Category: Business Trends

Business trends discusses the implications of economics, employment, mergers, acquisitions, and regulatory changes on talent, leadership, recruitment, and human resources issues.

Labor shortages are here 0

Why We Are Entering A Secular Labor Shortage

There are lots of economists waiting for the labor market to “cool,” enabling unemployment to rise and inflation to slow. Yet despite these projections, unemployment remains at a 45 year low and it’s still hard to hire. Why the change? Our research clearly shows that we’ve entered a whole new economy, one that makes labor ... Read more»

Welcome To The Post-Industrial Economy: AI Is Here To Save Us

This week we published my keynote speech from Irresistible 2023, and I encourage you to watch it. Here’s the story in brief, and I’ll be talking a lot more about this at the HR Technology Conference and Unleash 2023 conferences in October.

 

The Post-Industrial Economy

Business leaders are confronting a world of opportunity ... Read more»

Perceptyx acquires humu

Perceptyx Acquires Humu: HR Tech Is Harder Than It Seems

I’ve been an analyst covering HR Technology for more than twenty years and there’s one big thing I’ve learned: it’s a tough market for entrepreneurs. While it looks like a massive and easy-to-understand space, the competition is brutal and HR professionals are very pragmatic buyers. So when companies with new ideas like Humu come along, ... Read more»

Adapting To AI: The New World Of Organizational Ingenuity

As we all begin to understand the role of AI in our companies, a new era has emerged. The era of what I call the “Super-worker” – where each individual in the company has “superhuman” powers they’ve never experienced before.

Yes, thanks to AI we all have access to information, insights, education, and perspectives we ... Read more»

The Rise Of The Copilots: Microsoft Steps Up The Pace

This week Microsoft unleashed a massive array of product announcements (50 in total) around the use of Copilots throughout our daily lives. And while we all may understand the idea, now these tools are real. And it’s clear to me that Microsoft has gotten their groove and is executing quickly with a laser focus.

While ... Read more»

Why Is The World Afraid Of AI? The Fears Are Unfounded, And Here’s Why.

This week we saw another flurry of panic about AI. Elon Musk and a number of senior researchers wrote a letter asking the world to “slow down” for six months before advancing GPT4 (published by The Future of Life Institute). Goldman Sachs published a note that claims 300 million jobs will be affected by ... Read more»

The Churning US Labor Market… And Why We Need “Labor Anthropologists.”

While I’m not formally trained as an economist, I spend so much time with companies HR departments I feel like we are “micro-economics” experts. So in a confusing time of paradoxical data (low unemployment during growing layoffs), let me explain what’s happening.

The US Labor Market Is A Churning Engine

While it’s tempting to think ... Read more»

Labor Shortage In The Middle Of A Business Slowdown? It All Makes Sense.

Why do we have a labor shortage as we enter an economic slowdown? It’s an interesting paradox.

For the first time I can remember we’re entering a global economic slowdown yet the unemployment rate has dropped to the lowest it’s been in 53 years (3.4%)  There is a shortage of people to take the jobs ... Read more»

Were All These Layoffs Inevitable? Perhaps, But Here’s How It Happened.

As most of you know, the technology industry has laid off more than 200,000 people in the last six weeks and each week we see more (this week it was Intel, Paypal, Splunk, and Pinterest). So let me ask an important question: were all these layoffs inevitable?

Well in order to answer this question we ... Read more»

Predictions for 2023: Redefining Work, The Workforce, And HR

Every year for 25 years I’ve tried to write Predictions for the year ahead. And this year, like none before, I think it’s time for something big. As you will read about in this newest report, we are entering a year which may redefine almost everything. Not to be dramatic, but when was ... Read more»

Understanding Chat-GPT, And Why It’s Even Bigger Than You Think (*updated)

Everyone has an opinion about Chat-GPT and AI. Engineers and entrepreneurs see it as a new frontier: a bold new world to invent products, services, and solutions. Social scientists and journalists are worried, with one prominent NYT author Ezra Klein calling it an “information warfare machine.” What has god wrought?

Let me just say up ... Read more»

Doing More With Less: Kill Meetings, Consider The Four-Day Work Week

The time has come: new research shows that workers want “less work,” and only feel ambitious when their work-life balance is in tact. In other words, the days of “striving to get ahead” are being replaced with a new pragmatic workforce attitude: “I will work hard as long as I’m paid for it.”

Research ... Read more»

2023: Business Volatility With Slower Growth… And Books I Loved This Year

2022 was a tumultuous year. High inflation, an overdue stock market correction, and continued increase in interest rates. Most CEOs see a slowdown ahead and so do I.

In January we will publish our annual Predictions report, so in this article I want to share perspectives and give you my favorite books to read next ... Read more»