There have been many stories about the alleged lack of talent looming from the aging of America.  But is it real?  Peter Cappelli, management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, likens alarms about a talent famine to breathless warnings from information technology professionals that computer systems could fail catastrophically when clocks rolled over to January 1, 2000.

In retrospect, of course, the Y2K hype was overblown. With that example in mind, the current sky-is-falling labor predictions could easily be called Gray2K.

It is true that in 2014, some 78 million baby boomers will fall between the ages of 50 and 68. But partly because many of them will work beyond the age of 55, the U.S. labor force will continue to grow during the next eight years, according to government projections. Other factors helping to soften the blow of baby boomer retirements include immigration and the prospect that U.S. companies will send more work offshore.

The real question surrounding the labor force in the next five to 10 years is where tightness in specific talent markets might emerge. Already some industries, occupations and geographies are showing signs of a squeeze.

The Conference Board of Canada recently reported that Canada is facing a workforce shortage once baby boomers recover financially from the recession.  The organization reported that the current economic downturn has only delayed the anticipated labor shortage, and urged companies to plan for it.

Among the loudest voices sounding a Gray2K labor shortage alarm is consultant and author Roger Herman, who preached the importance of keeping good employees during the economic downturn in 1990. In 2003, he co-authored a book titled Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People.

The book’s cover jacket displays a chart purporting to show a shortage of 10 million workers by 2010. That figure comes from the difference between what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected as the civilian labor force in 2010 and the number of jobs it estimated for that year.

The BLS’ most recent projections show a smaller difference of 2.4 million between the two figures for 2014. In any event, the bureau explicitly warns that these figures are not strictly comparable. Norm Saunders, coordinator for research projects in the BLS’ projections program, says one problem in mixing the two data sets is that people can hold more than one job. But he’s not surprised the figures have been misrepresented.

“If it’s a good sound bite, some people will run with it,” he says.

Saunders says shortages in the U.S. labor market tend to be short-term and isolated, thanks to the laws of supply and demand: Wages rise in the area lacking enough workers, drawing new people into the field. He also says the overall labor force can increase beyond the BLS’ projections. A jump in wages could reverse a decline in the share of men in the workforce as well as accelerate the rate at which women are joining. Saunders also says immigration, which is assumed in U.S. Census Bureau population projections to be 900,000 documented immigrants arriving in the states each year, could be higher.

A larger percentage of older people have been working than in the past, with the trend likely to continue. Plus, Saunders adds, work at U.S. organizations in many cases can be sent to other countries. That’s been happening in growing numbers of service fields, including banking, software and travel services.

As a result, Saunders has a dim view of any looming wide-scale lack of talent.

“My sense is, it doesn’t exist,” he says. “There are lots of different ways for the supply to grow to meet the demand.”

Herman concedes that the bureau’s projections for the labor force and jobs are “apples and oranges.” Yet, he says, the numbers nonetheless point to trouble ahead in hiring.

“We don’t know if the shortage is 10 million or 14 million or 8 million,” Herman says. “The key is, we’re going to have a multi­million-person shortage of skilled workers.”

To ensure that you’re winning the war for talent by leveraging the high-end of the flexible workforce, visit www.msquared.com or call us at 888-818-2505.

Sources:  www.workforce.com, www.UPI.com

At the World Economic Forum’s meeting in Dalian, China, experts discussed the challenges and opportunities that aging populations present to business.

(excerpted from strategy + business)

The world is in the midst of an epochal demographic shift that will reshape societies, economies, and markets over the next century. The big news is that the world population, according to United Nations forecasts, will either stabilize or peak around 2050, after growing for centuries at an ever-accelerating rate. The main reason is the decline occurring in birthrates as nations advance economically, and it is already having a significant impact: As birthrates drop and better health care prolongs life spans, the world’s population is aging rapidly. For example, between 1950 and 2000, the percentage of the world population older than 60 rose almost imperceptibly to 10 percent from 8 percent. By 2050, however, that percentage will more than double, to 21 percent. And in many countries — notably Japan and those in western Europe — the share of population age 60-plus will be more than 40 percent by mid-century.

The demographic dynamics in the developing world are radically different. Birthrates are still high, and populations are both growing and becoming younger. Over the next few decades, many of these countries will experience what David Bloom, chair of the department of global health and population at Harvard’s School of Public Health, has called a “demographic dividend”: a rising proportion of young people entering the workforce, driving productivity and economic growth.

There are also anomalies among nations. In the developed world, the United States has many of the same demographic attributes as Japan and Europe, but high rates of immigration are offsetting the trend toward aging. In the developing world, the population of China is destined to begin aging rapidly as the result of the government’s past policies to limit population growth. Today, only 11 percent of the Chinese population is older than 60, but by 2040 the proportion will rise to 28 percent.

These demographic shifts will drive massive change in markets and economies, and will require entirely new approaches on the part of both policymakers and business leaders. But the shifts seem to get less attention than they deserve — largely because they take place over time spans much longer than the political and business cycles that drive most legislative and managerial agendas. To identify some of the most significant challenges that will need to be addressed as populations age, strategy+business teamed with the World Economic Forum to convene a roundtable of notable thought leaders with expertise in Asia.

What would you consider the most significant challenge that political and business leaders face related to aging populations?

Yoshito Hori, Dean of the Globis Management School: We’re seeing a very big generation gap opening up, between the older people who are enjoying government benefits and the younger generations that are bearing the financial burden. Japan is a rich country, as are many of the other countries where the population is aging, and people today seem to feel we can afford the policies we have; there is no apparent urgent need for policies to change. But people are not aware enough of what’s going to happen in 10 or 15 years’ time. Budgets and resources are limited, and at some point you have to make decisions: Is the priority of the country to care for the elderly or to look to younger generations for innovation? It will be an issue in the future, and there will be a need for much discussion.

As we turn to potential solutions to some of the problems posed by population aging, are there approaches from business that could be helpful?

Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Professor of international political economy at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland: We have to explore all sorts of different options. One obvious solution that would be beneficial for both Japan and Europe as they try to deal with aging populations would be to open up the frontiers to migration and allow in younger workers from less-developed countries. Another idea is to encourage elderly people to live elsewhere — it’s something the Japanese tried in the past, but dropped. It was unpopular, but it’s something I’m advocating in Europe. It helps on the pension front. You say, “Look, the bad news is that we have to reduce your pension. The good news is we’re moving you to Libya, where the standard of living is much lower and your pension will go a much longer way.”

What about the skills gaps that we see opening in the developed countries where the aging population is currently rising? The demographic forecasts show that the same kinds of gaps will begin to appear in China a decade or two out. What are the challenges and the opportunities for corporations?

HORI: I think there are two main things. One challenge for corporations is losing a market, which is what you see if you look at Japan. There’s a shortage of children; when you look at primary schools, for example, you just don’t need the number that exist. This is a big burden for companies that are serving the younger-generation market. There has to be a big market shift in terms of the corporate sector.

The second challenge is the workforce, because it is going to shrink as well. How should we incorporate such a decline? There are several dimensions: One is the need to increase productivity through approaches like robotics and IT. The second is migrant and immigrant workers, as we discussed. The third is offshoring, shifting the business to either China or India. So I think this is going to be a major challenge as companies adjust to these shifts.

Your mention of offshoring raises the question of the degree to which companies are going to be able to do demographic arbitrage — locating their headquarters and production in relation to where they can find an employee base or markets for their goods and services.

Vanessa Wang, Mercer LLC: For 90 percent of the companies in these countries, there is a labor force issue. Companies that I consult with are offshoring many, many jobs to China and India because of skills issues and the advantage of the youth dividend there.

One of the main costs of running a business is represented by the cost of fixed salaries, because salaries don’t go backward — they keep going upward; the same is true of health-care premiums and pension costs. It costs companies a lot to hire older employees. So rather than fill their skills gaps locally or by hiring older workers, companies go offshore to solve their problems. And until there are good incentives for them to meet the skills shortages in their own countries, that will continue. In many ways, companies can’t stop what they do; at the end of the day their job is to keep producing more profit. Solving this problem would require innovation in financing pensions and health care so the companies aren’t bearing all the costs, as well as retraining and other issues. It will take a shifting — a redistribution — of social resources.

For information about how to intelligently use the high-end of the flexible workforce, visit www.msquared.com or call us at 888-818-2505.

A brilliant essay in the Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com) this week entitled “How to Succeed in the Age of Going Solo” by Richard Greenwald wisely points out that while anybody can become a consultant, not everyone does it well.  He continues to prescribe what’s needed to thrive as a consultant in today’s business environment.

Some key findings from his research:

Think Long Term

Too many freelancers see their condition as only temporary—one that will go away as soon as economic conditions improve. It’s just a stage between jobs, they figure.

Some of them may be right. But the odds are that most are wrong. They’re going to be on their own for a long time. So freelancers need to think in terms of the long haul, preparing for a marathon, not a sprint.

Understand: This isn’t easy. Many of these people have known only 9-to-5 jobs, and it can be scary to think of freelancing as all there will be.  Scary, but necessary. Because if a freelancer views the condition as temporary, it’s almost a guarantee that however long it lasts, it won’t go well. Unless you think about it as a job itself—requiring time, investment, thought—you won’t get much of a return. Waiting for business to find you is not something successful consultants do. Clients know a halfhearted attempt when they see one.

Join a Network

The image many of us have of the lonely consultant toiling on his or her own is touching. And dated.

Most successful consultants are in a network or community of consultants. These networks are important sources of new clients; most consultants, in fact, say they get as many clients from these networks as they do from client referrals. What’s more, an increasing number of consultants share work, taking on bigger projects that require more hands. In this way, teams of consultants can function like a small boutique firm.

Have Your Own Space

We have long been told that one of the joys of working on your own is being able to putter around in your pajamas and bunny slippers. And such flexibility is, no doubt, an attraction of consulting.

But there’s a limit, and successful consultants say that having a work space separate from your living space is crucial. Clients do not want to have an important phone conference interrupted by a nagging two-year-old, a TV in the background or the sounds of street traffic. Most freelancers I spoke to have a space in their home that is solely for work—a bunker, as it were.

Others have started using shared spaces that provide a quiet space and a cubicle or desk to call your own. These spaces, called co-offices, often have other incentives. They give freelancers a place to go, which helps them keep schedules. They usually also provide a receptionist service, so someone always answers calls. And they provide a sense of workplace that is something many consultants complain about missing.

Think Like an Entrepreneur

Here’s probably the most important ingredient that distinguishes the most successful consultants: They think like entrepreneurs.

Too often, freelancers drift from project to project. That’s a mistake. They need to have a business plan or mission statement. If all they do is take everything that passes over the transom, they will be viewed as a nonspecialist in a world of specialists.

Consultants are known for the work that they do, and this often means the work they don’t do. With a mission statement and business plan, they can decide if a certain job is worth it. Sometimes the short-term gain in income becomes a long-term loss in reputation.

This doesn’t mean you should starve: Sometimes, any work is good. But too many consultants say yes to anything that comes along, so when the perfect project arises, they might be too busy to take it. What’s more, in this competitive world, prospective clients want to know what projects you’re working on. If they aren’t impressed, they may not hire you. So being able to say no to certain work, referring it to someone else, is a sure measure of a certain level of success.

To learn more about joining M Squared’s elite network of consultants, visit http://www.msquared.com/consultants/introduction.html

The cover story in the current issue of BusinessWeek entitled “The Permanent Temporary Workforce” is a fascinating read about the state of the American workforce.  The article describes the hardships faced by those affected by layoffs, and how many companies are turning to temporary help to protect profits in the economic downturn.

But in contrast to similar articles in recent years, the authors here point out that the current recession has fueled a “leadership on demand” phenomenon, meaning that many of the temporary workers are white-collar professionals, not “sneaker-footed admins”.  Many are seasoned professionals who relish the flexibility of a free-agent lifestyle.  “People with sought-after skills can earn more by jumping from assignment to assignment than they can by sticking with one company,” the authors write.

Déjà vu?

In her groundbreaking book, “A New Brand of Expertise: How Independent Consultants, Free Agents, and Interim Managers are Transforming the World of Work,” published in 2001, M Squared Consulting founder and CEO Marion McGovern tackled this very subject in some depth.

In particular, in the chapter about why many professionals choose “free agency”, Ms. McGovern’s writings are more relevant today than ever:

“Whether it is control over where they work, their hours, or their vacations, overwhelmingly it is a desire to make work fit into their lives and not vice versa.  One of our consultants of Dutch descent explained that she became an independent practitioner because she thought that American vacation structures were untenable; being used to at least six weeks of vacation annually, she couldn’t continue in the American mode of two weeks per year.  In today’s 24×7 world, time has a currency all its own.”

She continues….

“Some consultants want control over what they do, a sphere of influence that as a mere mortal in a large enterprise was beyond their reach.  At M Squared Consulting, we see this often with the alumni from large consulting firms.  Exposed to many types of industries and products, they may have been able to indentify the type of work they most enjoyed, but they may not have had the opportunity to do it again.  For these individuals, the type of work – the “what” – is most critical.

So in addition to being prescient, McGovern’s book illustrates that there are some long-term trends in place affecting American business, and the savvy consultant can take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves and thrive in today’s work environment.  And challenge, pay, and control are not the sole discretion of either the employer or employee.

With its collaborative approach, long-term relationships, and commitment to the success of both its clients and consultants, it’s no wonder that M Squared Consulting attracts top-tier professionals to its network.  To join the M Squared consultant community, please register on our website at http://www.msquared.com/consultants/join.html

A 2008 HBR article on Strategy offered that “most executives cannot articulate the objective, scope, and advantage of their business in a simple statement.  If they can’t, neither can anyone else.”  It’s a challenging statement, certainly, and a powerful reminder that employees will become frustrated and resources wasted when no clear strategy exists for a company or its lines of business.  Many companies look to M Squared Consulting when faced with this dilemma.  With guiding expertise, clients can develop a well-understood statement of strategy that aligns employee behaviors with business goals.

In a related editorial on talent strategy, Dr. John Sullivan, a well-known thought leader in HR, offers that an agile talent management strategy can be the perfect model for today’s economy. 

An excerpt:

“As the general business environment has become more turbulent, and technology combined with consumer demand has driven significant shortening of most product lifecycles, the complexities of delivering really strategic impact through talent management have ballooned. While competency management systems, career path planning, and multi-year development cycles may have made sense decades ago, that simply is not the case today.

Organizational agility is something the majority of human resource functions are not designed to enable or support. In fact, most traditional HR systems, including those in talent acquisition, hinder agility by imposing rigid control structures with process cycles that take months and even years to execute.

You can’t hit a moving target that changes location unpredictably every six months using processes that take 18 months to execute!

Examples of Agile Talent Management

A key characteristic of organizational agility is the ability to rapidly shift idle resources. Like most airlines, Southwest Airlines was affected significantly by the most recent downturn in the U.S. economy. While competitors were busy slashing payrolls, Southwest instead cut back on hiring and temporally redeployed idle recruiters (more than 80 of them) into other areas of the business where work needed to get done, in line with the recruiter’s abilities. The shift enabled Southwest to maintain access to the talent it would need when hiring demand ticked up and simultaneously enabled the organization to catch up on project work elsewhere that added value in the current economic state.

While using idle recruiters to accomplish work elsewhere in the organization was a new trend this downturn, it by no means is a stellar example of organizational agility.

Enterprise-wide efforts that are emerging include:

• Temporary redeployment of top performers into development roles where the primary mandate is knowledge-sharing and collaborative solution development to emerging issues (Numerous companies)
• Creation of flexible talent pools that grant temporary project-based access to top talent by managers without budget or need for permanent hires (Coors)
• Business unit/team prioritization schemas that enable simultaneous investment/cost-containment efforts across the enterprise (HP)
• Counter-cyclical process execution, i.e. taking advantage of economic cycles by executing growth-mode processes during downturns and vice versa (Slide-College Hiring)
• Redefinition of labor needs to allow for extensive use of contingent and alternative labor types that aid real time increases/decreases in labor cost (Google)

The unifying theme in these examples is that firms need a strategy that allows them to respond rapidly with a customized solution, whenever something in the business environment changes.”

So, what both HBR and Dr. Sullivan are reinforcing is that the value of a clear, agile strategy cannot be underestimated.  It will energize and empower employees, and raise the long-term financial performance of your organization.  Contact M Squared Consulting to learn more.

A recent article highlighted four key developments that are being watched by demographers and employers alike, particularly as the economy starts to improve.   These dynamics will likely shape the growth of the flexible workforce in the next 10 years.  M Squared Consulting is tracking these trends and helping clients attain market leadership through the intelligent use of the high-end flexible workforce.

The shifts include:

1. Womenomics The book Womenomics talks about the fact that women are demanding more flexibility in their work. The authors argue that women have more power than ever to demand control over their schedules because companies that have proportionately more woman managers are also more profitable. Women want to work but gone are the days of 60-hour work weeks in the office, scrambling to find childcare and skipping the leisure time. The book offers many examples of how woman are leading this economy, and to stay competitive and profitable companies will need to offer women the flexibility they require.

    

2. Big Company AdoptionROWE stands for “results-only work environment” and is Best Buy’s workshifting program that says employees can work wherever they want, whenever they want, as long as they get their work done. An article in BusinessWeek does a great job of highlighting other results from ROWE-type initiatives.IBM has about 40% of their workforce with no official corporate office, and Sun Microsystems Inc. estimates that they saved $400 million over six years in real estate costs by letting employees work from anywhere. The biggest driver for these large organizations is usually the facilities cost when they don’t have to dedicate corporate space to each individual employee. But after implementing flexible working arrangements, companies soon also realize the benefit of higher employee job satisfaction.

   ROWE programs not only reduce costs but make for a more productive organization.

    

    

3. Gen Y Whatever you choose to call the newest generation (Gen Y, Millenials, Screenagers, etc.), they all grew up with the Internet. They’re more comfortable with technology and less accepting of corporate norms like 9-5 or suit and ties. Gen Y has been struggling at the hands of this economy but with the coming turnaround companies will have to employ flexible working arrangements in order to acquire and motivate this growing segment of the workforce.

    

4. Social Media The power and growth of social media over the last couple of years is astounding. The fact that so many of us are going to the Web to communicate and do business makes executives question traditional ways of doing business. We trust Wikipedia for information and use social media sites like Twitter to communicate as part of our jobs. This trend is only increasing and clearly demonstrates the acceptance of social media as a business communication tool.

    

As the workplace changes, savvy companies will continue to look to M Squared Consulting – and to the experts in its premier consulting network – for the strategies, programs, and human resources that will help them engage employees productively for years to come.

M Squared helps clients attain market leadership through the intelligent use of the high-end flexible workforce.  Consequently, we closely track the economic and social factors that affect working professionals.  And in the current economy, “baby boomers” (those persons born between 1944 and 1964), face particular challenges.

Prior to the economic slowdown, companies were focused on preparing for the exit of baby boomers from the workforce. While many boomers are staying on the job longer to compensate for their depleted retirement accounts, they will retire sooner or later, and talent managers need to take both those factors into account.

“You probably will see less of an impact as far as the retirement of the baby boomers than [was] originally thought,” said John H. Hudson, CEO and owner of The Growth Coach of Ventura County and author of Choosing the Right Path: Insights on the Changing Face of America’s Workforce. “I’ve talked to a number of people, and essentially they aren’t sure what they want to do in this next chapter of their lives, but they really don’t want to continue to do what they’re doing.

“The problem is if they are not able to leave the workforce on their own terms, organizations are going to have to deal with a lot of older workers who are there and don’t want to be, but are sort of held captive because of their economic situation.”

In order to re-engage boomers who were originally planning on retiring soon, Hudson suggested providing them with more free time.

“Many organizations are going more to telecommuting, part time [and] those sorts of situations - allowing people to have more free time but remain engaged and not have that brain drain occur in terms of people just walking away from the workplace altogether,” he said. “Organizations are going to have to think about how [to] keep that level of talent, history and information in the organization in creative ways, so that it’s not the same situation where [workers have] to do a 9 to 5 every day as they have been for the last 30 or 40 years of their lives.”

In addition to meeting the needs of boomers, companies also must ensure they continue to prepare for the coming boomer retirements.

“The first thing companies must do is understand the magnitude of the problem, including the knowledge and skills at risk - and it’s going to be different for different organizations,” he said.

“Secondly, they’re going to have to develop a strategy to capture and transfer knowledge and core skills from these retiring employees and to identify and retain new workers with those critical skills, either internally or externally, to fill those gaps.

“Third, they’re going to have to manage and measure the progress of the entire effort. They have to have metrics to measure how well they’re doing because capturing critical workforce knowledge and skills can’t be left to chance.”

Hudson said using soon-to-be retirees as trainers and coaches and having them assist in the identification and mapping of key job competencies would be good for both the organization and the boomers.

“If organizations allow [boomers] to walk out the door, that loss of experience and skill will drop straight to the bottom line in terms of lost productivity,” Hudson said. “That’s how organizations remain viable - the experience base and the knowledge base of how things get done - if that walks out the door, we start to lose a lot.”

Knowledge retention, knowledge transfer, and the intelligent use of talent are issues that we are passionate about at M Squared.  We remain focused on providing our clients with innovative, flexible consulting solutions delivered through the skills of our people and the abundant expertise that resides within our consultant network.

As the holidays approach and companies finalize their FY 2010 plans, more than ever the topic of the contingent workforce surfaces in human resources discussions. While utilizing external consulting expertise such as the type M Squared provides is now standard operating procedure for many companies, other organizations have yet to realize the benefits of flexible employment solutions.

For those companies on the fence, one element of hesitation can be knowledge transfer. That is, how to ensure the institutionalization of knowledge once a project is concluded and the expert has gone on to a new engagement. In the groundbreaking book, “A New Brand of Expertise: How Independent Consultants, Free Agents, and Interim Managers are Transforming the World of Work” (Butterworth-Heinemann), M Squared CEO Marion McGovern and co-author Dennis Russell address this issue head-on, and what they penned in 2001 is as relevant as ever today.

The following passages succinctly describe best practices in knowledge transfer:

“The best way to enable (knowledge) retention is to make it part of the contract with the consultant. He or she must be able to turn over the baton to an employee; the consultant must train someone in the organization on his or her approach, constructs, and activities. Someone in the organization must be left aware of potential issues remaining from the course of the project of that could arise in the future. This should be a formal requirement; for example, a product-costing project would not be considered complete until a manager is trained on the model and all associated documentation is provided.

Beyond these types of training requirements, managers must become sensitive to expertise networks. As success in an organization becomes more dependent on project management performance, those who are best able to rapidly deploy expertise will be those most recognized and rewarded. Managers must be able to rapidly identify individuals with expertise in disciplines that may be useful in the future. They must actively and deliberately develop formal and informal expertise networks, so that when the time arises they know where the knowledge may be found. This can be as simple as creating a list of individual consultants and intermediaries to call on when the need arises, or as complicated as cataloguing in a specialized database the skills of consultants used and/or considered for projects.”

In short, within every organization are people who know and people who need to know, and the lasting value of a successful consulting project is not only performing the task at hand, but making certain that knowledge transfer is built into the process.

The book, A New Brand of Expertise: How Independent Consultants, Free Agents, and Interim Managers are Transforming the World of Work” by Marion McGovern and Dennis Russell (Butterworth-Heinemann) is available at www.amazon.com

Recent surveys are creating optimism and indicating that the worst of the “Great Recession” may finally be behind us.

The Conference Board, which issues some of the most watched economic indicators in the U.S., reported that consumer confidence jumped 14 percent between July and August. The Index, which hit a low of 26.9 in March, has more than doubled since then and now stands at 54.1. It’s still slightly below the 54.8 posted in May, but the rise was considerably greater than the 47.9 economists had expected.

Employers mirrored that confidence in a CareerBuilder / Robert Half survey that said 53 percent of businesses polled plan to hire full-time workers in 2010. The Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations Report prepared by the two companies found 40 percent of employers planning to hire temporary or contract workers and 39 percent expecting to hire part-time workers.

The report, which has been issued annually for the last five years, found that the positions first to be filled will be in technology, customer service, and sales. Also on the list are positions in marketing/creative, business development, human resources, and accounting/finance.

Most the hires will be either entry-level (say 28 percent of the hiring managers surveyed) or staff-level professionals (32 percent). The traits most valued in a new hire? - Employers cited multitasking, initiative, and creative problem-solving.

Companies are identifying the key skill sets they will need in new hires to take advantage of the opportunities presented by improving economic conditions. Firms that cut staffing levels too deeply may need to do significant rebuilding once the recovery takes hold.

Another positive sign which indicates recovery is that many employers are throttling back on layoffs, says outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

“We see more and more signs that the economy is beginning to turn around. While it is too soon to expect a massive hiring binge that will move some of the nearly 20 million jobless Americans back onto payrolls, the pace of job cuts is likely to continue its downward trend,” said John A. Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

In January 241,749 job cuts were announced, the highest since January 2002, according to the firm, which has tracked planned layoff announcements daily since 1993. But the announced job cuts have been declining since.

The August numbers are still being counted, but the firm said it expects the four-month total from May through August to be significantly lower than the 711,100 it counted from January through April.

“Year-end job cuts are likely to increase from the levels recorded during the summer months, which typically see fewer job cuts, but we will probably not return to the levels reached between January and April,” says Challenger. “Job cuts are expected to continue the overall downward trend in 2010, when we might actually begin to see some small improvements in hiring.”

The Wall Street Journal reported this month in its Economic Forecasting Survey that economists expect, on average, the economy to lose just under 27,000 jobs a month next year. While not exactly a recovery, it’s a huge change from the 70,000 monthly job loss they predicted in July.

Is it too soon to say that the US economy is in full recovery? Yes, but that doesn’t mean these encouraging signs can be ignored either.

It would also be foolish to sit idly by and wait for irrefutable proof of the recovery, because history proves that will come well after the fact. One lesson that we can take from past downturns is that major business innovation is born in market turbulence.

The M Squared Consulting “talent-on-demand” business model has proven to be an enabler for those companies wanting to harness the expertise and power of seasoned professionals to deliver results. This recession will pass and business will pick up again without warning. Strategic organizations - those that have weathered the storm and embraced the resulting changes - will be ready to capitalize on the opportunities before them.

Are you ready? We’re here to help.

While we are in the midst of a recession it might seem inappropriate to bring up the war for talent. But the market reality is this: even with overall unemployment rising, employers are still challenged to find the talent they need.

As many companies are discovering, while this labor market might be flooded with job seekers, that doesn’t necessarily mean they have the needed talent. In particular, companies can’t always find people with the exact skills and experience they need, when and where they need them. Today, it’s also not uncommon to hear executives express frustration about under-skilled, inexperienced, unproductive, and even unreliable employees who will quickly jump ship for another opportunity.

As you might expect from the generation that has had such a significant impact on our society throughout their lives, the Baby Boomers will also dominate this talent market discussion for the next decade.

How can this be? Aren’t the Boomers supposed to be retiring?

Well, let’s start with the fact that they are the single largest component of the U.S. workforce, so their effect is huge. Then, layer in the fact that with the economic downturn many leading-edge Boomers who under normal circumstances might now be retired (or nearing so) must continue working in order to replenish their battered retirement savings. Finally, we must recognize that the next generation (Gen X) is half the size of the Boomers and quite simply has not had enough time in the workforce to build up the same level of knowledge and experience.

The New War for Talent

Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, which means that today they are somewhere between the ages of 44 and 63. Many worked their way up the corporate ladder - they are happy to continue working in their area of expertise, where their wisdom and experience are valued. Others are choosing to embark on second, or “boomerang” careers.

The fact is, with their decimated retirement accounts many boomers can’t afford to retire. Others recognize that in addition to the monetary rewards they receive there are many psychic rewards from their careers, so they have no plans to ever retire.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that by 2010, more than 51% of the workforce is expected to be 40 or older, a 33% increase since 1980. The number of workers aged 55 and older will grow from 13% of the labor force in 2000 to 20% in 2020.

All of this is good news for employers because most companies are operating much leaner than ever before, and they need to cost-effectively find the most experienced, skilled people they can in order to achieve their objectives.

How to Leverage the Boomers

Now is the perfect time for organizations to assess their workforce. Strategic business owners and executives should evaluate their workforce demographics and the key positions within their organizations in order to identify current and projected talent gaps. It’s also time to develop programs that will strengthen knowledge retention and sharing throughout the company in preparation for the inevitable “brain-drain” that will occur when the Boomers exit the workforce.

How can employers retain the key knowledge and information that is resident in their workforce?

First, they must recognize who has the knowledge. If they want to hold onto Boomers they must adapt to their needs. Many forward thinking organizations are developing policies and programs geared towards recruiting, retaining, and training older workers. Key options that will help attract and retain these mature workers include flexible work arrangements (such as adjustable schedules and job sharing) and should also part-time or contingent employment options. Fortunately these types of work arrangements require lots of self-discipline and maturity, which the Boomers have in abundance!

Next, companies should institute mentoring programs to help train the next generation of knowledge workers and business leaders. Companies concerned about retaining institutional knowledge can’t afford to have their older employees walk out the door with a career worth of expertise and experience.

Finally, employers must have an honest dialogue with their seasoned team members to help them plan for the next phase of their careers. Companies that demonstrate loyalty towards their older employees by offering flexible employment options, will be rewarded with loyalty in return.

Conclusion - Experience Counts

Because of their proven talent, Baby Boomers will be in high demand for the balance of this decade and beyond. They add value not only to employers’ bottom lines but also to the long-term health of our workforce and our economy.

It is a phenomenon we see every day at M Squared Consulting. When clients want experienced business professionals, those seasoned experts who have translated their knowledge and insight into consulting expertise, they call us. Our talent-on-demand business model is an enabler for companies who need seasoned experts, focused on delivering results. We also enable seasoned experts, who no longer want a full-time role, to bring their expertise to market as consultants.

In the final analysis this whole discussion can be distilled down to two words: Experience counts!