Coal Mining Workforce Growth Achieved in Exchange for Retirement Surge

During 2008, workforce growth in the Coal Mining industry came mostly from recruiting aging workers.
 
Surprisingly, while the industry was expanding, younger workers were exiting.
 
This trend is a problem.  While current labor demand is being satisfied, the tradeoff is a future retirement surge.
 
Furthermore, because so few younger workers are being attracted, the labor supply to fill [...]

Recession Affecting Retail Hiring Trends

During 2008, the retail industry satisfied an immediate labor demand by hiring highly educated workers.  Unfortunately – that only solved one half of the problem.  
 
While executives are well aware of the global economic recession’s affects on sales and profitability, few may realize the full implications for their workforce.   
 
A trend emerged in 2008 of [...]

Critical Position IT Pulse Survey

Demographic trends are colliding with a global economic recession – how will this affect the supply of critical information technology workers is unknown.
 
Many are aware of the demographic trends affecting information technology occupations.  An abundance of senior workers nearing retirement and surprisingly, a dearth of younger workers entering the field. 
 
While the current global recession [...]

Employee Concessions Could Give Rise to Labor Union Membership Growth

The end of The Great Depression saw a significant rise in union membership.  From 1935 to 1940 labor union membership as a percent of the workforce rose from 13% to 26%.
 
While union membership has declined to 12% in 2008, the global economic recession may usher in a resurgence of union membership.
 
Recent news reports include stories [...]

How Bad Is It vs. How Could We Make It Worse

It struck me recently that in over 30 years of consulting this is the first recession where  I have had to cope with Cable TV!  I am no longer sure that the constant flow of bad news is creating a self fulfilling prophecy.   Last week I began counting the “sighs” from those on one News [...]

The Silent Generation Meets Generation Y: How to Manage a Four Generation Workforce with Panache – Part 6a

In order to accommodate the four generations, companies are going to have to implement the following 4 critical steps: Insure flexibility; Create educational opportunities for as long as employee is working; Create signature experiences for employees to attract and retain them;and  Re-recruit employees everyday.
According to Tom Casey, “managing human assets is the challenge right now” [...]