Forbes.com recently published some interesting survey data from consulting firm Towers Perrin about How Workers Feel Right Now. Here are the numbers:

• Engagement is up one to two points from 2008
• Efficiency is up eight points
• The feeling that management is giving people a clear sense of direction is down from 71% to 63%
• Understanding of company goals fell from 79% to 69%
• Understanding of department goals fell from 83% to 71%

If you look at what’s happened to the economy and the workplace in the past years, these numbers make sense. It’s a snapshot of downsizing, fear, and confusion:

• Engagement goes up because people are afraid of losing their jobs.
• Efficiency goes up because there are fewer people doing the same amount of work.
• Understanding of goals and expectations goes down because our work culture is based on time and abstractions like “dedication.”

That drop in department goals clarity is really telling (and deadly). It shows that the long boom masked a lot of dodgy management. Because if you’re making your numbers and you’re having even a little bit of success, then you don’t really have to question what you’re doing. It’s only when times turn sour that an organization starts to ask itself, “What are we doing?”

Right now we’re hearing stories from people who feel lucky to have a job, but feel completely at sea. Their bosses—who are used to managing time and not results—don’t know what to do other than issue vague commands like “let’s really buckle down” and “we need to work hard here, people” and “let’s all make sure we’re extra available and responsive.”

The work culture that allowed these kinds of statements to pass as acceptable may be gone forever. While we don’t welcome the human cost of the global economic crisis, we do hope that our current woes provide an opportunity to emerge in better shape than when we entered.