The Aftershock of This Recession

The Aftershock of This Recession Whats life going to be like 1-3 years from now? Will businesses continue to layoff? Will things ever get back to normal? In my constant quest for this answer, not just because I want to know, but the thousands of job seekers want to know too, Ive come across several articles that are must reads in providing insight. Global Recession Impact Has Permanently Changed the Rules of the Game for Corporates a study by Ernst Young. Why Healthy Companies Cut Jobs in a Recession from BNet What Will Recovery Look Like? from Peter Weddles Newsletter. These articles point out several key predictions: 1) Companies will be leaner and meaner. They are looking for strategic partners to limit their risks. This could mean an overall decrease in number of employees they will ever need. In economies ofscale, if each business is focusing on it core line of product or service, how many more people will it take to produce the requests? Fewer than if each company had itsown division, right? 2) To compete globally,salaries will decrease. Businessescant afford to pay big salaries, just because. Who knows how this will impact some of the unions and government. They will most likely have to adjust too, yet probably more difficult given the complexities of how they work. 3) Jobs will be project-based due to the nature of the new business model. From the employee perspective, what were seeing are trends towards: 1) Seeking employment that is fulfilling and/or in sync with personal values. 2) Loyalty is redefined. Tom Peters wrote an articlefor Fast Companywhich is just as appropriate today as when he wrote it. Tom says: I think loyalty is much more important than it ever was in the past. A 40-year career with the same company once may have been called loyalty; from here it looks a lot like a work life with very few options, very few opportunities, and very little individual power. Thats what we used to call indentured servitude. Today loyalty is the only thing that matters. But it isnt blind loyalty to the company. Its loyalty to your colleagues, loyalty to your team, loyalty to your project, loyalty to your customers, and loyalty to yourself. I see it as a much deeper sense of loyalty than mindless loyalty to the Company Z logo. 3)Employees will need to manage their careers unlikeever before and find creative solutions to developingfinancial and personal stability. I hope this forces some healthy dialog and discussion here and elsewhere. If you have other perspectives, I would be glad to share and discuss. I think were all grappling for answers.