Cost-cutting actions, employment relations and workplace grievances: Lessons from the 2008 financial crisis

Periods of economic recession are typically accompanied by the use of cost-cutting actions, such as wage cuts or freezes, increased workloads and reduced training expenditures. While such actions are expected to boost performance, at least in the short-term, their effects on employee attitudes and behaviours at work have been the subject of much research. In this study, we examine how management's use of cost-cutting actions could have a detrimental impact on two aspects of the employment relations climate—the quality of employee–management relations and the level of employees’ trust in management; further, we investigate how these relationships might lead to an increase in employee complai…