According to the latest jobs report, the economy is on the up and up. Hiring is booming, competition is fierce and the future looks bright. We’ve made it out of the dark, are busy tackling the new challenges that come with growth, and are no longer plighted with recession-era problems. HR is consumed with enhancing benefits, retaining current employees, and competing for top talent to bring on board. As businesses bulk up on staff, memories of mass layoffs quickly fade, giving way to an optimistic future.
Lately, when I’ve spoken to organizations about updating their employee transition strategy, they ask whether it makes sense to wait until the next economic downturn to implement cost-saving changes. The answer is quite simply, no. For several reasons, but mainly that it is impossible to predict when that time will be, and once it is time to for action, it is entirely too late to implement an organization-wide program change. The reality is that what goes up will always come back down, but there is no reliable way of knowing when or why it will happen. Roles may be condensed, business might decline, reorganizations may be necessary, and new technology could disrupt the status quo - even during times of general economic prosperity.
According to a Bloomberg report, Viacom, owner of the MTV cable TV networks and Comedy Central, is preparing for a large-scale layoff following declines in ratings and advertisement sales due to a significant loss of viewers to Internet media such as YouTube, Facebook and Hulu.
In the oil industry, falling commodity prices are affecting even the biggest players. Marathon Oil Corp. announced it would it cut its budget for a second time, to $3.5 billion this year, from their 2014 spending budget of about $5.9 billion, along with laying off about 10 percent of their workforce. Additionally, Apache Corp plans to cut about 5% of their 5,000 employees and ConocoPhillips told employees to expect a pay freeze and layoffs in the future.
These examples only begin to scratch the surface; many organizations will face challenges and downsizing unrelated to the economy at large. If your motivation behind updating your employee transition strategy is protection from future downturns, delaying implementation could be detrimental. The only time you have to prepare for tomorrow is today. To learn more about implementing cost-saving transition strategies, visit http://slidesha.re/1LIEOWf
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