Despite Expected Hiring Gains, Rate of Job Growth Still Behind 2011

The hiring outlook for February 2012 shows a net gain in employment in the manufacturing and service sectors, although the pace of job creation lags that of January 2011, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for February 2012. 

Hiring will be steady in both sectors in February. Forty percent of manufacturers responding to the survey report they will add jobs in February 2012; approximately 21 percent of service-sector companies responding report they will be hiring.

“Though we continue to see an overall positive rate of hiring for both sectors, the gains are not as strong compared to the same time last year,” said Jennifer Schramm, GPHR, SHRM manager of workplace trends and forecasting. 

Human resource professionals in both sectors reported increased difficulty with recruiting key candidates in January 2012 compared with January 2011. In addition, some new hires will see increases in starting compensation offers.

The LINE Employment Report examines employers’ hiring expectations, recruiting difficulty and new-hire compensation, based on monthly survey responses from private-sector human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing- and 500 service-sector companies. Together, these two sectors employ more than 90 percent of the nation’s private-sector workers. Read More

Ready, Set, Hire!

Dennis Padgett knows he's in a coveted position for these troubled economic times.

In the next few months, he'll be hiring 200 people for a new research and development facility.
His employer, Cobb-Vantress Inc., a poultry breeder based in Siloam Springs, Ark., is building a $19 million pedigree breeding complex in Deer Lodge, Tenn. Last year, the company opened a $14 million state-of-the-art hatchery in that state.

Despite the economic downturn, "We're doing fairly well," says Padgett, GPHR, director of world human resources at Cobb-Vantress.

While some industries have been hit harder by the recession than others, Padgett says the role he plays gives his employer a leg up. The expansion has, in turn, enabled it to create jobs and offer welcome news to citizens of struggling localities where new facilities are located.

He encourages innovation among 1,400 employees in eight states—and 2,500 employees globally—and nurtures relationships with universities and even high schools to ensure that a healthy crop of students pursue agriculture careers to fill future jobs in hatcheries and research labs.

"I report to the president, so HR is definitely involved in our strategic planning—and part of that planning process is determining what human capital we are going to need," Padgett says.
Open dialogue among executive-level leaders promotes growth: "It's all about moving our company forward," he says.

In this election year, the nation's high unemployment rate remains a hot debate. However, while politicians wrangle over how to create jobs, HR professionals are doing their part to put more Americans to work. They are:

SHRM's 2012 HR Trendbook

Feels Like Recession, But ...  

 
Though economists say we are now well into our third year of recovery from the 2007-09 recession, high rates of unemployment, continued economic uncertainty, volatile markets and debt-burdened national economies have made many around the world feel like the Great Recession never ended. These factors are prompting many leading forecasting bodies to readjust their views of what lies ahead in 2012. Most predictions are less optimistic now than they were when 2011 began.

Read more.

(Image compliments of Google.)

Employee Job Satisfaction

The external forces influencing employee attitudes

Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) has released its annual “Employee Job Satisfaction Survey”.  Rounding out the top five key factors that keep employees happy is (1) Job Security (2) Opportunity to Use Skills and Abilities (3) Organization’s Financial Stability (4) Relations with their Immediate Supervisor (5) Compensation/Pay. The survey results look at ‘Top employee job satisfaction factors” to “External forces influencing job satisfaction”.  Provided in Figure 1, the survey lines out fourteen key aspects for employees to be happy and satisfied with their jobs and the organization they work for. 

Rounding out the survey, SHRM highlights how the rising cost of healthcare has become an issue for employees with their lack of wage increases. The survey provides an insight into how Human Recourse departments can help take action within the control of the company to assist their employees and keep the company’s moral at a satisfied level. 

Learn more about the survey by reading the most recent publication: Workplace Visions.