A recent survey by staffing services firm Manpower indicates that the global talent crunch—evident during the boom years—is still very much around.
At first sight, this is counterintutive. After all, if companies have been shedding jobs, and there aren’t too many new ones going around, shouldn’t there be a lot of good people available for the picking?
It would seem not. The results suggest that companies have managed to hang on to their best people, but that is only half the story. The other half has to do with how people react to a slowdown.
Even the most talented employees, with skills that are much in demand across companies and sectors, tend to hunker down and wait out a slowdown. Their preference for the status quo and fear of change outweighs the appeal of, say, an attractive new job at a higher salary.
The bad news for companies is that these employees will leave as soon as the economy turns—unless they are given good reason not to.