Heading for the Door

Since last Summer I’ve been tracking job vacancies using highly sophisticated technology. Actually I registered for a vacancy aggregator and watched how many new vacancies they advertised each week. The number drifted slowly through the Summer, flatlined in Autumn before a typical fall just before Christmas (we all know the only dude in the job market at that time is Santa). Early in the New Year numbers picked up and they are now holding steady at levels around twice what they were last Summer.

I believe this is the start of a wave of disengagement in action. I and others have predicted that people will start to move as soon as they can. This is in part due to the lack of creative engagement practice through the tougher times. It’s a case of workers saying “you didn’t trust us when the going got tough, why should we trust you now?” and voting with their feet. No surprise to me at all. The cost to business will be significant and the disruption to service considerable. What amazes me is we’ve seen all this before – people who run businesses have very poor memories it would seem. Either that or all the talk about respect for the work force and valuing the customer is just junk, spoken in the name of short term profits.

How’s it looking where you are? Are more good people heading for the door?