It's no secret that we've been entrenched in a recession, and unfortunately many people have lost their jobs, or faced reductions in hours/pay/benefits.  One study though, finds that CFOs have learned some interesting lessons during this difficult economic time: employee morale is key.

A national study developed by Robert Half Management Resources and conducted by an independent research firm, phoned 1,400 CFOs at random from U.S. companies with more than 20 employees, and asked them, what the greatest lessons they learned from the recession were.  Of the CFOs, 27 percent said they learned to place more emphasis on employee morale.  The complete results are as follows:

When asked, "Which one of the following is the greatest lesson you have learned from the recession?" answers were:

27%      Place greater focus on maintaining employee morale

22%      Take decisive measures more quickly to avoid multiple rounds of cost cutting

22%      Make sure you have enough staff to maintain productivity

15%      Implement more detailed succession plans for company

1%        Other

11%      No lessons learned

2%        Don't know/didn't answer