A couple of recent Wall Street Journal articles by Joe Light illuminate some interesting training trends that impact innovation.
1) "In a poll conducted by human-resources consultant Right Management at the end of 2009, 60% of workers said they intended to leave their jobs when the market got better," one of the reasons is "the effect of heavy cost-cutting and downsizing during the downturn on workers' morale."
"'Employees feel disengaged with their jobs, which is going to lead to a lot of churn as we come out of the recession,' says Brett Good, a district president...for Robert Half International, an executive recruiting firm." (Read the complete article at: http://bit.ly/95Lco2)
2) "Employers cut spending on training by 11% in both 2009 and 2008, according to human-resources consulting firm Bersin and Associates LLC. Now about half of companies plan to increase their leadership-development budgets in 2010." An unintended consequence of these leadership training cuts is that "now executives are having a hard time finding strong managers to fill vacancies. 'We're finding times when we want to open a new market but don't have anyone with the capabilities to do it,' says Larry Looker, Amways's manager of global leadership development. 'It's a real weakness.'" Amway will be restarting the leadership programs that it put on hold, and in the meantime, Amway is hiring managers from outside the company, which Mr. Looker describes as risky and expensive. (Read the article about management training spending increase at: http://bit.ly/c4at7j)
Continue reading "Are people a fungible commodity? If so, so's their loyalty and innovation." »
