that many staff have spouses and other family members who have experienced the ravages of the recession through redundancy and pay cuts. The firm offers counselling services to employees who need help addressing issues such as stress and debt management.

The Best Company to Work For Awards involves an employee questionnaire and Mullen found it interesting that this year’s survey produced similar results to the previous year’s, despite the downturn. A recurring theme in the feedback was the importance of substantive issues rather than “nice to have” issues, she said. So the company scored well on questions such as: did the firm communicate change and was it transparent? Is the business focusing on creating long term value? Is it being well led?

One of the more interesting changes Mullen has noticed is a greater focus by staff on the bottom line. “Employees are more focused now on the link between what they do and how that impacts on business. They are good at articulating their views on where resources are spent and where priorities should be,” she says.

Employees are involved in groups looking at areas such as cost control. At a simple level, for example, employees were able to make it known last year that they didn’t want money spent on Christmas parties that could be better spent elsewhere. Setting up cross-functional communications is another way in which people can see the bigger picture so development staff, for example, get to talk to salespeople, giving them a more customer centric view of the market.

Microsoft spends a lot of time talking to its staff both at group and individual level and prides itself on creating a climate in which people will volunteer information. This gives it a good feel for what motivates its people. The bottom line, Mullen says, is that employees are looking for two things. “Firstly, they want the opportunity to do interesting work and contribute to something exciting and because of the nature of the work we do, we’re fortunate to be able to give them those opportunities. Secondly, they want to be part of a successful and profitable business.

Everyone has a vested interest in that success and that comes through very clearly when you talk to people here.”