Most of us are aware of the news over the last few days about the spurt in growth of the U.S. economy. This has created a sense of optimism that we are finally emerging from the recession, which is now being referred to as The Great Recession. There is presently a lot of confusion for everyone in the marketplace about how the immediate future is going to pan out. Is the recession really officially over? Are things going to get better? Is it going to be like the end of any other recession? When are the jobs coming back? Why do things still seem lousy? We must bear in mind the fact that historical data shows us that jobs take anywhere from nine to eighteen months to bottom out after a rece...

If we look back into the past, historically, we as human beings farmed or hunted or traded with our parents—we toiled alongside them in the fields, went with them and carried home the game together, or helped them load up the boat with goods to go to the trading post downriver. In the manufacturing world, we both often worked together in the same factory or on the same assembly line. The question I have is, in the context of today’s economic situation, how unusual would it be for a parent and their child to be competing for the same job that may be opening up in their city. While this may seem unusual from a human or historical perspective, I think this type of scenario would not...

I have been reflecting about compensation practices in the West and how they have evolved. A very long time ago, people paid for output: bartering in kind or services. For example, a farmer used his crop as “currency” and might exchange a bushel of grain for some service he wished performed by someone. The practice of bartering continued for a long time, even after the advent of money. The Industrial Revolution saw the rise of the manufacturing era, and people began doing a specific job for a specific period of time every day. Large manufacturing facilities initially paid for piece work. Slowly, as the service industry gained prominence and manufacture became more complicated, it...

For those of us that work in the area of HR, the two basic commodities that we deal in are jobs and people—our basic mission is fitting the right person to the right job and ensuring that we maximize their experience in the organization. The more successful we are at doing this, the more engaged and productive each individual will be, and this directly ties in with the performance and business success of the organization. This is easier said than done: the business world as we know it is highly dynamic and changing and becoming more and more complex each day. Various factors are responsible for this, including globalization, increasing workforce diversity, rapid evolution of businesses...