Lambentpath

As the economic condition continues in its turbulent rant and rave cycle, the consistent flow of layoffs seem to effect and detract from every sector without relief.  In this, I try to look for the benefits that are offered to those employees in their transition.  How do employees view their employers and how did the layoff go in terms of process and respect.

Well, to no ones surprise, least of all mine - they do not do a good job.  A recent poll suggested the following figures which are a testament of poor process and even poorer strategic planning.

• 88% of the people polled said that they would rate the process with their layoff poor or very poor
• 72% of the people polled rated the severance packages poor or very poor
• 94% of the people polled rated the outplacement services poor or very poor

Now the review went on to speak about several other factors around remaining employees morale and other factors but these three I think list a hard line truth of the short sighted view that many employers are taking in today’s market.  One of immediate cost cutting with no regard for future business and employee need.

One thing is for sure, and most people are not speaking about it - the employee pipeline in the US is getting smaller not larger and companies need to position and act accordingly.  Public companies are thinking of this weeks numbers vs. strategic planning and work force development and talent management.  Instead of laying people off since the numbers are not there, look at the projected years business and the following year, where the market is headed and better yet what your multi-billion dollar company will look like 5 yrs from now.  Executives need to head the word of the people and know that with constant layoffs come a smaller and smaller labor force to hire from when things start getting better.

Now no one is saying that layoffs never need to happen and if they do manage them well.  What we are seeing above is that the process is handled badly.  I personally only want to discuss the first bullet point of the above listed three.  The other two are very subjective since the amount of money paid in severance and outplacement will never meet the expectations of the laid off workforce no matter what is done.  But the first one is the process and I hear consistently of the horror stories of some of the poorest run programs anywhere.  A few things I notice that are consistent through the layoffs and make for a poor process are as follows:

1. Poor communication or a total lack of in most cases
2. No consistency
3. Poor management left in place

Well the major themes above are not only common but executed with no accountability nor regard for the longer term impact.  I would be interested in knowing how layoffs would be executed if the people managing the process would keep their role or lose their job based upon the exit survey of the group being ousted.  I know one thing for sure, people would be more like people and a great deal nicer dealing with the issues of the work force.

• Poor communication is the leading cause for many issues.  However it appears that there is a larger issue here that no one is pointing to.  The reason for the lack of communication comes from the executive leadership wanting to hold things close to the vest, not lose productivity during the transition, and maintain control during the process.  Hmmmmm….sorry folks does not work that way.
• Consistency.  There appears in most cases to be little reason for certian people being laid off and others kept.  People with similiar roles are left not knowing why their co worker was dismissed and the desk next to them empty.  In conjuction with no communication, they are paralyzed with the uncertain future of their role and when they might fall under the axe.
• Poor management left in place.  All the time!!  It happens everywhere I turn that the management left in most cases is the least expensive to the payroll and therefore the most in experienced or the poorest.  Not the people you need during one of the more crucial times of your company’s history.  Again, cost is the ruling factor here not thinking of the loss of talent, knowledge and increased inefficiency that will permeate through the environment for the coming years reducing your competitive advantage.

Where does this leave us?  Who knows?  Honestly the people that are in the trenches, see the people for who they are, and understand the masses either are let go or forced under fear to conform to the strategies of the people that do not know any better or choose short sighted cost cutting as the only solution.  Whether you are one or the other, or even part of the laid off work force - feel empowered or become empowered.  Things will change, the employee will once again rise to the occasion and things will get better.  It never happens as fast we like, but it will happen as history teaches.  My hope is that all of the good people are not burned by then and don’t feel like working for the corporate empires that have brought such low morale standard upon how we treat people.

 Some good news and wanted to share it with the rest of the people I know!!

BNA’s Quarterly Employment Outlook - 1st Quarter 2009

ARLINGTON, Va., June 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – Employment prospects have improved slightly since last quarter but remain well below levels reported 12 months ago, according to projections from 325 employers responding to BNA’s latest quarterly employment survey.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090105/56509LOGO)

BNA survey results show that:

• Nineteen percent of employers plan to add technical and professionals positions in the third quarter of 2009, up 3 percentage points from the previous quarter (16 percent) but down 5 points from the same period one year ago (24 percent) and well below levels in 2006 and 2008.
• Increased demand for technical and professional staff has come from manufacturing and nonbusiness enterprises. Among manufacturers, there has been a 7-point increase since last quarter (to 15 percent). Similarly, nonbusiness organizations report a 5-point increase (to 22 percent) in plans to expand the number of professional and technical workers.
• Eight percent of employers anticipate hiring office and clerical workers in the third quarter, a modest 2-point increase since last quarter but well below the 16 percent that expected to hire more workers in this category in the third quarter of 2008.
• There has been practically no change since last quarter in the hiring outlook for production and service workers. One in seven employers (14 percent) plans to add these staff in the third quarter, up a marginal 1-point since last quarter but still down 11 points from the third quarter of 2008 (25 percent) and well below levels in 2006 through 2008.
• Despite improvements since last quarter in anticipated hiring, reports of workers on layoff have risen in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the first quarter of this year and the second quarter of 2008. The situation is most dire for production and service workers, with twenty-seven percent of employers reporting layoffs of these staff in the second quarter, up from 13 percent in the first quarter and 7 percent one year ago. Employer furloughs of production and service staff has reached levels not seen since the second quarter of 1987.
• Nearly one in four employers (24 percent) have laid off office and clerical staff, up 15 points since last quarter (9 percent) and 21 points since the second quarter of 2008.
• One consequence of the weak labor market has been a decline in job vacancies. Only three percent of employers report difficulty filling office and clerical positions in the second quarter, down 1 point since the first quarter. Fewer than one in ten employers (7 percent) report some difficulty filling vacant production and service positions, a 3-point decline from first quarter figures. Nearly three in ten employers (29 percent) have some vacant technical and professional positions, down 6 points since last quarter (35 percent) and off 30 points since second quarter of 2008. 

BNA’s survey of the employment outlook has been conducted quarterly since 1974. This quarter’s report is based on responses from 325 human resource and employee relations executives representing a cross-section of U.S. employers, both public and private.

National Geographic has to be one of those mags that simply amazes the young and old.  Pictures of creation, landscape, animals, and all life that inspire one to truly look at themselves and wonder who they are and what they are doing.  Being a passionate person, certain things bring about a distinct emotion within me making for a great writing.

Turtles…not something I was overly fond of when growing up.  Actually I think my mom scared me off from them circling back to bacteria and such.  In any case, as days pass and maturity keeps gaining momentum - I look at things like turtles and wonder.  Pretty amazing.  When you think about it, something that most of us should consider when working.  More of us should be turtles.

A turtle has a very solid slate of great working characteristics.  Take a look:

1. Hard outer shell.  Protects the animal from the outside world and shields it from things that would otherwise harm it (predators and the like).
2. Neck.  One of the more interesting parts of the creature…a neck that can expand and retract as an element of confidence or fear.
3. 4 legs, a formidable moving system allowing for the creature to move effectively - not too fast, not too slow - but just in time.

So lets think about this, is being a turtle so bad?  I do not think so.  Use it for us and take a look at the benefits.

1. Hard outer shell.  Well most of us need this to survive in the business world.   Unfortunately few people actually have it, although more people will claim it than should.  The ability to seperate the business from personal, offer a formidable barrier between your heart and the business at hand.  If more of us had this, business would be cleaner and less fads like change management and other people factors would need to be addressed.
2. Neck.  I love this one.  A neck is a great asset and suppose we used it like the turtle.  First, take a look and understand what you are suppossed to be doing.  Extend it out and get a better view if you need to.  However when things start flying around, and you need to get down to business and avoid the business climate - retract it and stay in your own world.  Keep it out there too long, you might get it cut off.
3. Legs.  Movement.  Time and speed is what we hear about all the time.   But speed is becoming less hype, and people are more focused on results and the steadiness of getting things done correctly the first time.  Maybe slowing down like the turtle might not be so bad if you are suffering for your speed approach.

I think the turtle has it right.  He goes at his own pace, remains available and knowledge to the outside world, and keeps a hard exterior to protect against his enemies.  Come to think of it, don’t think that the turtle ever cries either.  Hmmmm…maybe there is more to the turtle than we thought.

Ahhhh, the break time.  Well I have been on hiatus or whatever they call simply doing everything but writing.  Barely been reading any of the normal blogs I do, simply working and expanding of the footprint of the business.  Which I might add is doing very very well.  Consulting has been screaming along and our intention is to leverage that for the establishment of a more formal business development effort with centralized location penetration requirements of our employees.

In any case, glad to be back and sorry been away so long.  Look forward to reading and writing a good deal more about this business we work in.

The job search and better yet the career path that one takes has a genuine undertone that I think inevitably shapes the thoughts and minds of the seeker.  That is the person’s passion.  Passion is under-used criteria in the search process as most people think that passion is lost when they need to “grow up” and move out into the world.    I researched passion and this is what I found “Passion can be expressed as a feeling of unusual excitement, enthusiasm or compelling emotion towards a subject, idea, person, or object. A person is said to have a passion for something when they have a strong positive affinity for it. A love for something and a passion for something are very similar feelings.”  Does this sound like something we need more or less in the work place?

To me I would say more.  I have recruited, placed and built departments in the IT world for 10 yrs plus now (I am getting older….LOL).  The thing that makes a person or a place great is the passion the team or professional brings to the job and the environment.  So many of us do not have passion for our daily duties.  A real love of what we do, how we do it, how we can make it better.  I read once that a person with a job has too much time, and a person with a career never has enough.  I believe that this makes a strong alignment to the passion one feels and the career that spurns from that love.  Jobs are boring, careers tend to be better, but what about a passion that happens to be what you do for work?  That has power, creativity, efficiency, and hard work written all over it.  It is the key to making your job what no one else haves….a part of your daily life that you love doing and happen to get paid for.

How do we capture this in our search for a new role, or even create it in a role we currently have and enjoy?  I think that bringing passion to the search is far easier than creating it from scratch.  So we will begin there.  I know that people have heard in all sorts of forums the need for a professional job seeker to look for what they love and apply that to the search.  But that does not really address the idea of passion.  People love to do a great deal of things, most of which cannot sustain a living.  So what about a passion?  Well…pick it and I think we can come to a handful of positions in which that passion can be leveraged to create a career.  Passion is the key in what needs to be defined.

So lets do it….what is your passion?

Ask yourself:

• What do you wake up thinking about?
• What brings you more fulfillment than anything else?
• What spurs a restlessness in your heart when you discuss it?
• What can someone say, or bring up, that immediately floods you with passion to talk about, act on, or defend?

These are all defining comments on passion.  If these are answered truthfully, passion is easy to define.  Once defined, you need to incorporate that into a what positions use or leverage that passion to succeed in their business or objective.  Those are the positions and companies you need to align yourself with knowing that you are progressing the cause in which you have a great deal of passion.

Over time it has become apparent in reading and listening to people within organizations that a sense or lack of manager care is constant in the work place.  Management, both executive and supervisory, are pressed with the bottom line offering little consciousness of the impact.  Expecting more and demanding more, employees become less and less engaged.  They work endless hours to serve “the man” just in the hopes that they will keep their job in the sliding economy.  The downward pressure continues to build until the release factor - quitting or getting fired - becomes a reality. 

I know in a great amount of the time this is true.  Economics on a worldwide stage are brutal, offering little to make one feel comfortable about the future prospects.  But is management to blame?  Better put, are managers the only ones to blame?  Until recently, I would have easily laid the pressure on their shoulders without thinking twice.  Mocking them as much as others would be a natural and easy step until most recently.  I read the story of a certain professional whose story becomes not so uncommon.  And in this, we can all see that management is not alone.

Derrick is an employee currently working in a customer focused environment.  He works for a large services company operating in their 2nd level support function bringing customer solutions to people that have purchased products from his employer.  Recently, it has been rumored to increase the bottom line and continue growth - the US based call centers will be closing and transferring responsibilities to off-shore call centers in India and Brazil.  This has worried a great deal of people including Derrick.

Derrick’s company has been very good about communicating the strategy and not all positions will be moving overseas.  The lower level roles will be moving, but all critical care, management, and project management roles will be staying here in the US.  Those positions will be filled with professionals in the company already and external people if the talent pool is not present.  Derrick, a 5 yr employee, is quite interested in remaining employed and inquires from his manager how he can be involved with one of the company’s remaining positions.  His manager offers him a clean strategy of to collect professional reviews, references, and annual evaluations to show that he can handle the new positions increased responsibility.  He also was told to break down his current role, inquire from business intelligence on how he stands statistically and bring all of that to the table.

Despite the advice and direction offered by his manager - Derrick decides to “show” his manager what type of person he is.  He continues doing the work he is doing, but working extended hours and filling roles where other people are falling short or have quit.  He feels that in this manner management will see his efforts and place him into one of the newly created roles.  Logically, as Derrick sees it, the actions he is taking make him appear like “management material” and the company will see with sweat and tears that he is a needed part of the team.

Fast forward to the end, Derrick lost his job - not to India but to another professional that came in from outside the company.  When he questioned the decision citing his more than 5 yrs of service, management told him that the information available for decisions and moving people into this role did not offer them a clear view that he had done, nor would be capable of the increased responsibility.  Therefore they went in a different direction. 

WOW.  Derrick was floored but to whose fault. He leaves there thinking little of the company and that he never stood a chance in getting the role.  But did he do what he could to get the new position.  Was he truly listening to the powers at be to place himself in the best seat to take advantage of the changes.  In this scenario, he had all of the information he needed to make the jump.  He simply did not execute.  However, when the picture is less clear, are we helping ourselves or doing more of the same in hopes people see us different?

I read a recent article about the art of confidence and how one is to garner it.  Take a look at the post on The Career Encouragementblog.  I noticed as I was reading the post that places together a quick list of ways to gain self confidence that something was missing.  The list of ways to gain self confidence did not cover what I think is the number 1 reason and method for building your internal power when heading to an interview.  Preparation.

Preparation is the number one way people feel confident in their approach to a meeting, an interview, pretty much anything.  You can walk fast, speak loud and dress for the black tie event.  If you are not prepared mentally with a knowledge of the subject matter, of the audience, of the purpose of your meeting - you are doomed for failure.  The people that are prepared are not only the most confident, they typically do not have to lather on some of the surface mannerisms that try to masquerade as confidence allowing people to quickly realize their expertise thus immediately taking them in as a trusted resource.

The great thing about preparation.  It is the easiest and cheapest method as well.  With the web, the limitless resources available for one to read and become aware of a subject make for a sea of opportunity when prepping for that big meeting.  So instead of running out to purchase that 1000 suit, running to the gym one more time, or sitting in the front row yelling your head off  - do the simplest thing.  Sit tight, take time off and spend it in front of the research instrument most all of us have available.  You will find it is time well spent.

Written by Jason Monastra

I have been investigating the job motivation area since I see a trend that has evolved since our last major recession in the 2000-2001 time frame.  People are looking for jobs, applying for new roles, even leaving positions for uncertain futures during a time when positions are not as plentiful.  Why is that?  Why is their turnover when people are being laid off by the thousands?  Why are the open chairs when unemployment is so high?  Motivation and the keys to why people work are becoming of large interest to me, to my clients, and to my company.

Motivation in the job market has really become a strong subject where experts are popping up like grass on the subject, citing numerous areas of speciality and telling companies what drives people.  The truth of the matter is as I evaluate my own employees, my family, and the people I speak to that are leaving positions during this recession for something “better” - I find a consistent theme.  Recognition.  Man what a driver this recognition is.  Professionals want to know they are doing a good job, and when they are they want to told so, identified in front of a group of peers, and made to know they count. 

Funny enough, recognition is one of the most widely unused management tools used around the globe.  We are quick to point out, finger, or even yell to the mountain tops when we identify a gap or see someone doing something wrong.  Why do we do that?  Does that build our fellow worker?  Does it increase productivity?  Does it inspire innovation or change?  Actually it does none.  What it does it make people sit back in their desks, complain about work, surf the net for new jobs, and lose countless hours and precious dollars on things that have nothing to do with their job.  So why is recognition not used.  Simply put, managers do not get it.

Management believes that dollars and cents are all that count.  People are motivated by money.  As I read and learn more from one-one personal conversations, professionals are motivated less by money than you would think.  In the midst of all the benefits of a job, pay is 3rd or 4th continually on all lists.  The two leading criteria are personal learning and recognition.  Those lead the lists above money every single time.  WOW.  When I read that I was confused…you know why - I am a manager.  Learning not a very good manager.  Simple recognition of a job well done, an innovative idea, cost cutting measure introduced, etc. brings to life an inner spectrum untouched by money and one of far more value.  People seize the opportunity and elate when their deeds are made known to others.  Why?  Well there are countless reasons why, but the fact remains that recognition is the key. 

I have been implementing and designing ways to foster this not only in my business life, but my personal as well with extraordinary results.  Small things, simple touches that let people know how well they are doing are met with joy, smiles, and most of all - HARDER work.  People begin trusting, develop respect, and have a deeper devotion to the job and the company.  All things we want and at a far less dollar cost than giving a raise.  If you are not using them, or even considering it - hesitate no longer, look no farther, and start down the road of recognition.  I think you will find the results are far more than you can imagine.

Written by Jason Monastra

Online branding is becoming one of the critical components of the job search process.  I find that as the increasing number of social media outlets come available - the pressure to become involved is rapidly increasing.  The rage on Facebook, Twitter, the blogs, etc.  There is a tremendous amount of information to digest and for the most the task is daunting. 

Released today is a good look at the subject and how to harness the power to have better results.  Me 2.0 was released today and I will be sure to be picking up a copy.  I read a good amount of blogs from the contributors that are sited, so I am excited to hear about their perspective and what the process is in building a true self brand.  Something I think few people ever really master.

Will read and get back with thoughts.  If anyone else reads it let me know what you think.

One of the better blogs I enjoy is the Chief Happiness Officer.  If you have not read it, start.  All of it does not apply however the approach to looking at the work place and other facets of our lives makes for an interesting read at the minimum.  I find that for some people, especially those less likely to be labeled “social butterflys”, there is a good influx of information on how to make work life better overall.

A solid read most recently posted on the subject of making friends at work.  Albeit I am not the poster child for confessing that all people should be friends at the office, I do see a social need for connection and support since work is where we spend most of our time.  For people less inclined to reach out, this mapped process offers a good idea on how to go about building your own team of friends.

Here is a little:

My friend Stacy works for a technology company and she struggles to make friends. She’s in the customer service department, and is on the phone most of the day. When it’s time to go to lunch, no one from her department can go with her because they take lunches in shifts.

She feels awkward about going up to people and introducing herself. She’s not sure what to do because she likes the work, but not the job.

I’ve been in her position. I worked for a small leather manufacturing company that sold toy horse saddles, wallets and brief cases. I was stuck making sales calls all day long, and I disliked the job as a result of my lack of social interactions.

I highly value finding and making friends at work. It can make the difference between loving and hating a job.

Read the rest

Written by Jason Monastra