As recent as a half-dozen years ago, job-hopping was an accepted practice, and retirement and employment security were not American workers’ chief concerns. Then the recession hit, and things changed.

Job security, which used to seem so vintage, is coming back as the most desired attribute.

The recession’s sting has subsided some, but American workers and companies will continue to feel its effects for years to come. In particular, job security, which used to seem so vintage, is coming back as the most desired attribute — so much so that employees now say they will overlook a position’s limited advancement opportunities if it offers greater long-term security.

In its most recent biennial Global Workforce Study, researchers at the professional services company Towers Watson found that eight out of 10 respondents want to “settle” into a job, with about half saying that they would like to work for one company in their entire career — despite the employees’ knowledge that they are in dead-end jobs with no possibility of advancement.

This is a marked change from previous Global Workforce studies, in which researchers reported that advancement opportunities were most important. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney econolypse, Training, Worker Productivity Chief Learning Officer magazine, Global Workforce Study, job security, job-hopping, recession, Towers Watson

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the best way to keep your top executives is to make it easier for them to leave.

When the economy rebounds, if your employees aren’t happy, they will leave.

That’s right — offer them challenges, enhance their skills, expand their networks.

Perhaps that would have made perfect sense 30 years ago, when taking a job often meant staying with a company for the duration of your career. But today, when job-hopping is standard and one-company careers are a relic, grooming employees just doesn’t seem prudent.

But it is, and even more so in an economic recession. (When the economy rebounds, if your employees aren’t happy, they will leave.) Consider the article’s points, and apply them to employees at any career stage, from entry-level to C-suite. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Rants, Training recession, software support, Wall Street Journal

On the drive into work this morning, I heard a pundit on the radio discussing the upcoming launch of Microsoft’s latest OS, Windows 7.

“People just aren’t very excited about operating systems anymore,” he lamented.

A speedy, less buggy OS is still a headache if a user doesn’t know his way around it. It’s just a quicker, smoother headache.

Indeed, they aren’t, and especially not after the doozy Microsoft unloaded on the world the last go-around.

But it’s more than just Vista aftershocks. While Windows 7 is a welcome release, the average worker doesn’t care what he’s using, as long as it works.

And for it to work, it takes commitment on a company’s part, not just a superior product. Here’s my take on how to get average working folks excited about technology: Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Training, Windows 7 Office 2007, Windows 7, Windows Vista

About a decade ago, when I worked for a once-prosperous ISP, I signed up for a Microsoft Access class provided by the company’s training department. I daydreamed of the databases I would create and the data I could mine.

The three-day class was taught at company headquarters in Northern Virginia, so I flew from LaGuardia to Dulles. Read more…

Jenny Sweeney Training Access, Chief Learning Officer magazine, Office 2007, software support