The Chicago Tribune stated: “The U.S. economy shed 345,000 jobs in May, pushing the unemployment rate near double-digits and bringing the total number of jobs lost in the current recession to 6 million…The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the nationwide unemployment rate now stands at 9.4 percent, the worst it has been in more than 25 years. If workers abandoned their job searches or settled for part-time employment were factored in, the rate would have been 16.4 percent.” (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-us-unemployment-rate-may-payrolls-jun05,0,2288393.story?track=rss)
The news is not promising to say the least but my questions are:
1) What are the implications of these statistics for leaders?
2) Are there ways to increase productivity and profits without staff cuts?
There are those who would insist that the layoffs are all necessary but I can remember the time when a downsizing for a company was a reflection on the effectiveness of the corporate leadership. Companies did not just shed employees like an animal shed its skin. Now the unemployment numbers are staggering. My question to those of us in leadership is "Can we make a difference in reducing these numbers?" Some may say that the reduction in force is merely a business necessity. I beg to differ though that it is important to first make that corporate leadership takes an honest assessment about how the human resources are maximized to increase profitability and productivity. As a leader, do you know how you can contribute to reducing the unemployment rate?
Roberta, Host of InspirRadio (www.blogtalkradio.com/inspirradio)
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