This Week's Herman Trend Alert

Protecting Perks in a Downturn
 

  The Herman Trend Alert

December 31, 2003

2004 Workforce and Workplace Forecasts

  1. Employment Market Turbulence. More secure employees will stimulate unprecedented churning in the labor marketplace. This turbulence will threaten corporate stability and capacity to serve customers, particularly for employers who took employees for granted in recent years.

  2. Shift to Sellers' Market in Labor. Employers will face the most severe shortage of skilled labor in history. Corporations will become more aggressive to attract and hold top talent. People will change jobs to find their personal Employer of Choice®.

  3. Fluid International Job Movement. Economic issues and skilled labor shortages in the United States will move even more jobs to other countries. However, employers will discover that some situations are unsatisfactory and jobs will be returned.

  4. Retirement will Evaporate. Traditional retirement will continue its metamorphosis. Retirees will move into jobs in other fields, start their own businesses, and engage in other activities to remain active and productive.

  5. Training and Education will Accelerate. Corporate development programs will reach out to new employees and existing staff. Demand for vocational education will grow. Educators will be challenged to make major changes to produce graduates ready to be productive in a faster-moving world.

  6. Leadership Deficit will be Crippling. As employers discover serious inadequacies, leadership development will take on new importance. Up and coming managers will be expected to learn and practice leadership skills before assuming new positions.

  7. Flexible Employment will gain Popularity. As more people work flexible hours, work from home, and use technology to work for employers in distant locations, traditional work arrangements will further erode.

  8. Casual is Here to Stay. Despite some movement to return to more formality in the workplace, informality will dominate in clothing, culture, office décor, and workplace structural design.

  9. Advantage of Agility. Companies will re-create themselves to be more agile, nimble, and responsive to customers and employees. Relationships, resources, knowledge, and speed will become strategic weapons.

  10. Workers Becoming Independent. More people will become independent contractors, selling their services on a project, contract, or set-term basis. This movement will stimulate emergence of specialized staffing firms and electronic communities to connect workers with employers.

© Copyright 1998-2008 by The Herman Group, Inc. -- reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "The Herman Trend Alert," by Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or http://www.hermangroup.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group, Inc."


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SEE JOYCE GIVING YOU SOLUTIONS FOR THESE CHALLENGING TIMES
Follow this special link (open ONLY 11/19 to 11/26) and see Joyce interviewed on Profitability Channel's Biz Buzz. Her topic: "Surviving and Thriving in Tough Economic Times". Or you may view Joyce's two previous shows or any of the other 280 programs on the Channel. Then consider taking the sponsor's very special "economic stimulus" offer: Save over $500 off the regular cost of membership by paying $299 up front, then get a total of $500 in rebate coupons to spend on food or fuel over the next 20 months. Yes, this is NOT a typo. You actually pay $300 and get back $500. The only catch is that you get back the $500, $25 at a time. Be sure to put in the promotional code of esp12 at the bottom. For more information, visit www.ProfitabilityChannel.com.

FIND OUT WHAT YOUR EMPLOYEES REALLY THINK AND FEEL
Discover what's really going on in the hearts and minds of your employees. Our InnerViews interviewing service uses SPHRs and PHRs, certified human resource professionals to probe for the information you really need to know. Exit and Stay Interviews, as well as Why-Didn't-You-Take-Our-Offer Interviews. Call Rosalie Catalano at 937-648-1918 or read more at: www.hermangroup.com/retentionconnection/exit_interviews.html.

To read this Herman Trend Alert on the web: http://www.hermangroup.com/alert/archive_9-24-2008.html.


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