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| Looking Ahead to the New Year |
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Libby Sartain on HR's strategic imperative in 2010
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Libby Sartain
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SmartBrief's Mary Ellen Slayter recently spoke with Libby Sartain, the former chief human resources officer of Yahoo! and Southwest Airlines, and a former chairwoman of the board of the Society for Human Resource Management, about what's on the horizon for HR professionals. An edited transcript of their conversation follows. Read the full story on SmartBlog on Workforce.
One of your areas of expertise is successful employer branding. Professional workers are increasingly focusing on their own personal brands. How should employers best respond to that?
The goal for employers is to be the kind of brand that workers are proud to tout as part of their personal branding.
What will be the greatest challenge for HR professionals in the coming year? How do you suggest they overcome that?
There is a general mistrust of the corporation, creating skeptics in the worker population arising from multiple rounds of layoffs, setbacks, etc. Rewards have been reduced with many organizations eliminating contributions for retirement and health care. To communicate and establish trust is a huge challenge. It may be time to refresh the employer brand in response to what you learn from your workforce.
What will be the biggest opportunity?
Strategic workforce planning is a huge opportunity for HR professionals.
In the past few years, the marketplace for talent has churned like never before. Organizations' need for talent has intensified while the supply and demand of essential workers ebbs and flows. The need to engage workers is strong, but the very environment in which we operate makes engagement more difficult.
In the past, the solution for business has been to hire workers on the open market vs. growing them from within. And, when faced with business setbacks, the reaction is to reduce the workforce. But hiring from the outside is expensive and the workers with the right skill sets are rarely readily available. Reductions in force nullify all investments made in the workers who are let go.
Hiring from within is a big opportunity within strategic workforce planning. HR professionals should work to predict future workforce needs and how to develop your own workers to fulfill those needs.
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Do you expect to hire more people in 2010 than in 2009?
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No, we plan at staying at the same level. |
37.98%
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Yes, but primarily due to business growth. |
25.19%
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No, we are going to hire less than 2009. |
14.34%
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Yes, but just to get back to staffing levels that we lost. |
11.63%
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We don't know. |
10.85%
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Do you expect turnover to increase in your organization in 2010?
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No, we expect turnover to be the same as 2009. |
30.04%
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Yes, we expect turnover to increase throughout the organization. |
28.40%
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Yes, but it will be limited to certain departments or divisions |
18.11%
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No, we expect turnover to be less than in 2009. |
17.70%
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We don't know. |
5.76%
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Do you plan to make changes to your health benefits in response to possible government influence in 2010?
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No, we are not anticipating any government influence on our health plan in 2010. |
41.25%
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We are waiting until something has been changed, and we'll react at that time. |
34.38%
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We don't know. |
14.37%
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Yes, we plan to decrease coverage to our employees due to the influence. |
8.12%
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Yes, we plan to increase coverage to our employees due to the influence. |
1.88%
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Preparing for more upheaval
One of the biggest upheavals in the business world in the past six months has been talk about health care reform, and smart money is on that continuing to be a topic in 2010.
If some version of health care reform is passed in late 2009 or 2010, much of the coverage is going to revolve around how businesses cope with the change. Are people going to be dropped from coverage? The poll doesn't suggest that will be the case, but other changes could come down the pike that could significantly influence that response.
The other overwhelming issue is the lingering impact of the recession. Doubtful recruiters are telling employees to hold on to current positions until another offer is in hand. The chances for a jobless recovery seem high, and poll numbers support that notion. If the jobs do come though, prepare for an uptick in turnover. I know polling doesn't seem to support this, but the people on the front lines typically have a decidedly less rosy view of how companies have handled the recession.
In all, 2010 will have a decidedly less optimistic ring to it when Jan. 1 comes along. I think we are all hopeful that pessimism turns to optimism in short order.
-- Lance Haun, vice president of outreach for MeritBuilder     
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- The year of the HR rock star
The workplace atmosphere in 2010 will be the perfect environment for the emergence of "HR rock stars," Lance Haun writes. Many companies will emerge from the recession "begging for bold leadership in their weakest spots," he writes. Haun adds he hopes these luminaries will use their status to push for much-needed changes that will affect the entire field. Rehaul.com
(11/30)
- New year holds more contract work and telecommuting
Before hiring additional staff, skittish companies likely will turn to outsourced contract work next year, according to Sharlyn Lauby. With raises still seeming unlikely, employees will be more likely to push for time-related benefits such as telecommuting and flex time, she predicts. HRBartender.com
(12/2)
- HR policies will come full circle in 2010
The new year will look much like the past year as the country experiences a "false bottom" to an anticipated economic recovery, Jason Seiden predicts. Firms that mistreated employees as they hunkered down during the recession will be set to lose their best workers, he writes. Companies that put thought and effort into their human-resources practices will have an edge as a result of a "widening gap between the average place to work and the best place to work," he writes. JasonSeiden.com
(12/2)
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HR Happy Hour
 Please join Steve Boese and other HR experts in a special year-end edition of "HR Happy Hour" at 8 p.m. EST Thursday. We'll be discussing these stories, as well as your take on the year ahead.
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Recent SmartBrief on Workforce Issues:
- Monday, December 14, 2009
- Friday, December 11, 2009
- Thursday, December 10, 2009
- Wednesday, December 09, 2009
- Tuesday, December 08, 2009
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Contributing Editor: Jesse Stanchak
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