Week after uncomfortable week, Donald Trump leaned across the edge of his famous boardroom table, his hands locked together, his lips curled in a sneer, and stared some poor sucker right out the door. During eight seasons of his reality television show, “The Apprentice,” Trump has mastered the ability to pound out the two words that no employee, not even a contestant eager for fame and fortune, wants to hear.
You’re fired.
As has been the case so many times during the last couple of decades, Trump proved to be far ahead of the curve. He mastered the fine art of the fire long prior to the start of our current recession, long prior to millions of workers hearing the same words, more or less, as that unfortunate contestant on the other side of the table. But perhaps Trump — and you — will not need to utter those words as often this year as you did last year.
The national unemployment rate dropped to 10 percent in November 2009 from 10.2 percent in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That figure, however slight, represents enough of a drop to provide some glimmer of hope to human resources and human capital experts across the nation and some hope that the start of a long recovery will soon be under way.
“A sharp employer can use the current economic system to get their employees even more engaged in the business. The whole issue of human resources is really built on common sense and good human interaction,” says Gordon St. John, managing director, East Region, United States, Buck Consultants LLC. “Employers can be talking to their employees about what the challenges are and looking to their employees to help find more solutions.”
All of which means that, after a long and frustrating year filled with layoffs, wage freezes, the elimination of bonuses and perks, and the addition of more assignments for employees already under stress, the economy — and the human resources industry — might start to take a turn for the better at some point this year. Challenges do remain, of course, but there is hope.
Whenever the figures and charts tick upward, the time to move will be as soon as possible. Will you be prepared?