subject: Resourcing Efficiency In The Face Of Austerity [print this page] The job situation is very much in the news at present here in the UK. This is not least because there are in excess of two and a half million people who dont have one at all, and a great deal more who have half a job, or part of a job, or at the very least not a whole job.
Others who have work today may not have any in a week or two. With the trend continuing towards fixed-term or temporary contracts with no commitment by the employer to provide lasting work (which in its turn leaves the employee with little incentive to do very much work at all) the whole notion of job security finds itself vulnerable to challenge.
The burgeoning part-time culture also means of course that there are now many workers who need to hold down more than one job. Two is frequent, three is not uncommon and four is certainly not unknown. Where the income that one gets from the day job is not sufficient to feed the family the resourceful individual will only naturally be tempted to try to supplement it by seeking additional responsibilities, either at the same company or at another place of work.
It is always easy to conclude that this seismic shift in the nature of the relationship between employee and employer leaves the boss in the driving seat calling all the shots. However in some occupations any threat to job security that gives rise to uncertainty will have a debilitating effect on staff morale which must inevitably induce some knock-on effect in performance and productivity terms. No-one benefits from having a disaffected workforce.
The trick for employers is to try to reconcile the creation of a pleasant working environment with the still important economic demands of achieving value for money in the area of HR. No business has an endless supply of money and they all will want to keep the wage bill low whilst exploiting natural human resources to their maximum potential.
The best option for achieving this would be a vigorous programme of human resources training, provided either by the present workforce having received some form of HR coaching before the event, or through an external supplier. In either case the creation of a lean workforce working to its best potential can be the making or breaking of a company.
HR training and development is without doubt the most useful form of assistance that any agency can offer an employer today. It provides the freedom necessary to get the best out of a workforce, having vested in it the knowledge and the power to do the job with the minimum of demarcation or difficulty.
