The labour market can be envisaged as a global marketplace where talent is matched with demand, and, fluctuations in demand and supply, increased need for flexibility, and, the economic recessions have brought about instability where employment is no longer a long-term career but merely a matter of demand and supply. Yet, the lack of talent available on the market might hypothetically create the need for employers to train their employees, it is just that they have a different kind of attitude.
On one hand training improves job mobility (Crouch et. al, 1999) and therefore employers might fear that their employees will take a "free ride" as soon as they get training. On the other hand, the ability of a manager to retain his/her employees depends partly on his/her leadership skills and team-building abilities, and, therefore, everyone has to share a slice of cake when it comes to shouldering responsibility. Not training employees might de-motivate people, or else might motivate people who are comfortable with low-wages and routine jobs. The contingency of who will replace the low-wage earners as soon as they move up the ladder of an organization - usually as they gain more experience, become more productive and effective and either specialize or diversify into different specialization, depending on their motivations, education/training and the opportunities available.
It is not uncommon for employers to ask employees to maintain their professional development i.e. fund their own training, although to be fair enough companies which envisage a long-term career for their employees, do provide rewarding pay-scales and bonuses for qualifications, achievements and above-average productivity. Nevertheless, the post-recession has brought about a certain cliche triggered by real or perceived uncertainty in the future, and, employers - notably but not limited to the UK and Malta - have emphasized their reluctance to increase their costs, even though the margins calculated by the author seemed to be immaterial even for a small to medium enterprise, however, it is quite possible that this was only a sample. Others say that this cliche is only "fuss" and thus people who advocate employment rights and conditions tend to sense this kind of attitude that seeks total flexibility in favour of the employer as an unacceptable position. In Malta substandard employment conditions have been socially labelled as "precarious", and unfortunately the conditions of work do not seem to have shifted back to favour the good old days when trade unions seemed to instil enough confidence in the workforce to allow them to negotiate with employers en nom collectif. For one, the author prefers to negotiate first-hand with the manager, because, it is quite legitimate to state that a contract has to be signed at least by two parties, and, the employee is one of them. Only recently has Germany legalized a national minimum wage, at a rate that is considerably higher than that in Malta, UK, and, some states within the United States of America, yet national minimum wage seems to be the legislation of choice which is never seriously considered for harmonization.
Although it is now possible to standardize on-the-job training assigning them comparable NVQs and making the skills marketable within the job market, some employers are still unwilling to pay for the training of general workers' skills (Steedman, 1998), and they seem not to understand that this strategic ignorance of up-to-date knowledge can fire back as incidents can happen out of lack of knowledge or competence, that can put the firm's reputation at risk within the competitive marketplace. The impending skills deficit (Leitch 2006) needs to be quantified and monitored in aggregate. Unfortunately, there transpires to be a cultural issue that diffuses certain issues which are criminal which some members of society notably of a particular gender are leaving to triviality, and surveys as highlighted by articles written on the Times of Malta
indicate that some perceive a level of exagerration in claims, this type of reaction is also lacking of due diligence, however, we cannot understand the details just by reading the overview unfortunately transparency still has a long way to go within the digital economy.
Although not the norm, project-based employment (or engagement through self-employment or sub-contracting) is still prevalent for example in the construction industry and the IT, both requiring different skill sets and requiring different frames of mind for understanding the psychology of employees and creating the right environment to motivate their productivity and ongoing development. Project based work or fixed-term duration contracts may appear to provide greater flexibility to the employer. One of the disadvantages is that it brings about a negative perceptions as executives have been quoted to admit that they tend to overlook people who appear as "job hoppers", and, discrimination law does not seem to be enforced strongly enough to change the attitudes.
In order for a firm to have a wide view of the labour market it can choose to advertise within the internal labour market (its own firm), local labour market, and the global labour market that is being facilitated through international diplomatic agreements signed and agreed by government officials to facilitate and regulate trade and business across the globe, and thus job-seekers are faced with a vague promise that their rights and liberties are to continue being protected.
Employees, particularly those working on low pay might feel discriminated because initially their working conditions are inferior compared to those given to their senior colleagues, as firms with a career structure offer entry level conditions of work when they join an organization. The segregation of employees on a fast track of the career and employees on a slower track of the career is also a known cliche and nowadays employers speak of meritocracy, although there is no harmonized or standardized view on how personnel performance management has to be carried out. The author noticed very trivial ways of making judgments in his last employment, and, it seemed quite funny that the motivation for determining a low performer seemed to originate merely from suspicion and lack of trust, a factor that has been confirmed by three members of an appointed disciplinary board.
For the next 100 years, I believe that managers need to attempt to forecast based on the long-term, if we are to provide a basis for knowledge on how to make plans which do not result in recessionary factors, and, lay-offs, and, therefore business sustainability is an important factor that needs economic re-assurance and detailed knowledge of the global marketplace upon which to make realistic estimates on the future. It is true that it is impossible to predict the future accurately, however, it is also true that history repeats itself, and, by making prudent assumptions we are able to plan better. It might be a business myth that a low labour cost per hour is an attractive business factor, and, this actually can meet several pages of critique:
1. Low wages tend to indicate a low level of skill and bargaining power available. Although low bargaining power or its perception might be attractive it might be hiding behind cultural factors that are like the "quiet before the storm of trouble", if we were to think in terms of warning signs, as experience indicates. Again this is forecasting it is partly made up of educated guesses and social sciences are not an exact science 20% of the time (Pareto principle). Employers promise "permanent jobs" and "career ladder based on achievement", this is mainly misleading advertising, the economy does not offer any long-term benefits intrinsically, at least I tend to believe so as I notice troughs and peaks of recession and fake booms, such as the dot-com boom.
2. It is quite possible to mark-up the costs and increase retail prices, although this would bring about an inflationary effect in theory, which has to be aggregated globally and broken down for further analysis. Retail price index is a function that measures consumer prices, and, although this is a general indicator of pricing, it is not necessarily a predictor of retail prices of the future, although we like to think that history repeats itself and we can observe trends of ebbs and flows of economic activity as aggregate revenues flow from boom to bust. The consumer has to pay the price when the calculations have been said and done, and, competition is still a barrier to major fluctuations so this might cause a perception that prices need to appear 'stable'. Stability does not necessarily mean that the prices are competitive or fair however, although it is quite easy to compare prices across the globe nowadays with the availability of electronic commerce shops in the large portion of the world where Internet is available.
From a career development perspective, human resources managers, might have to think about the following issues:
1. Will people who are under-employed be compensated over their career tenure?
2. What holistic criteria can we use as the basis for harmonizing performance management, for the firm, for teams and for individuals, and, how do we garner our learning abilities?
3. Do low-paying jobs "lock" people in a manner that they feel de-motivated to learn new transferable skills and thus be able to provide more services to their employer, in an economy that has confirmed the increasing risk of poverty as a major economic problem?
4. If we train people in skilled jobs or jobs that are "low pay" and they move to a higher career ladder, who is going to replace them, humans or robots, in the next 200 years or so and what are the risks of robotic technology?
This essay was written based on research available at the London School of Economics Online Research available online.
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