White Paper

Rethinking Retention

 
Imagine you are reading this book in the summer of 2007. Surrounded by a blazing economy, you would find data here regarding the high number of jobs vs. workers across most industries and the challenges U.S. companies face to hire and retain good or even serviceable workers.

But the U.S. economy made a hairpin turn near the end of 2007, moving from very healthy to officially in recession in a matter of months. This stark contrast of economies offers a good look at employees' quitting patterns during down economic times.

For most of 2007, the U.S. economy was riding high and few economists were predicting danger ahead. The recession began in December of that year but wasn't officially announced until a full year later. During that 12-month lapse the U.S. became a different country.

By the mid-point of 2008 the economy showed the following changes since year-end 2007:

• The Dow Jones Industrials had dropped more than 14%
• Inflation had increased over 4%
• Gas prices had shot up an even dollar
• The Consumer Confidence Index had fallen 44%

Major layoffs had increased by 22% compared to the same period of the previous year and had put nearly 1 million Americans out of work.

These are the times when executives expect workers to hold onto their jobs.

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