By Sandra M. Jones |
If you dodged the pink slip only to find yourself taking on the work
your colleagues left behind, you aren’t alone.

Eight out of 10 employees report their workloads increased as a result
of company layoffs, according to a survey released Monday from Right
Management, the consulting arm of Manpower Inc. Fifty-seven percent of
workers describe their workloads as having grown “a lot.”

“Employees are likely feeling the pressure of more streamlined operations, increasing demands and tighter competition,” said David Hughes, market vice president at Chicago-based Right Management. “Most employees, from all industries and company sizes, have been asked to step up and make a greater contribution.”

Workers at large corporations feel the most pressure, with about two out of three saying their workloads increased “a lot” compared to one out of three at smaller firms. Likewise, younger workers, age 18 to 34, are most often taking on the extra loads.

On Friday the Labor Department reported that productivity rose at an annual rate of 3.6 percent in the first three months of the year, a bigger gain than economists had predicted. While the economy has been expanding, companies have been reluctant to hire, instead squeezing more output from their slimmed-down workforces.

Right Management surveyed 845 people through the online career networking site LinkedIn from March 11 to 30.