A 2011 Human Resources Forecast

I am not really big on making "lists" so you will not see from me lists of the good or bad or best or whatever. However, I am big on forecasts and I thought this one was good. It is from the Herman Trend Alert and is reproduced with permission.

1. Recruiting will intensify. We are already seeing the large companies looking for increasing numbers of employees. Later in 2011, the small and medium-size companies will join the scrimmage. More companies that had eliminated their recruiting function will hire inside people to offset their expenses of headhunter fees.

2. Unemployment will remain relatively high. We expect unemployment to remain over 8 percent for the coming year. The challenge for employers is that many of the unemployed do not have the skills they are looking for.

3. Workforce development will increase in importance. As communities realize the disparity between desired skills and those people actually possess, the issue of workforce development will become more important. The federal government will pass legislation to assist in this process.

4. More employers will embrace technology to manage processes and keep track of relationships. Companies providing software to employers will see their businesses grow. Employers will face the challenges of training their people in these new systems.

5. More companies will tap women for executive positions. With increases in the percentage of women in colleges, universities, and graduate schools, the world is graduating more capable, qualified women who will move into positions of authority in corporations.

6. The levels of corporate growth will depend on the region. The United States and Europe will lag behind Asia and South America in job growth and profits. Lingering high levels of unemployment and housing situations will hamper expansion.

7. Any remaining companies that had not restored sales incentives will do so next year. Recognizing the competitive disadvantage employers not only restore incentives to previous levels, but will also look for innovative ways to augment these programs with meaningful non-financial incentives keyed to the individuals' social circumstances.

8. The repeal of the Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell law will have far-reaching repercussions. This law, governing gays openly serving in the US military, will open the door to more recognition for domestic partners. More employers will acknowledge these partnerships as civil unions with attendant expenses and benefits.

9. Employers will pay increasing attention to retention. Higher employee turnover and greater difficulty in recruiting will again challenge more employers. By necessity, employers will once again be forced to look at employee retention.

10. The escalating regulatory environment will cause employers to need employment lawyers more than ever. With OFCCP (The US Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs) inspections and other onerous regulations, employers will have no choice but to engage their employment lawyers at higher levels.

"From 'The Herman Trend Alert,' by Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurist. (800) 227-3566 or http://www.hermangroup.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group of Companies, Inc."

"Victims" Make Good Union Targets

I am currently reading a book by my favorite consulting guru Alan Weiss of Summit Consulting. The book is called Thrive!. It deals with taking control of your life and thriving as a result. I will write more on this later when I do a book review. But one of the things he said in one chapter dealt with the victimhood. Some people embrace being a victim. In HR we all have known someone like this. "Stuff" always happens to them. They are never at fault. Someone was out to get them; the boss did not understand them; someone stabbed them in the back, etc. There is always a "THEM."

This got me to thinking that unions thrive on the culture of victimhood. For a union to gain a toehold in a business they need to find, or need to create, a victim inside the workplace. And of course the "them" is always management. As a "victim" worker, management could always be paying you more, or offering you better benefits, or more security. And unions are more than willing to point out your "victim" status. Unfortunately today there is plenty of fodder for the union propaganda machines. Companies have been laying off, cutting wages, and regrettably taking advantage of some of their workers.

So how do you keep your company from feeding the propaganda machine? Here are some suggestions:

• Communication- the more employees know about the company situation the less the rumor mill works
• Fairness- I am all for people making as much money as they can, but if you are furloughing your teachers you don't give your superindendent a $20,000 increase. You don't give your CEO a $1 million bonus when your are closing three plants. You get my point.
• More communication- listen to your workers. Enlist their input on what can be done.
• More Fairness- spread the pain to minimize the pain. There may not be any raises this year if we can avoid laying anyone off.
• Don't do stupid things- Don't fire someone for a bogus reason. Be honest.
• Don't let stupid things be done to you- Don't let employees take advantage of a situation. It undermines everyone else's morale.

I am sure there are many more, so suggest some. It just dawned on me that this list could apply to employee retention too. Makes sense, not all "victims" are willing to stick around.

Meaningful Work: It Helps Employers and Employees

I wrote an article for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the online version, on Meaningful Work. I think it helps both employers and employees. Click on the link above and let me know in the comments section either here or there and let me know what you think of meaningful work.

Employee's Perceptions of Benefits: Good or Bad

The results of a Fidelity Investments’ Consulting Services survey were posted on Talent Management on Monday. The survey dealt with perceptions employees have of the benefit packages their employees provide. The good news was that the "...study that found that 72 percent of people believe that the benefits they receive at work are better than or as good as what most other companies offer." The bad news was "...most feel the value of benefits has dropped, with 61 percent of workers reporting they are paying more for benefits, but getting less or the same as they did in 2007." Unfortunately employers are increasingly put between a rock and a hard place. (If you are not sure what this means click on the link) Omega HR Solutions, the company in which I am a partner, helps companies with their benefit programs. My partners are group health insurance experts. They constantly struggle with this issues of coverage, group experience, desired coverage, employee retention and COST. In many cases employers have to make choices between coverage or no-coverage or reducing the amount of coverage.

The article goes on to say "Most workers surveyed underestimate the employer cost of providing health insurance to employees. A majority (53 percent) believe their employers pay less than $5,000 annually per person to provide health insurance. In fact, health plans typically cost employers $5,000 to $15,000 per employee on an annual basis." If this describes your company you need to make sure you are communicating the cost of benefits. Many employees do not have any idea what their employer spends on them. It can be a big retention tool. It certainly makes it easier to explain why benefits may be reduced if employees understand the money crunch those benefits may cause an employer.

Another section of the study talked about the view that many workers have about the future of their benefits. "The study found almost half of American workers surveyed (48 percent) believe their benefits, including health insurance, retirement savings plans and pension plans, won’t be provided by their employer 10 years from now.
The study found that 30 percent of workers surveyed think they will be responsible for obtaining their own benefits by 2019, 18 percent think the government will provide benefits, 28 percent think employers will still provide benefits to their workers, and 24 percent are not sure. Yet, benefits are so critical to today’s employees that one out of four surveyed said they are working more to receive the accompanying benefits than to receive the income."

An interesting future view. I wonder what the mix will be? What do you think?