The New World of Work

While living a week without contact with the outside world, I convinced myself that the employment situation was improving.  I began to believe that people were landing jobs, companies were feeling more confident and opening their hiring gates and that the worst was over.

A girl can dream, can't she?!

Then I read Peter Weddle's newsletter. (You will have to subscribe if you want to read the current issue.  Archives of his past newsletters are available here and definitely worth subscribing to for free!)

Peter states that the recovery will be unlike that we've ever seen before:

"Because what's happening today among employers is not a traditional slimming down of the workforce to cut costs during a recession.  In other works, it's not a temporary reduction in force.  It is, instead, a permanent reduction in structure.  Employers are fundamentally changing the model they use for organizing their places of work.  As a result, they are eliminating positions, and those jobs are gone forever"

I believe what Peter is saying is true.  The cushy corporate jobs won't exist any longer.  We'll need to change what we are expecting work to be.  We'll need to change how we look at our careers.  We're in charge. 

I know, it isn't fair. It goes against what we were taught to believe and expect.  We'll need to adjust our expectations and it will be hard work.

If we accept this today, and begin planning for this new future, we'll be better off in the long run.  You can continue to look for jobs in the "Big" companies and organizations, but you may find they aren't what they used to be.

Change your beliefs from it isn't true or it isn't fair or it isn't right to I AM IN CONTROL, I CAN DO THIS DIFFERENTLY.

And, by the way, if you are interested in my 6 word Memoir (from yesterday's post...)

Sharing Information. Holding Accountable. Better World.

Comments

[Career Sherpa]

Carol, funny how that works. I would hope that companies are still looking for ways to keep their employees happy by implementing creative perks too! You've got to keep you're folks happy, right. Thanks for your comment!

[Carol White Llewellyn, Finger Lakes Travel Maven]

I recall a number of years back when I handled the "soft" side of HR (hiring, employee reviews and mediation)at a trade association in New York City, the employment gurus were predicting that there would be a glut of jobs and far too few employees to fill them. They were advising that companies who could not afford competitive salaries and benefits become creative in their perks, offering benefits that would be low cost, high employee satisfaction.

What a difference a few years and a lurch in the economy make.

I think Peter Weddle is correct rather than the gurus of six or eight years ago. It will be the employees rather than the employers who will have to be creative...in ways to save, retirement funding, multiple streams of revenue, negotiating benefits, portfolio careers, use of technology and staying on top of trends. This will be the 21st Century's brave new world of employment.