Special Report on Contingent Staffing: Contingency Plan | workforce.com
Staffing company officials say the pace of contingent job growth suggests a shift toward more use of temporary labor at the expense of permanent jobs. Companies had to fire thousands of workers during this downturn and are leery of ramping up permanent employment too quickly. They can more easily downsize again if they hire mainly temporary employees.
Underwriters love stuff like this!
In the business world, it’s a distinct advantage to have a brain that anticipates future demands and negotiates them well. Accurate predictions typically translate to success. Being able to envision future scenarios helps foster strategic planning and resist immediate rewards in favor of longer-term gains. The proactive brain flexibly recombines details from past experiences that, by analogy with your current surroundings, help you make sense of where you are, anticipate what will come next, and successfully navigate the transition.
Medical News: Green Veggies Cut Diabetes Risk – in Endocrinology, Diabetes from MedPage Today
Increasing the daily intake of green leafy vegetables could significantly reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, a British meta-analysis found.
Consuming 1.35 servings of these vegetables per day was associated with a 14% reduction in risk compared with consuming only 0.2 servings (HR 0.86, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.96, P=0.01), according to Patrice Carter, a PhD student at the University of Leicester, and colleagues.
The hidden trend in the monthly jobs report — and what it means for you | paulacaligiuri.com
There is a big change on the horizon in the way we should conceive of the concept of jobs – and it is dramatically changing how job security will be created in the future. For many, jobs of the future may be more like multiple income generating activities (or gigs) where we leverage our talents and skills. Job security will no longer be derived from being employed 40 hours/week. Rather, it will be something we create for ourselves when our talents and skills are in demand.
This is a mind shift.
The emphasis of the future will be on the skills you bring, rather than the job you occupy. There will be a far greater focus on self-management of both our skills and our network, two critical components of career success. Possessing more sought-out skills and having a strong network will be related to more income opportunities, whether working for a single organization or as an independent contractor.
Perhaps we need to take a collective deep breath and realize that, while change is afoot, this free agent mentality may also come with some upsides:
- You will now have tremendous flexibility to plan and grow your own career, no longer relinquishing career management to an employer.
- You will now have the ability to craft your sources of income across multiple opportunities if this is what you chose to do.
- You will now have the opportunity to engage in a career that fits with your life – and not vice versa.
Thanks Paula. I could not have said this better myself.
On Turning a Mountain Into a Molehill | Credit Writedowns
Readers of my Scary Charts posts will note that sometimes you’ll find a chart with a link to the original article while other times you’ll find just the link.
If all you see is a link, I encourage you to read the original article.
You gotta read this one.
Managing the Productivity Paradox – HBR IdeaCast – Harvard Business Review
This is an HBR IdeaCast podcast interview with Tony Schwartz, president and CEO of The Energy Project and author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working.
Take 15 minutes and learn a little about ultradian rhythms and the way we work.
For Real Productivity, Less is Truly More – The Conversation – Harvard Business Review
The way we’re working isn’t working — for employees or for their employers. There is a better way to fuel productivity and high performance. The first key to changing the way we work is recognizing that the value of those you manage isn’t generated by the number of hours they work, but rather by how much value they produce during the hours we are working. Working longer hours, juggling more tasks and answering more emails isn’t the solution.
The Job Satisfaction Paradox for the Self-Employed – BusinessWeek
How can the self-employed earn less money, work more hours, and experience more work-related stress than the wage employed—yet still report greater overall job satisfaction? The answer appears to be that people value highly the autonomy, flexibility, and opportunity to work in a small organization .
Many studies show that the desire to be one’s own boss is one of the leading motivators of self-employment. Others report flexible schedules are a key motivator of self-employment. Moreover, human beings have a preference for working in settings where they can interact with all the members of the organization, according to research by Bruno Frey and Matthias Benz of the Institute of Empirical Economics of the University of Zurich.
In short, the paradox isn’t such a paradox after all. People will work harder, earn less, and put up with more stress so that they can enjoy the freedom, flexibility, and work environment that self-employment provides.
Does Your Passion Match Your Aspiration? – Rosabeth Moss Kanter – Harvard Business Review
I got a passing grade. Did you?
Facing Up to the Demographic Dilemma
This is a thought provoking article on the challenges and opportunities aging populations present to businesses. Under Article Tools you can click the PDF button for a reprint rather than page through multiple web pages. It still fascinates me to watch businesses in the US shed competent people of all ages while ignoring future workforce and critical skills needs.
lifeunderwriter.net 
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