Globalization, Outsourcing, and Offshoring
Increasing government regulation in the US along with increasing corporate taxation (maybe highest in the world), higher wages, and less desirable, business friendly policies and incentives are causing employers to rethink locations for their operations. High taxation, high regulation states are seeing an outpouring of business (and jobs) from their locations. The US is seeing an overall rise in outsourcing jobs to overseas locations that are viewed as more friendly to business.
In an era of globalization, this makes sense. Employers seek global, rather than local markets, so that economic factors in one location do not hinder progress. Employers see the positive impacts of locating offices and factories in global markets and tapping the strengths of local employees who are familiar with business and employment practices in the new locations.
Whether work is off-shored, outsourced, or the company is simply expanding globally, the challenges to Human Resources with a globally-located workforce are serious. If a US company has five employees in Hong Kong or six in Europe, local Human Resources offices do not make sense. In fact, the US HR Director, with assistance from local employment agencies, probably hired the staff. Managing and working with these global locations, while obeying the laws and honoring the customs of the host country, is a challenge for managers, Human Resources, and coworkers.
I remember hiring my first employee in Hong Kong. I learned the monetary system, the required holidays, the government regulations, and more. I also found that, until I had local, trusted employment staffing assistance, the new employee and subsequent employees took advantage of my limited knowledge.
It's a whole new world of global challenges out there. Get ready.
Human Resources Trends of the Decade: Honorable Mentions
I considered these Human Resources trends and they are worthy and deserve a mention. Several of them will see their biggest impact in the next ten years.
This includes diversity which is already affecting workplaces and legislation. See my favorite piece about diversity: Search for Similarities: Just Like Me. Discrimination laws have had a profound impact on recruiting and hiring practices and in all areas of equal opportunity employment.
The labor union movement in the US is in the process of undergoing a radical change. Recently, public sector employees became the majority of union members leaving private sector union member numbers behind. Additionally, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has stated publicly that their members include illegal immigrants. This will produce changes in the next decade about Political Action Committees (PACs), raise questions about who is funding union activities, and also impact the illegal immigration debates in Congress and for employers.
In the wake of the horrific events of 9-11-2001, much of which most employees watched unfold on their televisions at work, a feeling of a loss of safety swept the nation. When tragedy struck the workplace, employers responded with new building evacuation plans, safety and crisis management plans, and business continuation strategies. People who lived closer to the events and who lost family members and friends were most profoundly affected. But, the events of 9-11-2001 will never be forgotten in America. Hopefully, this will never be a trend, but several readers nominated this event.
The evolution of performance management as an employee development, goal setting, and performance evaluation strategy is an important Human Resources trend in my book. It allows an employer to develop an employee from onboarding until they leave your company. It moves evaluation and goal setting away from an annual appraisal administered by the employee’s manager to a mutually beneficial defined contribution and development plan.
We’ll see considerably more from each of these trends in the next decade. Hold on to your seat. The next wave of Human Resources trends for the next decade will soon leave the station. Are you ready to enhance and take advantage of them in your workplace?
Please share your best trends of the decade and your worst trends of the decade. Have comments on these top 10 trends and Human Resources trends of the decade, in general? Share your thoughts about the top 10 Human Resources trends of the decade.
