Does the free market’s creative destruction create more than it destroys?  Do oligopoly conditions (a small number of sellers dominating an industry) undermine free market theory?

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team would like to know the answers to these and related questions, so we’re sharing a discussion of the issue, which is on the agenda at The HRO Today Forum, currently taking place in Washington, D.C. at the Gaylord National.

“A Workforce Congress: Insourcing, Outsourcing, & Job Creation” is the title of a panel headed up by Richard Crespin, Global Executive Director of the HR Outsourcing Association (HROA).

Free markets contrast with controlled markets in which prices, supply or demand is directly controlled.

In a recession, existing businesses shed jobs in an effort to cut costs and hoard cash for the lean months ahead, Crespin argues.  As the economy recovers, they start to add these jobs back.  It’s “economic churn,” not new economic growth.

To move the conversation beyond economic churn, the HROA convened HR Officers from large and small companies to discuss how to can create a more competitive workforce for companies, for America, and for the world.

The HROA also hosted a debate on “Is outsourcing good for America?”  This debate directly takes on the question of whether the free market’s creative destruction creates more than it destroys.

Oligopoly is at the heart of the counter-argument about the free markets concept.  The term “free market” itself reflects an idealized mathematical notion of how people behave, in that the emergent prices are a natural “push and pull” of supply and demand. In economic theory this is called “perfect competition,” because it occurs only when there are a large number of customers and a large number of suppliers in a market for goods which are optional purchases. In a perfectly competitive market, the ideals of a free market essentially exist. This was the economic theory of the 1960s to 1980s.

What’s happening now? The current trend in economics observes that big markets rarely operate in this perfect competition – because human beings are conscious of markets, they seek profits, they shut out competitors, and they corner markets as monopolies and oligopolies.  The result: fewer jobs all around.

Let us know what you think by commenting below.

pres·en·tee·ism – n. the practice of coming to work despite illness, injury, anxiety, etc., often resulting in reduced productivity.

Presenteeism only promises to continue as a major workplace problem in 2012, so the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) thought we’d share some insights into the issue.

Speechly Bircham’s Employment group is a UK-based employment law practice.  In their in-depth 2012 survey of HR directors and senior HR professionals across the UK, they determined that working hour increases are linked with higher stress and staff turnover, while longer work hours and presenteeism are set for big increases in 2012.

A review of the survey can be read at The State of Human Resources blog.  Conclusions include:

• Greater business uncertainty is linked with higher stress, absence, presenteeism and workforce discontent.
• Talent shortages for 40 percent of organizations exist and are linked with longer working hours, stress and presenteeism.
• Presenteeism is now a major workforce issue, linked with more grievances.

Today’s workplace has changed from two or even one decade ago. Some of these changes have contributed to the growing incidence of presenteeism.

Causes of presenteeism

• Increase in dual-earner and “sandwich generation” households.
• Fear of note meeting Employer expectations.
• Little or no paid sick days available or accrued.

Employer Solutions

• Recognize the problem.
• Rethink the use of disciplinary action to control absenteeism.
• Develop a workplace policy on presenteeism and inform and educate employees.
• Provide Paid Sick Leave and/or Paid Time Off (PTO) to Workers.
• Make an Effort to Boost Employee Morale.
• Offer a flu vaccination program.

The image of a sick-as-a-dog employee who comes to work as being a dedicated and valued worker is no longer fitting. Presenteeism costs are a real and potentially significant drain on a company’s financial well-being. Employers need to make a concerted effort to develop a workplace with healthy and highly functioning workers. This will go a long way toward meeting goals for company productivity and profits, and fostering a healthy work culture and environment for employees.

A talent management system (TMS) is an integrated software suite that addresses the “four pillars” of talent management: recruitment, performance management, learning and development, and compensation management.

Talent management systems focus on providing strategic assistance to organizations in the accomplishment of long-term enterprise goals with respect to talent, aka “human capital.”

HRO Today has announced its 2012 TMS Baker’s Dozen Customer Satisfaction Ratings.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team took a look at the Top Five apps on the list:

1. 1.     Lumesse
2. 2.     myStaffingPro
3. 3.     Kenexa
4. 4.     iCIMS
5. 5.     SilkRoad

Lumesse

Lumesse, Europe’s largest independent talent management solutions company, has released a new version of its Lumesse Mobile app for Apple iOS, with an enhanced user experience, multi-lingual capabilities and improved usability. The Lumesse Mobile app allows businesses worldwide using Lumesse TalentLink 12 to give managers access to key process steps and employee information in multiple languages from their iPhones (the app is also iPad-compatible.)  Lumesse Mobile is designed as a true native iOS app to ensure a responsive, high quality user experience on mobile platforms.

myStaffingPro

myStaffingPro is a full-featured applicant tracking and recruiting software system with advanced applicant screening capabilities.  myStaffingPro provides professional staffing software tools designed to help users achieve hiring goals while saving time and money.  myStaffingPro Elevate: social recruiting and employment branding software that harnesses social media, job distribution, network building and career site techniques.  myStaffingPro Express: economical solution for companies looking for the essentials in applicant tracking.

Kenexa

Kenexa offers unified business solutions for human resources that support the entire employee lifecycle, including:

• Recruitment Solutions (RPO)
• Employment Branding
• Employee Assessments
• Talent Management
• Compensation Solutions
• Engagement Surveys
• Leadership Solutions

iCIMS

iCIMS is a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition software for growing businesses.  iCIMS’ Scalable Talent Acquisition Software offers:

• Secure Web-based platform accessible from anywhere, anytime
• Fully automated job publishing to social networks
• Electronic onboarding documents and communication
• Robust searching and reporting functions
• Free 24×5 access to award-winning customer support

SilkRoad

SilkRoad Technology is a leading provider of social talent management solutions.  RedCarpet, SilkRoad’s HR onboarding program, helps organizations better plan and manage employees during transitions using tools that include:

• Onboarding management – Automated workflows, standardized task assignment, reporting, global localization and an intuitive user-interface designed to help HR professionals and managers efficiently streamline the onboarding process.
• Employee portals – Branded content, social network integration and ongoing communication help transition employees into company culture and keep them in-the-know during transitions.

Electronic forms – Auto-populated fields, electronic signatures and instant delivery help HR managers keep compliant with E-Verify and I-9 while eliminating time and cost associated with paper-based administration.

New hire learning curves can be expensive, so the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team took a look at some recent research about ways to properly “onboard” new employees for optimum results.

Aberdeen Group recently published findings on the impacts of learning during onboarding and the early stages of the employee lifecycle. The report “Accelerating Time to Performance” by Mollie Lombardi, research director of Aberdeen’s human capital management practice, makes the argument that effectively training new staff members can increase their level of execution, as well as encourage retention.

Reports Aberdeen’s Lombardi:

“Time is money, as the old saying goes, and companies today can ill afford to waste either when it comes to bringing a new hire up to speed.  Learning plays a critical role in transforming the onboarding process from an exercise in efficient tactical execution to an experience that accelerates performance, builds engagement, and fosters a sense of connection between new hires, their managers, and their team. This Insight will examine how learning in the onboarding phase of the employee lifecycle can improve time-to-productivity and set the stage for long term excellence.”

Research is also money, of course, so interested parties can purchase “Accelerating Time to Performance” from Aberdeen for $399.  Click here for more details.

Fortunately, HRO Today has summarized the report in an article titled “The Need for Speed.

Onboarding typically includes a few different elements: benefits enrollment forms, orientation, socialization and culturalization.  The report notes that forming strategic connections makes onboarding part of a broader learning and development strategy, rather than a tactical state of recruitment.  Also becoming increasingly popular, as shown by 64 percent of respondents, is enrollment of employees in learning and development programs, which is now being included more often in the onboarding process.

According to the Aberdeen report, onboarding typically begins with three top objectives:

• Better assimilation of new hires into company culture (66 percent of respondents)
• Getting new employees productive more quickly (62 percent)
• Improvement of employee engagement (54 percent).

Training is a key component to getting new hires up to speed. The more quickly that new employees understand business goals, the happier both hiring managers and customers become.

“Learning is an important part of onboarding,” Lombardi says. “Organizations should focus on goal setting and helping employees understand the resources that are available to them to achieve those goals.”

The rise of the free-agent labor force includes at-home offsite workforces, so the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team thought we’d revisit this article from HRO Today on the subject.

An at-home workforce is much more than a shift in location. It’s a customer interaction strategy that requires a new paradigm in the way companies recruit, hire, train, and manage customer-facing employees.

Companies with offsite workforces have reported:

• 10 percent higher customer satisfaction.
• 30 percent more (or even greater) flexibility.
• 20 percent lower cost to serve customers.
• Highly educated employees with significant work experience.
• Geographic distribution of workforce with minimal disruption.
• Greater business continuity.

There are seven key practices that, when executed properly, create an at-home workforce that generates excellent results in an affordable, sustainable model:

1. Best-in-class security with high-speed connectivity and protocols. A computer can be locked down so the employee is not able to print, copy or paste except within his or her work application.
2. Flexible staffing with quick ramp-up or ramp-down time to meet fluctuating volumes. A targeted at-home workforce can be ready as needed, for far shorter shifts than traditional office-based staff.
3. Scalability and fluency in languages, skill sets, flexibility, and cultural settings. With recruiting boundaries largely eliminated, companies can handpick the best talent with fluency in whatever the languages and cultural settings that are needed, no matter where they live.
4. Seamless integration with virtual management tools.  Because they’re equally secure and productive, virtual workplaces blend easily with existing brick-and-mortar centers.
5. Expanded labor pool anytime, anywhere. Traditional contact centers and corporate offices are often limited by their geography when recruiting and selecting staff.
6. Higher quality of service.  At-home employees tend to be self-motivated, highly educated team members, with many years of work experience.
7. Return on investment (ROI) via the elimination of facilities’ costs and higher employee utilization. Through the elimination or reduction in of facilities costs, lower employee turnover, demand-based staffing models, and higher employee utilization rates, companies can save money.

Author P.J. Weyforth is senior vice president of operations at TeleTech@Home, a dispersed workforce composed of associates working from their homes in select locations worldwide.  Using TeleTech’s proprietary technology, these associates are able to securely access applications that are hosted at a remote location in order to support and assist customers with a variety of needs, as well as address various back-office functions.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team likes to share good news:

There is a growing number of jobs available in the manufacturing and healthcare industries and even the hard hit construction sector, according to a recent CNNMoney article.

And the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reports that finding workers to fill many highly-skilled jobs remains difficult.

But there ‘s also a downside.

Good old fashioned well-paying employment remains hard to come by for many workers in the U.S., according to a CNNMoney survey of economists, who say that just 135,000 jobs were added in December and that the unemployment rate likely rose to 8.6 percent.

At the core of the problem: sluggish consumer spending and a housing market in a quagmire.  Declining home prices make it harder for people who might want to move to a state with better job prospects. People are trapped where they are.

“The real estate market will continue to inhibit job growth,” said Ray Stone, an economist with Stone & McCarthy Research in Princeton, N.J. “When you are underwater on your mortgage, you can’t move from New Jersey to take a job in Chicago.”

SHRM LINE® Report

Though far more companies are expected to hire than lay off in February 2012, the numbers will lag compared to one year ago according to an SHRM report on a survey of 500 service-sector companies and 500 manufacturing companies.

The report shows that on an annual basis – comparing February 2012 to February 2011 – service sector hiring will drop by a net of 12.3 points and manufacturing sector hiring will fall by a net of 2.5 points.

The findings are detailed in the SHRM “Leading Indicators of National Employment® (LINE®) Report.” LINE is the only national employment index capturing HR professionals’ month-ahead hiring expectations, and past-month recruiting difficulty. The report also includes a new-hire compensation index and an index of exempt and non-exempt job vacancies.

A close look at the SHRM LINE service-sector hiring index shows that a net of 20.9 percent of employers plan to add jobs in February 2012 compared with a net of 33.2 percent that did so one year ago—a 12.3 point drop.

The month alone, however, shows a more positive outlook with more service-sector companies planning to hire (26.3 percent) than layoff (5.4 percent).

The U.S. business services sector consists of about 340,000 companies with combined annual sales of about $580 billion, according to a Research and Markets: 2012 Report.

The manufacturing-sector hiring index also shows that February 2012 – when examined on its own – will have significantly more companies hiring (49.1 percent) workers than cutting (8.9 percent) jobs.

“The economy is showing gains in job growth but not at the pace needed to significantly bring down the unemployment rate,” said Jennifer Schramm, GPHR and manager of workplace trends and forecasting at SHRM.

Regarding past-month trends, the SHRM LINE Report shows the recruiting-difficulty index and new-hire compensation for January 2012 rose slightly in both the manufacturing and service sectors.

“Despite the high number of people seeking employment, finding workers to fill highly-skilled jobs remains difficult,” said Schramm. “Those job seekers able to land such job offers are likely the ones seeing the small gains in new-hire compensation tracked in the SHRM LINE report.”

Most everyone enjoys a pretty picture, and the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is no exception.  We like this Infographic from HireRabbit (click link), a maker of social recruiting software.  The graphic visual is filled with interesting details about the role Facebook is currently playing in helping employers and employees find one another online.

For example, 48 percent of all job seekers (and 63 percent of those with a profile) did social media job hunting on Facebook in the past year. That’s a lot of eyes searching for opportunities, and if your brand is already active on the network, it could be worth engaging power users to recommend applicable candidates.

In December 2011, Nielsen Company, which tracks usage on the Internet, counted 153 million unique U.S. users on the Facebook website for the month.  Here are further interesting stats from the graph:

What are Job Hunters doing on Facebook?

• 84% of Job Seekers have a Facebook profile
• 48% of all Job Seekers (63% of those with a profile) have done at least one social job hunting activity on Facebook in the last year.
• 1 in 5 Job Seekers added professional information to their Facebook profile in the past year.
• 16% of all Job Seekers received a job referral from a Facebook friend.
• 56% of all Job Seekers are male
• 64% are under the age of 40
• 36% earn more than $75,000
• 42% are college graduates

Recruiters—How to Be Awesome on Facebook

• Design beautiful career pages, avoid clutter
• Share fresh and interesting content to tickle your audience
• Listen to candidates and be responsive
• Engage your prospective hires through quizzes and contests
• Give industry insights, post employee experiences
• Schedule updates and monitor results
• No “Silver Bullets” — it’s a long-term investment

Comments on the LinkedIn page that reviewed the story included these two cautions:

Ryan Johnson

I hope businesses and companies pick up on this who hire directly, on the other hand I pray “professional” 3rd party recruiters leave Facebook alone. There’s enough spam on Facebook as it is.

Herve Peitrequin

Social media users spend around 30% of their webtime social networking, mainly on Facebook. But still, most Facebook users in Europe don’t feel like being engaged by companies on the network itself. Employer branding, viral job ad spreading, yes.  Direct people sourcing, less easy.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is looking forward to a great 2012.  We’ve put on the future goggles and found some insights into possible HRO industry developments this year.

“In many ways, this is the golden era of HRO,” says Josh Bersin, CEO and president of research and advisory services firm Bersin & Associates.

Bersin is quoted in an article titled “Artful Predictions–HR Thought Leaders Forecast 2012,” which appeared in HRO Today’s December 2011 edition.

According to the article, HRO trends that are currently underway and that auger more of the same in 2012 include:

• The increasing use of predictive and descriptive analytics to glean business insights driving improved performance.
• Higher adoption rates by clients leveraging providers’ cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions.
• Greater use of balanced shoring options — combining off-shoring, on-shoring and near-shoring models.

In talent management, expect growing sophistication in services offered by HRO providers, as opposed to just software packages. And chances are the industry will continue to see greater acceptance of a la carte HRO services, rather than binges on entire “soup to nuts” menus from single providers.

Rajesh Ranjan, research director of RPO provider Everest Group in New Delhi, India, has expectations for 2012 in two areas — multi-process HRO and single-process HRO.

“There are some common themes playing out in both areas,” he says. “Buyers, for instance, are approaching HRO with a balanced set of outcomes in mind, as opposed to immed iately alleviating cost pressures. Yes, they’re interested in models that address their short-term needs, but more are looking to create a foundation to realize long-term objectives.”

Shakeups in 2011 likely portend similar actions in 2012:

• Mercer acquired Censeo Corporation to enhance its talent management consulting capabilities and online platform of assessment services.
• Kenexa and NGA partnered with SkillSoft for learning content.
• Talent2 added advisory services and rebranded to simplify its talent management focus; in addition the company become a reseller of Cornerstone OnDemand, widely used for its performance management, succession planning and learning modules.

Several interviewees in the article touted the likelihood of talent management playing a greater role in HR BPO.  Says Linda Merritt, research analyst at London-based BPO analyst firm NelsonHall: “It could be a disruptive force, shaking up the HRO field.”

Merritt predicts that vendors will continue to build talent management capabilities, internally as well as through strategic partnerships and acquisitions. A look back at the recent past confirms this trend. Take, for instance, the breakneck speed of Kenexa’s deals. Although the global HRO provider had developed talent management expertise internally, it enhanced it over the past few years via the acquisitions of Salary.com, which strengthened its compensation management capability, and Gantz Wiley research, which beefed up its employee survey research capabilities.

Generational conflicts in the workplace—the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team has had this highly topical issue on our radar for quite a while. The crossfire can be intense, as revealed in this recent article from The Fiscal Times (TFT), a New York-based digital news, opinion and media service.

In “Gen Y vs. Boomers: Workplace Conflict Heats Up,” author David Koeppel explores the dynamics of the modern business office and the sometimes strained interplay and resulting tensions that arise among the various age groups working together.

Click here for the full article.

Generational conflicts have always been present in the office, but experts say Baby Boomers and Generation Y in particular have characteristics that can clash.

Feelings of desperation and even anger among the millennial generation (those born between 1981 and 2000) towards their Baby Boomer (those born between 1945 and 1964) managers are common among young job seekers according to experts. The recession has put a damper on their career goals—55.3 percent of those 16-29 were employed in 2010, down from 67.3 percent in 2000, and 5.9 million Americans between 25 and 34 lived with their parents, up from 4.7 million before the recession, according to recent census data.

At the same time, statistics show that Baby Boomers are delaying retirement.

A 2010 study by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire found that while 17 percent of men and 9 percent of women age 65 and over were in the labor force in 1995, by 2009, 22 percent of men and 13 percent of women were still working. Those numbers are expected to grow.

According to data from The Population Reference Bureau, the number of older workers in the next few years will increase by 11.9 million, meaning nearly 25 percent of employees will be seniors by 2016. This backlog of older workers has heightened potential workplace conflict between the generations.

This is evident in some of the comments posted in response to the article.  First, Jen from “Gen Y.”

Jen Zucker—”Boomers are the ones who have gotten us into the financial mess (and just about every other mess). They plucked the system dry for those coming up behind them and then blame the generation they stole from.  Message to Boomers: Pack it in, your time has come and now leave. And by the way, the thing sitting on your desk, its not a microwave.”

But many Boomers don’t quite see things that way.

rdl114—”One gadget does not a summer make. I am 60 and my peers began using computers in the late 1970s. By the mid-1980s they were a part of virtually all white collar jobs. So, weigh it for yourself, younger folks. We have about 35 years of experience in the tech arena.  Being ‘savvy’ about Facebook and iPhones is not what is required in the workplace. Tell us you can run analytics on the price of, for instance, precious metals; show us you know Fibonacci numbers, Chinese Candlesticks and other advanced math processes and maybe we’ll sit up and listen. Or show us you can write a sentence as sharp and clear as diamond. No worry. You’ll get a job then.”

Still, the generational lines aren’t impermeable.  Here’s a contrarian take from one of the younger members of the workforce:

RIPCivility—”‘It’s vital that baby boomers extend an olive branch to Gen Y’?? Are you kidding? What do they need to apologize for? For an economy what wiped out their retirement? For being marginalized after being laid off and unable to find work? For developing the technology so Xers (like myself) and Ys can work from Starbucks? I believe this generation is bright, motivated and they think in new and unique ways. But they also give up easily, feel like nothing is ever their fault and think they have the right to ‘demand’ rather than earn their jobs.”
Today’s challenges facing HR administrators necessitate first understanding and then reconciling the opposing forces currently impacting the modern workplace.  None of this conflict is going away anytime soon, so squarely facing the challenge is the HR order of the day.

Is your small business reasonably accommodating the needs of its new and expectant mothers?  You may have heard the horror story of a new mom who returned from maternity leave, only to have her employer criticize everything from the frequency she pumped her breast milk to the number of weeks she pumped.  When the employer decreed the new mom had to stop pumping when her baby turned a year old, the new mom refused and was fired.  How can you prevent this unfortunate—and avoidable—dilemma from happening in your workplace?

The answer may lie in the health care reform law.  One revision to the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employers to provide unpaid, “reasonable break time” and a place, other than a restroom, that is “shielded from view and free from intrusion” to allow new moms to pump breast milk.  This provision covers all workers subject to overtime-pay requirements and lasts up to one year after the baby is born.  It also provides reasonable workplace policies beyond maternity leave to help new mothers balance career and family.

Remember, except for the 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave mandated by federal law, many new mothers either can’t afford to take more time off or aren’t permitted to by their employers. Reasonably accommodating nursing mothers meets them in the middle by allowing them to work without giving up breastfeeding.  Not to mention, mom-friendly HR policies are sure to increase employee morale and retention after maternity leave!