Thursday, December 2, 2010

The 0.7% Non-Solution by CFO Magazine

CFO Magazine recently published an article by Scott Leibs entitled The 0.7% Non-Solution.

0.7% being the percentage of CFOs who expect their companies to hire new full-time employees during the next 12 months.  It’s a dismal number, and if we’re counting on this number as our hope for improved employment in the United States, well, we shouldn’t put all our eggs in that basket.

People need work, and companies need workers.  Because they aren’t able to hire, the employees they do have are stretched thin, being forced to pick up the gaping slack left by layoffs and hiring freezes.  Meanwhile, a company’s people are everything.  How well can companies grow, if their workforces can’t grow with them?

Survey numbers released by Duke’s Fuqua School of Business point to an alternative solution.  CFOs’ expected percentage of outsourced jobs steadily rose from 2.5% in September 2009 to 5.5% in June 2010.  By enlisting the help of a staffing agency to streamline processes, handle administrative tasks, and manage employees, companies continue to hire, and people continue to work.

We, like Scott Liebs, hope that 0.7% rises.  In the meantime, we should absolutely drive 9.6% - the current rate of unemployment – down.

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