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Perceptions
Learning the Rules of the Game hysicist, philosopher, and author Albert Einstein once said, “you have to learn the rules of the game. And then
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you have to play better than anyone else.” Einstein wasn’t even in the workforce mobility industry, but he has some great advice!
Playing the game better than anyone else is critical these days. And as we prepare for our 46th annual Global Workforce Symposium— “Workforce Mobility: The Game is Changing... Are You?”—we’ve considered some of these elements that are changing the game for the workforce mobility industry: We’re relying on community more than ever. An old proverb tells us that “politics makes strange bedfellows.” I’ll take that a step further: recessions make for some nontraditional partnerships! All around us, some creative and unfamiliar—but unparalleled— partnerships have sprung up to meet the needs of a new economy. And those new partnerships also are teaching us some lessons about the value of an educated, trusted, connected, and experienced community. We’re aware that talent and workforce management will change. Again. We all know about the war for talent—we recognize that competition will continue to heighten, and that geographic hiring hot spots keep surfacing in emerging markets. But after the recession, though some companies may be hungry for talent, they may rebuild their workforce just a bite or two at a time. Similar to the fully loaded expat package giving way to localization, where an assignee’s terms and conditions have been converted to those of local employees, some companies are eschewing the “fully loaded, full-time employee” in favor of alternatives like consultants and project workers, rather than committing right now to a full-time, long-term hire. We’re still frugal, and we’re still cautious.
4 MOBILITY/AUGUST 2010
“Cautious optimism” is still in vogue, though the financial picture is a little brighter. Companies have stopped watching their pennies, but they’re still watching their nickels, and some are still waiting for the other economic shoe to drop. Many of us are still on “resource lockdown,” only tentatively endeavoring to reinstate benefits or projects, or increase our workforce. Purchasing power has shifted: the United States is no longer “king;” and recession experts note that spending in emerging markets (like China and India) surpassed U.S. consumption for the first time. Post-recession pessimism is common among young adults, who are beginning to demonstrate a marked change in attitudes, behavior, and financial habits, and are likely to adopt a more conservative approach to credit and spending than their parents and grandparents. We’re adopting technology more quickly. In a recent entry to her wordsmithing blog, CEO Peggy Smith, SCRP, SGMS, noted that, “it is astounding to remember that Facebook was launched from a Harvard University dorm room only six years ago, and that Twitter was introduced even more recently, in 2006. Both experienced triple-digit growth in 2009, underscoring the fact that these most popular social media platforms are two of the pillars of the new era in business transparency and engagement.” We’re a world of both digital natives (those of us who grew up with digital technology and are younger than 30) and digital immigrants, who readily adopted technology for our work and personal lives. Either way, our workplace is increasingly and much more
rapidly being affected by technology that sometimes makes our work easier, and sometimes adds more layers of communication, but there’s one thing we can count on—it’s always changing, and much more quickly than ever before. And we have an imperative to learn how to integrate and use all of the technology we have in the most effective manner. We know that the housing market is strikingly different. Slightly encouraging but tempered predictions have been extended for the U.S. housing market’s short-term future. Job creation is key to a sustained economic and housing recovery, mortgage interest rates are likely to remain historically low, and though a slightly stronger demand for housing may be evident during coming months, the workforce mobility industry is primed to reengineer its work within and around the housing market for the most powerful outcome. We’ve moved from defense to offense. There is no doubt that we’ve navigated from survival to sustainability mode. Keith McFarland, author of the bestseller, “The Breakthrough Company,” conducted a five-year study of 7,000 growth companies during a 24-year period, and learned the top-performing companies all had one thing in common. “Great companies arise not from the absence of difficulty, but rather from its vortex,” says McFarland, adding, “it is during tough times that companies discover hidden strengths and latent capabilities which become crucial for future success.” –Karen Reid Worldwide ERC® Executive Vice President