The latest reading on employer reactions to the recession brings more mixed results.

While most organizations are maintaining or increasing their workplace flexibility, creative cost-cutting efforts that can preserve morale—and ultimately profits—appear to have gotten short shrift, according to a new report from the Families and Work Institute.

The study of 400 U.S. employers finds that 81 percent of organizations have maintained their workplace flexibility options, and an additional 13 percent have increased them. Only 6 percent have reduced such programs.

In addition, 26 percent of employers say they have used flexible workplace options to minimize the need to lay off employees.

Still, layoffs have been common, according to the report, which involved surveying organizations with 50 or more employees in May. Just over three-quarters of employers have taken at least one step to cut labor and operational costs in the past year, and of them 64 percent reported layoffs.

Layoffs may be necessary and smart in some situations. But they also risk hurting a company’s esprit de corps. Polling firm Gallup has found that organizations with a layoff or downsizing saw the level of “actively disengaged” employees rise by 3 percentage points, to 24 percent.
 
Given the connection between engagement and business success, it’s disconcerting that companies haven’t worked harder to hold on to workers. Just 19 percent of organizations cutting costs in the past 12 months tried increasing telecommuting to save on occupancy costs, for example. Twenty-two percent increased their use of compressed workweeks, which also can limit occupancy expenses. And just 27 percent reduced pay.

Pay cuts can depress workers, for sure. But in the context of saving jobs, they can tap into a broader mood of shared sacrifice.

The same goes for reduced hours. It’s hard to get a sense for how widely companies have been trimming hours from the Families and Work Institute report. It finds that among employers cutting costs in the past 12 months, 29 percent have tapped voluntary reductions in hours, and 28 percent have used involuntary cutbacks. But the categories weren’t mutually exclusive. And the institute doesn’t provide a figure for the total percentage of firms using some form of reduced hours as a cost-cutting strategy.

Overall, the new report adds to a muddy picture of employer actions and employee engagement during the recession. Further complicating the situation, morale isn’t just a function of company practices. It is shaped also by broader trends around opportunity, security and risk for workers in America—meaning health care reform and the overall economic health of the country and world play a role.

Still, there’s a consistent message for employers: Those organizations that treat workers well in these tough times likely will be among the leaders as the economy picks up.