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Employers are increasingly frustrated by workers' deficiencies in fundamental reading, writing, and math skills. The labor shortage is complicated by the difficulty in finding people who are qualified to work . . . or at least trainable. Insufficient basic education makes training considerably more challenging. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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American Management Association studies reveal that over 38 percent of 1999 job applicants lacked the literacy and numeracy skills required to perform the jobs they applied for, according to AMA's annual survey on workplace testing. This figure is alarming when compared against the same measures in recent years: 35.5 percent in 1998 and 22.8 percent in 1997.From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
First, we're reaching much further into the labor pool, hiring people with less preparation for work. The problem is exacerbated by the higher capacities demanded by computerized processes and expectations that employees will be able to perform a wider range of skill-dependent tasks. A third factor is the inadequate development of students in our public school systems.From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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The AMA study reported that more companies are testing for basic skills, something we'd certainly expect given requirements and exposures involved in hiring today. We learned that only 13 percent of the companies surveyed offer employees remedial training. This remedial training costs an average of only $289 per trainee.From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
Our forecast is that more employers will invest in remedial education for their workers. Employers will be forced into this effort; the decision won't be easy. Once committed, however, employers will strive to provide a valuable, comprehensive, and effective educational program. This venture will be expensive, but a wise investment in attracting, growing, and retaining people who sincerely want to learn and earn. Language, culture, and life-management skills will be taught along with the basics.From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Teachers will be recruited from public school systems, already faced with serious staff shortages. Corporations will pay more, provide better facilities, and offer adult students motivated to learn. Some companies will collaborate with school systems to award diplomas to graduates, fostering cooperative teacher-sharing arrangements.from "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
A significant shift is underway in the business environment. Workers no longer want to be managed. They demand leadership, which requires a whole different set of skills."Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
We're moving to a 'hopscotch' model. Workers will jump forward, backward, laterally --- or into a whole new path. Money and power are not the prime motivators that they once were. Job satisfaction, freedom, the chance to make a difference --- these are the new career drivers. Employees will make choices about how much they'll be engaged by a job while they're there, even as they reposition themselves for their next moves.from "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
With portable benefits, and workers' packages individually designed, people
will be even more free to move from job to job, employer to employer,
career to career. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman,
Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Employers face increasing challenges in their efforts to hire competent workers. They need employees who can read, write, calculate, and communicate sufficiently to perform their job duties. This need will become more serious as technology develops and applications demand greater knowledge. The gap between current needs and the capacity of the existing workforce is serious, wide enough to cause costly problems for employers. Their patience is wearing thin. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
Education will become increasingly important. Employers will demand better preparation of entry level workers. And they'll ask for more help from schools to re-educate and re-train older workers. Will educators be prepared to respond? Corporate leaders have serious doubts, so they will become more involved with public education to get their needs met. They will be helping their communities, but their underlying motivations will be understandably selfish. Smart educators will welcome corporate collaboration. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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The bureaucratic rigidity of corporate life is clearly threatened by the many changes resulting from workforce and workplace trends. Employers today are not blessed with an abundance of workers to assign to fixed jobs with little flexibility. With fewer people to do more work, success today requires a high level of flexibility. Employers need freedom to assign people where they need them, even perhaps to fulfill the responsibilities of several jobs at once. Employees, on the other hand, also want flexibility. Many of them clearly don't want limits placed on what they can do, what they can learn, and how they can grow within the organization.From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Job descriptions will disappear. . . in spite of resistance from traditionalists and unions. In their place, we may see "role descriptions." These statements will be very broad, simply confirming that all employees are expected to help the employer meet its goals and earn a profit. Workers will be expected to pitch in wherever they are needed, to develop several specialties, and to do whatever it takes to serve customers-both internal and external.From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Demands of our work leave little time to attend seminars--even across town. The solution: distance learning. Using technology, people learn valuable information without leaving their homes, offices, stores, plants, warehouses, etc. In the comfort of their workplace, home, or other location, they can participate in training delivered remotely. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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A massive retraining of managers and supervisors looms before us as we transform relationships between workers and their employers. Managers of the future will rely on skills like persuasion, negotiation, and complete communication. Are you prepared to manage people in remote locations? How well do you lead using e-mail, faxes, telephone conference calls, and files shared over distance? Can you imagine leading people you've never even met? From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
Will management of remote workers and resources be expected of all managers? Or will this skill become a specialized field, a new competency to be taught in schools and corporate training programs? What challenges will we face, and how will we deal with them as more and more of our workers never even see each other? Will we miss the social interaction? Can we function without human-to-human, face-to-face bonding? What will corporate culture be like when we don't know each other? From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Today, time is precious. People are protective of their time, their nonrenewable resource. They are already so busy with work, school, family, and personal interests. It's often difficult for them to commit to a schedule of committee meetings, projects, and other activities that interfere with their already full lives. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Rather than engaging in long-term endeavors requiring meetings or work days over extended periods of time, more people are participating in events to help others,. They'll commit to involvement for a few hours, a day or so, but on a short-term basis. Clean-up days, gatherings to build a house for Habitat for Humanity, week-end projects to clear a walking trail in a park, or car washes to raise funds will still attract volunteers. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Information on Computer Viruses
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We're on the threshold of a major change in the way people look at their jobs, their relationships with employers, and the design of their careers. The old model was very clear. You go to school, then you go to work for an employer. The employer decides what kind of work you will do, where you employer will tell you what kind of training you will receive, how you will be promoted, what compensation you will earn, and even when your employment will terminate. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
It was difficult enough when unions emerged and gained sufficient strength to influence--and even direct-- certain aspects of that tenuous relationship. The new model, being adapted rather rapidly by workers, especially younger people, is potentially far more disruptive and practically impossible to control. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Workers have choices. Employers need workers. Labor-at all skill levels and in practically every occupation-is a seller's market. Workers can exercise their choices. They can choose to influence the complex aspects of the relationship, or they can choose to relinquish that control to their employer(s). From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
Increasingly, workers will sell their talents, where and when they want to . . . and they're successfully negotiating for the rewards they want. They are free and independent agents, free to add value where and when they want to. They will set the rules of engagement, causing employers to negotiate for their productive capacity. Employers must adjust to this free agent economy or struggle without sufficient talent to survive. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Adult Education Research Links
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As the labor market continues to tighten, recruiting is becoming more aggressive. This trend will continue-and intensify-over the next 5-10 years. Some few recruiters, often not people from the human resources profession, are giving the whole recruiting process a bad name by their overt, often-unethical tactics. Unfortunately, these troublesome folks will be with us for a while, providing some frustrating challenges to true professionals in the field. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
Recruiters used to be nice people who visited college campuses to interview prospective, entry-level white collar employees. Some of the sheep have become wolves, perhaps even vultures. If you're an employer who's been targeted by these single-minded, over-aggressive recruiters, the image is clearly that of a predator. From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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Here are some techniques being practiced today: Recruiters for computer companies position themselves in their competitor's parking deck, approaching employees as they leave work. Hospital recruiters call extensions on the floor of competing hospitals, offering to pay whoever answers 20 percent more than their pay stub shows. Retailers shop the competition--for people. When they observe someone doing a good job, they offer them a position on the spot. Employees quit impulsively and follow recruiters right out the door. We call this the "Pied Piper syndrome." From "Trend Alert," by Roger and Joyce Herman, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or www.herman.net.
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The lightning that we see actually goes from the ground to the sky in what is known as the "return stroke" at 1/3 the speed of light. We can't see the initial "stepped leader" that passes from the sky to the ground.
What does WD-40 stand for?
"WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. That's the name straight out of the lab book used by the chemist who developed WD-40 back in 1953. The chemist, Norm Larsen, was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosion-a task which is done by displacing water. Norm's persistence paid off when he perfected the formula on his 40th try.
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