So can employee engagement surveys.

Dave Ulrich, HR guru, mentioned this recently and I agree with him.  It seems that companies are getting feedback from their annual employee surveys, and the data is telling them that everything is OK with the employees.

Their employees are engaged, motivated, and happy.

And this is what Dave calls a 'false positive.'

Of course they are happy...THEY HAVE A JOB!

Unemployment is still hovering around 10% nationwide.  A recent article in the Birmingham Business Journal states that 68% of Birmingham, AL employers have no plans to hire any employees in Q1 of 2010.

68%!

This means those employees that do have jobs are happy to have them.

But make no mistake about it.  The economy will recover.  When it does, employees will have more options to move, transfer, or just leave your organization.

So what are you doing right now to keep them?

As a leader, do not be fooled by the data that shows that everything is hunky-dory with your employees.  The data is most likely misleading you.

During this strange economic time, successful leaders will continue to:

• engage their employees with meaningful work
• increase (not decrease) training and development opportunities
• continue to recognize high performers

Those leaders who do not do these things are in for a big surprise when the economy recovers.

Talk about a true positive...