As seen in the
Portland Press Herald
January 11
Your Business: Reasons for optimism
on rise in 2011
By RICK DACRI
 We can
all breathe a collective sigh of relief now that 2010 has come to an
end. We finally finished a difficult year and, frankly, a trying decade.
As we enter the new year, there is reason for
optimism. The economy is rebounding, and businesses and employees can
expect good things to follow. My work force predictions for 2011:
• Hiring will be up. Throughout 2011, hiring will
increase, slowly but steadily. Watch for targeted hiring as employers
focus on key employees who can make an immediate contribution to the
company's core business. Hiring for the sake of hiring is dead.
• Turnover will increase. As employees become more
confident of an improving economy, many will bail. Pent-up frustration
with cuts in pay and benefits, watching fellow employees lose their
jobs, and fatigue due to working more with less will push workers to
begin searching for greener pastures.
At the same time, employers' star performers will
be targeted by external recruiters for poaching. As business improves,
key staff will be needed, and those unprotected and unappreciated stars
will become vulnerable and open to a recruiter's pitch.
• Contingent hires will reign. Though the economy
is improving, employers will focus their hiring on temporary workers as
a hedge. Confidence is not high, so employers will depend on temps,
realizing that their work force can expand and contract more easily
with them.
Temp agency businesses will boom in 2011. Watch
for significant hiring of temps, part-timers and independent
contractors.
• Cost reductions will continue. Employers will
continue to search for ways to cut costs. Labor costs and health
insurance will be the biggest targets. While employers struggle to keep
these two line items in check, they will be forced to address the need
to remain competitive.
Cutting too much will drive employees out –
potentially into the hands of competitors; cutting too little, and
employers will watch their bottom line erode. Employers will struggle
to keep the balance.
• Layoffs will continue. Though hiring will
increase, expect to see employers cutting labor at the same time. In
fact, more employers will be hiring and firing simultaneously.
In this new economy, employers will continue to
focus on their core business, hiring needed and critical talent for
their core business while quickly shedding "unnecessary" workers
elsewhere. "Lean and mean" will be the new mantra.
• Employee engagement drops. Employee engagement
has been dropping for several years and will continue to do so in 2011.
Workplace stress, fatigue and anger have turned employees off, and the
last two years have been especially hard on employees.
With disengagement, employers' productivity gains
will be at serious risk. Employers who successfully address this
problem will see business soar in 2011.
• Training will increase. Employers will begin
investing in all aspects of employee training. Training was among the
first things to go during the recession, and employers are beginning to
feel the effects. Skill atrophy has set in. As employers push for
greater productivity with less labor, the need for trained talent will
be critical.
• Social networking will become mainstream. More
employers will turn to social networking to recruit and to communicate
directly with their employees. No longer will it be seen as a
productivity drain or an employee distraction. Employers will utilize
it as a valuable and cost-effective tool.
• Lawsuits increase. Expect more employment
lawsuits. As more older and higher-paid workers get pink slips while
the unemployed struggle to find jobs, more will turn to the courts for
remedy. Watch for more age-discrimination and wrongful-discharge suits.
• Succession planning is in vogue. More and more
organizations and boards of directors will slowly begin to realize that
many of their key employees and leadership are getting older. Employers
begin to understand that they must prepare for the potential loss of
this critical talent and start to put in place succession plans.
In the forthcoming year, employers will refocus
their attention from mere survival to strategically positioning their
companies for the economic upturn. Work force issues will be at center
stage in 2011. It is going to be a good year.
Rick Dacri is a management consultant and author
of the book "Uncomplicating
Management: Focus On Your Stars & Your Company Will
Soar." He can be reached at 207-967-0837, rick@dacri.com.
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