| | | | |
|
| | After the “GFC” comes the recovery. Are we there yet? | I see some pundits referring to the Global Financial Crisis as GFC, maybe they believe that creating an acronym is easier or is it that Crisis just sounds so much worse.
But what about the road to recovery?
Listed company results are coming in and they make better reading than this time last year. Many have improved their balance sheets by taking the knife to inventories, reducing capital expenditure and cutting costs. But that is the short term fix. What are they going to do now? As we have discovered with the Telecom XT debacle, you cannot cut corners on core infrastructure or R&D spend that will differentiate you from your competitors.
One of those core items is people. Companies have saved money this year by dropping head count, not paying bonuses nor increasing salaries/wages. Candidates are well aware that they have limited options in a flat market and have accepted the reductions in total package.
However there is a warning sign. Past experience has shown that the path out of recovery often has the greater number of insolvencies and the greatest turnover of staff. We have noticed an increase in the volume of candidates for roles but there has also been an increase in quality.
Companies that have “taken advantage” during the crisis to not treat their staff well, will pay the price this year as the economy picks up. The good people leave first!
What can you do?
The economy and your own balance sheet will possibly not allow you to pay more money to current staff members. However you could look at the workload they are carrying, offer some time off or some form of reward. The most important thing is communicating with them now rather than waiting until they get an offer from another company.
The employment trend data shows the upturn under way and the number of jobs being listed. If you follow the link below to our website we have loaded some of the data for you to see the trends and compare the markets. Click here to view the statistics.
| | | |
|
| |
| |
|