Insight Global commissioned a study of white-collar workers and found that nearly 80% of the ... [+]
The party’s a blast until all of the alcohol and food are taken away and the music stops. This is where the United States is now. The Federal Reserve Bank tipped over the punch bowl. No longer will the U.S. have historically low inflation rates. Whether the U.S. is in a recession or not, it’s clear that Americans are in for a period of austerity. As this plays out, the dynamics between employees and employers will dramatically change. Companies will likely start clamping down and wielding their power.
In the heady days of 2021, everything boomed. The stock, real estate and crypto markets were up. The job market was on fire. Then, along came inflation. Runaway inflation can crush a country. Check out what happened in Venezuela. It was once a prosperous country and now the stores’ shelves are bare.
The Fed admitted that it needs to cool down the economy to battle inflation. That doesn't sound so bad until you think it through. Slowing down the economy means that companies won’t have access to cheap capital. The low-borrowing costs were the jet fuel that made the economy rocket. Now, it's over.
What To Expect
Executives will start doing what is best for them, not what the workers want. It's fair to say that management prefers people to go into the office. The rationale is that it's easier to micromanage people when they are all under one roof. In a slowing environment, jobs won't be as plentiful. However, there could be a silver lining. In an effort to radically cut costs, companies may elect to go remote first. They’ll jettison their expensive real estate holdings, send everyone back home and save a small fortune.
People will be averse to job-hopping, as they did in the past, for fear of not having a seat when the music stops. Without the threat of talent leaving, the C-suite will have a tighter grip on what goes on. Layoffs, hiring freezes and rescinded offers will become commonplace. Human resources will slow walk the interview and hiring process, as they’ll be concerned about hiring a candidate only to later let them go if business conditions deteriorate. Businesses will hasten the deployment of artificial intelligence and automation instead of hiring people. If you go into any Target or other big box retailers, you’ll see self-checkout machines rather than employees.
Remote work will probably be neutered. Hybrid work will be four days in the office with one day at home, as a gift from management. The remote day will be taken away if the employees don’t meet their goals.
Social activism will come to an end. Diversity and inclusion initiatives may suffer. For example, Jesse Powell, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, told his employees that they could leave the company, receive a severance package and jet ski off if they want to persist with a “woke” ideology and feel “triggered” by opinions that differ from their viewpoints.
Leadership, worried about surviving, will not be inclined to entertain extraneous diversions from their core mission of driving revenue and earning profits. All of the talks about mental health and emotional well-being will stop.
The ‘Two Jobs For Every Person Searching’ Fallacy And Cracks In The Facade
It is widely reported that there are two jobs open for every one person seeking a new role. What isn’t mentioned is that this logic doesn’t make sense. People assume that there is a direct match between open roles and job hunters who either possess the requisite skills or are interested in the type of positions available.
Another fallacy is saying that it's a “hot” job market. Not every sector is in demand. If you are a software engineer, you’ll be sought after. On the other end of the spectrum, waiters, bartenders, warehouse workers and other frontline workers are desperately needed. However, many of these folks dont want these types of jobs. They desire roles that aren't back-breaking, being on your feet all day and dealing with abusive customers.
The recent jobs report boasts that the number of positions added exceeded expectations. After carefully watching the jobs report for four years, the economists are almost always off base with their predictions. It was underreported that the household survey part of the June jobs report was that 300k people lost their jobs, the labor participation rate is not healthy, as people are not returning to the job market. Many Americans are working two jobs and working fewer hours.
LinkedIn is the premiere social media site for job seekers and career-oriented professionals. Guy Berger, the principal economist at LinkedIn, wrote about the concerning data he collected. Berger said in a post, “Hiring fell in June. The LinkedIn hiring rate fell by 5.4% [month-over-month] (seasonally adjusted) in June, suggesting that tighter financial conditions and softening demand might finally be hitting the U.S. labor market.” The economist added, “Hiring fell to its lowest level since December 2021.”
Block Out The Noise And Focus On Managing Your Career
Insight Global commissioned a study of white-collar workers and found that nearly 80% of the respondents are worried about the safety of their jobs. The fear of a recession and its effects has caused a “Great Apprehension.”
All this news could be disheartening. People have been beaten down by two years of a pandemic. Then, there was a brief period of near euphoria, as everything seemed to improve. Now that the rug has been pulled out beneath Americans, it's understandable to feel scared and anxious.
What you need to do is block out all of the noise and focus on managing your career. Make yourself indispensable at work. Ingratiate yourself with your boss and senior-level executives to ensure that they’ll keep you on if things go wrong.
Instead of worrying, take control of your future. Sign up for online courses that could help improve your current position or learn something new that will open the door to another career option. Get in touch with recruiters and rekindle relationships with your network to gain job leads and access to openings at companies that are a perfect fit for you.
Take heart, as recessions and tough times don’t last too long. Boom-and-bust economic cycles are all too common. So stay strong, hunker down, curtail your spending, save money and keep your eyes open for new opportunities. Soon this will pass, and the U.S. will return to good times again.
