It is no mystery that the economic meltdown cause many employers to layoff employees, freeze salaries and reduce hours from the remainder of their staffs. Surviving a recession comes at a price, and thousands of companies were forced to pay it. Few employers,if any relished laying off their workers and cutting back everywhere they could.
But we may now experience a change of heart and a different action as the economy starts to turnaround. According to Todd Raphael, in his article in ERE.Net, only one in five employers are planning layoffs. Over half the employers who instituted salary freezes are planning to lift them. The majority of employers who reduced the number of hours in the work week are planning to ramp back up to full time.
I suggest you read the article for greater detail. Todd presents a nice overview to the direction we may be heading.
Other reports claim many employers are concerned with churn. They fear employee turnover may be greater than it has been for sometime. So many workers remained at their jobs during the recession out of fear they wouldn’t find another. In all, there will be changes within the workforce. Some employees will be moving on to new jobs. Employers will be stuck with replacement chores. This means added recruiting, the expense of training and conducting background checks. In anticipation of that turnover, more employers are instituting more sophisticated preemployment screening programs of their own. With all the real and anticipated turnover, most companies want to make sure they are considering the right candidates who can best fit into their enviornment.
But some employers are now asking staffing companies they work with to conduct background checks on the final candidates. They regard this as part of the recruiting process. It is an interesting twist on the old formula. You want to work for us, the employer, than you have to do a little extra to win the contract. Or something along those lines.
With the economy still uncertain on many levels, it will be interesting to see how predictions and speculations play out against the overall reality of economic recovery.