Is Temporary Work the New Normal?

Friday, February 22, 2013

Is it possible that many workers in today’s workforce can look forward to temporary work as a career? Has more traditional modes of employment been replaced by “on-demand” labor requested only when needed for only as long as the current need exists? Has the company employee been replaced with a rental?

According to a 2010 study titled, “The expanding role of temporary help services from 1990 to 2008”, authored by Tian Luo, Amar Mann, and Richard Holden and published in the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Monthly Labor Review for August 2010; the temporary worker segment of the US workforce expanded from 1,125,459 to 2,303,408 or 104% over the 18 year period.. This represents a significantly higher rate of workforce growth as compared to traditional employment.

Employment of temporary workers allows organizations to adjust their goods-producing capacities without increasing or decreasing their permanent labor force. This means that employers can attract and retain a small core of highly trained and talented workers while still having the flexibility to expand and contract their workforce as economic variations demand.

While the concept of temporary workers may evoke individuals between jobs or those just entering or exiting the labor force; many persons actually seek out temporary assignments as a means of managing their work-life demands. Temporary worker recruiting for professional, technical, and skilled jobs has become as valid a business segment just as filling office and clerical positions once was. I once worked a HR data base design project in which one of the developers only worked temporary assignments in the Perimeter area of North Atlanta. She knew that after each assignment she would have a couple of weeks off to do whatever and temporary work fit into her life style.

Temporary work has often been touted as a means to explore and test out new career opportunities before investing in a lifelong commitment. That rationale works for both sides of the interview table. Job seekers may want to determine if the position fits them and employers what to know if a worker is going to fit into their culture and can demonstrate the skills required. Both parties have much to gain and lose in a poor job placement. A bad hire can cost an employer thousands of dollars and months of lost production. Accepting a position for which an employee is not suited can side tract an otherwise progressive career.

A temporary job assignment can be a stressful situation. It is just such an environment in which top performing talent can distinguish themselves and show their potential value to an organization. Consider a large pending customer order, production is behind, shipping is a problem, and this is a critical must deliver customer. For top performers, failure is not even in their vocabulary. A high performer will find a way to meet or even exceed production, shipping, and delivery requirements. They will push themselves and their fellow workers such that others will perform equally well.

Employment Trends – Organizational Environment and Organizational Efficacy

Friday, February 08, 2013

In January, 2013, Sodexo, Inc., a provider of integrated food and facilities management services in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, released its “Workplace Trends Report: 12 Key Issues and Solutions for Business Leaders”. Sodexo surveyed C-Suite level leaders in a wide range of business sectors as to their perception of are the “key drivers of success and essential to individual and organizational performance”. According to Sodexo’s analysis it is as simple as “people centric”.

Of the 12 key issues, a number of them have a familiar ring to them:

1. The Built Environment’s Crucial Role in Organization Performance

“… environmental changes can strongly support employers’ efforts to improve

employees’ health behaviors.”

2. Superstar Recruitment - The Power of Community

“… increased use of social media, especially as it relates to recruitment and employment branding.”

3. Inspiring A Connection To People, Community, & Brand through CSR

“… the most talented candidates today are often seeking more than a paycheck.”

4. The Contemporary View of Inclusion & Its Effect on Psychological Health

“… key component of a psychologically healthy workplace is having an atmosphere of diversity and inclusion.”

5. 21St Century Mentoring

“… today’s mentoring is focused on removing the barriers between people and engaging them in rich learning and teaching opportunities in a broad, networked manner …”

6. Thriving in The Cloud

“The “cloud” makes access to information available from anywhere at anytime, so that workers are no longer hostage to desktops or networked devices.”

7. Ushering in The New Era of Recognition

“… based on the knowledge that the more people feel included in the formative stages of your incentive and reward program, the higher the degree of their involvement …”

8. Facilities Management: A Strategy, Not A Tactic

“FM is not about managing facilities per se; rather, it is about enabling the workforce to be productive and engaged, and to produce value for the organization.”

9. Data Reporting OUT; Predictive Modeling IN

“… human capital risk management focuses on strategic connections among critical data elements that comprise an organization’s human capital management efforts, with specific focus on those connections that influence job performance.”

10. International Design & Construction; A Shifting Paradigm

“… the local culture is the factor that the largest share of firms takes into account when they are preparing to enter a foreign business market.”

11. The Changing Office…Literally

“Workspaces are more versatile to suit not only the work performed but also the personal preferences of the individual doing it.”

12. Integration as THE Solution

“… today’s working generation[s] are more complex and dynamic than ever, and creating efficient, effective, and flexible work environments that take into account total well-being has become critical.”

It is hard to miss the “people centric” thread woven into this analysis by the authors, Rachel S. Permuth PhD, MSPH, Sr. Director, Workplace Research, Sodexo, Kevin Rettle, FMP, Director of FM/CRE Market Research & Insights, Sodexo, and Rebecca Scott, MPH, Research Fellow, Sodexo.

In this era of “more with less”, it is clearly apparent that the who, what, where, when, and how an organization manages the risk profile its “human capital”, i.e., people; is critical to the sustainability or the organization and creating value for all of it stakeholders.

Annual Salary Increases Are Not Necessarily Guaranteed

Friday, February 1, 2013

It may come as a rude awakening in this post-recession world to many employees, but some organizations are rethinking annual salary increases which were quasi-automatic in the pre-recession days. Employers have begun to question why an employee who has completed another year of service should be rewarded with an increase in pay. Traditional thinking said that an employee with another year of service is worth more due to their increased level of job experience, i.e., productivity. Additionally, since the worker’s earnings now purchases fewer goods and services than it did a year ago due to inflation, it was only good employee relations to keep the employee at least whole. Lastly, if employees are not given increases they pose a potential turnover risk and might leave to go to a competitor. Historically, at least on the surface, these arguments appear to make perfect business sense.

First, does an additional year of service garner an employee more experience and is that gain in experience worth more compensation? It depends on the job’s learning curve. Mastering a job is a function of how often a task is performed and the time between performing each task. Some jobs can be mastered in 30-90-180 days, others may require years. Whether an organization rewards additional experience will depend on how valuable the organization perceives more experience to be and whether it adds value to the goods and services the organization produces.

Second, should an employer maintain the living standard of its employees? The initial employer reaction is No! However, employees would argue that they are part of the means by which an organization generates goods and services, and oh yes, revenue. Of course that revenue must be shared with a number of stakeholders including owners, investors, and employees. Once again, how and when an organization approaches inflation, even in times of relatively low inflation, is part of its total rewards philosophy and will have a direct impact on productivity and turnover.

Lastly, if employees are not rewarded, will they leave and go to a competitor, possibly taking valuable business knowledge with them? Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman in their book, “First, Break All The Rules: What The Worlds Greatest Managers Do Differently”, they reached the conclusion that employees stay or leave companies based on what their managers do or don’t do. While that may make little or no sense, if given some thought most of us would recognize that we spend a third or more of how daily lives interacting with this one person. Being rewarded can mean more than a big increase in pay. A new assignment with more visibility, a chance to show off hidden skills, solving a problem others failed at, learning a new system, the accolades of our peers, and the recognition and visible appreciation of managers.

In the end, any increase in cash compensation or other rewards must be based on the value created by the employee and added to the goods and services an organization produces. This is true for governmental, for-profit, and not-for-profit organizations. The perception that any increase in rewards is guaranteed and simply a matter of completing another year of service, is in and of itself demotivational.