You don’t hear much from Jack Welch anymore. A few years back, you couldn’t pick up a business magazine without seeing some article about Jack Welch. Since his retirement from General Electric in 2004, it seems the business pundits have moved on to other subjects. 
We can, however, still gain a little “wisdom from Jack”…if we’re willing to go looking for it. He and his wife, Suzy (the former editor of Harvard Business Review), write a weekly column in Business Week. Last week, they covered the topic of what impact the current recession will have on the hiring environment, once the recession ends.
“[What can] companies expect when the economy finally improves? A hiring game that’s entirely different—and harder. Look, this recession has really shocked people. Never before has the bottom fallen out so fast or affected so many people so deeply. Virtually no organization has been left unscathed. Two years ago, being in business was filled with promise and payback. Now, you just don’t know what bad news awaits you when you arrive at work every day.
The result? Many people have come to the conclusion that they don’t want to work for ‘the man’ anymore. They want to work for themselves or someone they know and trust. It’s as a marketing specialist told us recently: ‘My husband was fired. My hours were cut in half,’ she said. ‘As soon as we get on our feet, we’re starting our own business. We’re never going to let ourselves be vulnerable again.’
She’s hardly alone. From coast to coast—and through hundreds of e-mails to our Web site and conversations on Twitter—there’s a tidal wave of emotion. To be someone else’s employee, people are telling us, is to be at someone else’s whim. The impact of this growing attitude could be profound. When the economy recovers, most companies might, for the first time, have to deal with a candidate pool that’s not particularly excited to work for them.”
As many of you know, we have many clients in the real estate industry. This type of attitude change among the workforce could be advantageous for those companies who offer business models where the “employee” works for themselves.
We’re beginning to see this change in mindset with real estate candidates. While many people are feeling the angst in their current jobs, as the Welch’s talk about, they also sense that the real estate market has hit bottom. Moving into a new career field when things are less crowded makes some people even more excited about the opportunities for success.
What if your business cannot offer a “work for yourself” option? Welch has some advice for you as well:
“Fortunately, companies can prepare now for the changed hiring dynamic ahead. All they have to do is, well, stop acting like big companies—bureaucratic and impersonal—and start creating a fast-moving and vibrant atmosphere. They’ll need to mimic the upside small companies and entrepreneurial ventures offer as a matter of course. Teams will need to be smaller, organizations flatter, and the values of candor, informality, and innovation must be baked into the culture. People will need to feel that what they say matters, regardless of rank and title. Perhaps most important, companies will need to understand that when the recovery arrives, stars will no longer wait around to be given the authority to make decisions or to be promoted. The alternative—running their own show—has too much appeal.”
