A lot has changed in the American workforce in the last three decades, notably the fact that the realm of workforce temps has grown noticeably, in both size and stature. Indeed, it has become normal to have “plug ‘N play” folks at every level, nook, and cranny of the workforce, to include the corner office. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that last one, but it is what it is. “Parts is parts” as they say.

This evolution of the employment relationship extends well beyond employment classification.

Beginning in the tech space, we’re seeing businesses growing more comfortable with periodically resizing their workforces based on forecast, rather than actual, real time business activity. 

We’ve long hired staff in anticipation of business demand, but have seldom terminated workers on that same basis, preferring to wait until work demand actually falls. When that came to pass, it was a sad, long-remembered day. That’s changing, as we’re now seeing some large firms trimming the sails ahead of time, based not on actual experience, but the projection. I fear that bingeing and purging are becoming normalized workforce management practice.

The last part of that suggests, I think, much greater willingness to begin downsizing in advance of the necessity. We’re more willing to say goodbye to Joe or Adrienne (and a hundred others) purely on the basis of forecast demand. That suggests a substantial cooling of the relationship… it’s just business, predicated, it seems, on the assumption that, if we mistakenly cut Joe or Adrienne loose this week, we’ll suffer no reputational damage, and we can easily find their replacement on demand.  I’ll submit that both parts of that premise are flawed.

Employer reputation is hard currency, and as for the easy replacement, the modelers of that theory have never gone fishing on an empty stomach; as sometimes, you learn that you can cast and change your bait until hell freezes over, and it seems that all the “fish” have lockjaw, or are happily swimming somewhere else. 

Moreover, the way we go about it has become entirely too mechanical. Trust us, when you get a rep as a less than caring place to work, word travels quickly and widely. Trust us, you won’t like the outcome.

Our strong suggestion is that organizations proceed thoughtfully and carefully in this space, as good employer reputations take a lot of time to develop, and only one badly handled termination or downsizing to ruin.