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Posted on 4/5/2005, 5:07:56 PM by qam1
Grapevine, TX—The days of telling workers that they should consider themselves lucky to have a job are just about over. During his luncheon keynote address at the National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment on Monday, futurist Roger Herman, CEO of The Herman Group, warned that economic and demographic trends are transforming what had been a “buyers’ market” for employers to a “sellers’ market.”
In the early and mid 1990s, employers went out of their way to accommodate and even spoil employees. The go-go economy, compounded by baby boomers’ and Generation X’s desire to “take care of themselves rather than their companies,” resulted in what Herman called “unprecedented turnover” among workers. Pervasive job jumping among the most desirable employees made it tough to build teams and guarantee consistency.
With the dot-com implosion of 1999-2000 and the aftermath of 9/11, employees lost their advantage over companies. As the economy tightened, necessitating job cuts, management become more “autocratic,” Herman said. As a result, “employers during the past four years have not been treating workers as they should.” Employees in turn are harboring resentment over being overburdened and told to “put up or shut up.”
Well, guess what? Herman is again predicting unprecedented turnover among employees. Some regions of the country are already seeing unemployment rates of less than 2%, he said, turning the labor market into a sellers’ market once again.
According to Herman, 35%-40% of today’s workers are actively looking for another job. And 85% of the nation’s workers expected to be employed by a company different from their current one within 12 months. What’s more, a “substantial portion” of those who will leave their jobs will subsequently leave their new jobs within 6-10 months.
Yet we’re not seeing the 1990s redux, Herman said. For one thing, many of the next generation of employees are “highly technological in their approach.” Whereas the youth of the previous generations spent their free time working afterschool jobs or spending time with friends, the teens of the so-called millennial generation are bent over their computers, e-mailing, IMing, and playing video games—often at the same time they’re doing homework, watching TV, or participating in other activities. As a result, they’re accustomed to multitasking and making snap decisions. If they encounter a problem at work, said Herman, they’ll want to solve it ASAP, not spend time in a meeting with their peers and superiors. This will make managing these employees a challenge for older workers.
But employee retention will be even more critical than before, Herman continued, particularly for those who employ what used to be referred to as blue-collar workers. With the continued emphasis on obtaining a college degree as a gateway to professional success, there’s a lack of applicants for trade professions such as plumbing, auto repair, and the like. “We are on the threshold of the most severe shortage of skilled workers in history,” Herman said. While there may be plenty of applicants for fulfillment and call center jobs, there is a lack of skilled applicants.
To expand the universe of skilled employees for a given field or industry, Herman advised reaching out to community colleges and other institutions and organizations to interest potential workers and bring them into your fold.
As for retaining your best workers, he stressed the importance of replacing the subpar workers. The “good” employees tend to pick up the slack of the underperformers, leading to frustration and resentment.
Above all, he said, keep in mind that “people join companies; they leave bosses.”
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effect Gen-Reagan/Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Yep.
Here in NY, recruiters are calling again, and employees are listening to what they have to say.
They figure that if they have to work 60 hours a week, they might as well try to find someone who appreciates it.
I'm not sure Willie Green will like this.
I identify with the Xers more than my own generation.
Hey, at least there are two of us that didn't write an opus this week. You didn't, did you?
Pure, unadulterated, total BS.
How can that be? We all know that President Bush destroyed this economy! [/sarcasm]
So true.
I suspect that in 12 months futurists will be looking for new jobs. What the hell is a 'futurists'? What a joke on the people who buy into this pap....
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Me, with my Wile E. Coyote genius IQ, my, obvious, good looks, and my "can do" attitude.
Harumph!
"As for retaining your best workers, he stressed the importance of replacing the subpar workers. The “good” employees tend to pick up the slack of the underperformers, leading to frustration and resentment."
Very, very true. DH just left a great company because of an unbearable boss who ran hot and cold, and had everyone else doing his job for him. We recently found out that DH lasted the longest, nearly 4 years. The six people in that job before him lasted from 2 days to six months, each.
His ex-boss was a master at covering his tracks.
DH will land on his feet; but he's going to be very selective and not make the mistake again of ranking the company higher than the person within the company that he has to work for.
I thought all good jobs went to India and China!!
I suspect that this applies mostly to either very low level minimum wage jobs or very high level skilled technical jobs. And not to the middle management type jobs.
If I ever do leave, it won't be via opus. I'll just exit quietly out the back door marked "my profile." Then you'll all be sorry, eh? [Don't answer that!]
Willie Green? Willie Green? Didn't we have to let him go? :-).
Long gone are the days of lifetime employment, as are the days of cheap energy. Funny thing is, people tend to stay with companies that are growing fast and making obscene profits, regardless of the boss. Job satisfaction goes into the toilet when despite all your hard work, everybody else is getting canned.
I believe it. I've had a couple of headhunters call me in the past few weeks, and my resume is over a year old (I'm quite happy with my job).
However, we have had 4 people in the past 6 weeks give their notice, all going to different start-ups.
His posting job was outsourced.
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But wait! I thought we were all doomed. Some big-shot economist said so! We're all going to be living in mud huts with outdoor latrines any minute, when our houses collapse and the world bankers cackle in delight. I read it right here on FR.