Discontent may be brewing as workers become increasingly frustrated by what they perceive as employer indifference, according to Angott Search Group, one of the Midwest’s most successful search and recruitment organizations. Good communication – the kind that keeps employees focused and committed – may be a casualty of the recession, and employers who want to keep their best people need to get back on track.

“Many companies have let communication with employees take a back seat during the tough times of the past few years,” says Mark Angott, president of Angott Search Group. “Fortunately it isn’t that difficult to communicate better, but it does require recognizing that emotion, not logic, is the driving force, and it requires starting now. If you wait until people are leaving, it’s too late.”

Angott offers practical suggestions for communicating with employees in ways that encourage retention:

• Take the opportunity to praise your employees in public. “This does not mean comparing them to others on the team, which creates resentment and embarrassment for all concerned,” warns Angott. “Talk about the importance of the effort they’ve put in, and find small ways of rewarding that effort. Honest appreciation goes a long way, especially in a time of tight budgets.”
  
• Make sure that the contributions of your employees are not just recognized, but are also important. Visible contributions that are not valued by the company are not very compelling. Likewise, contributions that someone does not perceive as important will not serve to keep them at the company.
  
• Highlight how their work fits into the long-term vision of the company. Help them see that their work matters to the team and the company. Build a sense of partnership and status.
  
• Create an environment where people can see their own competence and measure their own success toward creating something larger than themselves. “Providing opportunities for growth also helps build that feeling of competence and further increases the attractiveness of staying with the company,” says Angott. “An additional benefit is that the more competent people feel, the more secure they feel. The more secure they feel, the harder it is for the competition to pry them away.”
  

“It’s critical to make sure that you are sending the right messages to your employees,” says Angott. “They need to understand the goals of the company and how they play a role in bringing those goals to life. They need access to the information that allows them to work and grow most effectively. If your communication addresses these needs, the odds are you’ll keep your top people as the economy improves.”

The mid-year executive search industry outlook is positive according to a majority of consultants polled recently by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC). The survey reveals that 67 percent of recruiters expect to see revenue growth in the second half of the year, while 27 percent predict revenues will stay the same. In total 94 percent are confident that they will see no decrease in demand for the remainder of the year. Nearly half the respondents plan to hire more consultants in the second half of the year. China, India and Brazil are expected to see the greatest scarcity of talent in the latter half of 2010, according to respondents. Functions continuing to see the greatest talent shortage are chief executive, chief operating officers and general managers. “The latest results are indicative of an industry regaining strength following the downturn,” said Peter Felix, AESC president. “Client organizations are beginning to think more strategically and are working with our member search firms to draw senior executive sourcing plans for the future. Once again there is talk of a talent shortage in certain industries and functions, even though unemployment levels remain high.” Healthcare/life sciences and energy/natural resources are reported to be the strongest two sectors and are expected to see the most growth – followed closely by the industrial and financial services sectors.

Not all unemployed are created equal. There are those who recently graduated from school and haven’t held a job yet. There are those who have made horrible mistakes and have been terminated. There are those who have been working hard every day but had to be let go when their company fell on hard times. There are those who have done nothing wrong at all, but find that their positions just aren’t as essential today as they were five years ago.

While unemployment rates remain high, that last category seems to be one whose importance is increasing, especially with hiring beginning to pick up as nearly 300,000 jobs were added in April. As we saw in both the 2000 recession and the most recent one, employers took advantage of the slowdown in business to eliminate obsolete positions, which were unnecessary even before the downturn. The increasing pace of technological advancement is enabling many positions to be replaced by automation that saves companies money.

“When a 9.9 percent unemployment rate is being reported, that just doesn’t reflect what we are seeing both in the volume of professional candidates and in the talent demand from companies,” says Mark Angott, president of Angott Search Group. “Over the last six months, companies have increased both their hiring and their speed of hiring, with top candidates remaining on the market for an even shorter period of time.”

In today’s job market, there is a striking dichotomy between the short-term unemployed––those with potentially a better chance of landing a job sooner than later––and what are now considered to be the chronically unemployed, those without a job for more than 27 weeks. In fact, the percentage of workers unemployed for that period of time grew to 46 percent in April, a level never before seen since records started being kept.

“Good employees who have been out of work for more than six months have already sent their resumes to every prospective employer,” says Angott. “Now, they are likely going to need retraining rather than simply improving on their job search techniques.”

Even the unemployment rate for managerial and professional workers remains high at 4.5 percent, up from 4.0 percent in April of 2009. A large percentage of this increase, however, can be attributed to a backlog of recent college graduates who have not yet found their first job rather than experienced, impact players still looking for employment.

“For employers, the high unemployment rate can be deceptive making hiring managers think they will be receiving hundreds of qualified resumes for each and every opening,” notes Angott. “Then they quickly become aware that most of the resumes they receive are coming from unqualified candidates, making finding the talent they really need even more difficult.”

For those who are unemployed, things may remain tough for a long time. For the overall economy, however, this isn’t such a bad thing as leaner, meaner companies are causing productivity to increase substantially. In fact, productivity is up 3.6 percent in the first quarter of this year. As companies improve their efficiency they are able to offer wage hikes––aiding consumer spending––and spend more money on investment, which will also help other firms grow.


“These changes might make for a more painful economic recovery,” concludes Angott, “but they put the country on a more stable path for growth.”

The full report can be seen here: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.htm.

Beating expectations averaging a gain of 190,000 jobs, the Labor Department this morning estimated that 290,000 jobs were added in the United States during the month of April. The unemployment rate in the month rose from 9.7 to 9.9 percent, topping estimates. However, the growth is attributable to a large increase in labor market participation. While the U.S. noninstitutional population rose by only 170,000 in April, labor market participation increased by 805,000 edging to within only 3,000 of its size in April 2009. Since February, there has been a rise in job leavers from 866,000 to 938,000 people. As more workers voluntarily leave their jobs, this indicates both an increase in job market liquidity and growing candidate confidence in the market.

The management, professional and related occupations unemployment rate fell from 4.7 to 4.5 percent. Historically, professional unemployment rates decrease one or two tenths of a percent in April. Between April and July, however, the rate sees its largest jump of the year as college graduates enter the marketplace. While not necessarily a bad sign, this rate could rise to as high as 5.5 percent by mid-summer before graduates are absorbed. Fueled by durable goods, the manufacturing sector added 44,000 jobs, the largest monthly increase since 1998. Administrative and support positions increased by 60,700 in April, only 26,200 of which were temporary. This first substantial gain in permanent administrative jobs is a promising sign, since during tough times employers often leave such positions vacant, while focusing hiring efforts only on workers considered to be directly tied to revenue generation. Census jobs, whose impact has been expected for some time, showed just a marginal presence in April’s top line numbers. Less than a quarter of the jobs added in April came from census hiring. In addition to today’s positive numbers, revisions to previous months added 68,000 jobs in March and 53,000 in February. Since the beginning of 2010, a total of 573,000 jobs have been added to the U.S. economy.

According to HSZ Media, Fifty-two percent of employers and recruiters anticipate hiring more career professionals in the second half of 2010 than they did in the first half of the year, according to a new survey by Career site Dice Holdings, Inc. And of those intending to make more hires, nearly half (49 percent) project they will add up to 10 percent more employees compared with the first half of 2010, while 28 percent plan to increase hiring by up to 20 percent. More employers and recruiters (26 percent) report the time it takes to fill new positions is starting to shorten slightly (21 percent) or substantially (five percent). Although still a minority, this is the strongest reading since the survey began two years ago. One of the key reasons: an increase in recruiting for new positions, cited by 20 percent of respondents, up from nine percent last November, indicating a greater urgency to build staff. “Businesses seem to be gradually loosening their grip on the hiring process as the economy improves,” said Scot Melland, chairman, president and CEO of Dice. “At the same time, professionals are more willing to jump ship now. As the employment cycle strengthens, companies are likely to find it more challenging to keep their top talent.” The survey also found that a quarter of employers and recruiters see salaries for new hires rising, compared to just 10 percent reporting salary increases for new hires six months ago. Additionally, nearly seven in 10 of those surveyed (69 percent) believe that layoffs are not likely to occur at their companies within the next six months, an improvement over 61 percent reporting that last November. Finally, a full one-third of employers and recruiters are seeing flat or declining numbers of candidates applying for positions, compared to just 17 percent six months ago.