Sip your coffee and look out the window, if you have one. The sun that just came up is shining on a “New Normal” world. The Dow Jones is up, the economists are squawking that the recession is starting to pass, and I’m still cranky.
I took this on Main Street in Carmel...
What if the recession passes but everyone who is out of work stays that way? I am being asked to help write a lot of resumes these days for “a friend of a friend” and I’m getting a window into a tough job market. My gut tells me that the rehiring that is starting to happen is not going to re-hire many of the folks that are out, and the expansion that is underway is going to find lots of “Lean” ways to stay at “lean levels”. Productivity is up and will stay up, and new growth may come from an outsourced workforce.
I just read a good bog post on the subject – here is the link
A lot of the stimulus $$$ went to pay the bills for the unsustainable world we were living in. Now that we’re re-set at 80% of our former economy, we have to get used to a lower standard of living…and along with that comes a lower employment level.
What to do? Simply put, now is the time for HR to play a big role in the design and operation of the new organization. Now is the decade of HR – the folks in finance need low risk and high return, operation needs flexibility and creativity, and the workplace needs leadership.
Now is the time for HR to step up with new tools to be a competitive advantage. Start using new methods, and leave the ones that got us here in the closet.
Because the sun just came up in a “New Normal” world. Happy Tuesday.
Karl Ahlrichs' Uncommon Experience 
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