Many employers did so out of necessity. Many without too much thought about long-term ramifications of unemployment or under employment. This trend will not only continue, but will speed up. The upside is improved quality, production and competitiveness on a global scale. The downside is one’s knowledge must keep pace with technology to keep your position in the markets your company serves.

More often than not it is the individual’s investment in themselves and less so from an employer. Net effect is employers will continue to seek out the use of more technology for the same reasons — lower overhead cost and improve productivity to stay competitive and profitable. And no, it’s not practical that an assembly line worker in a manufacturing or distribution whose job was eliminated by robotics is likely to learn how to program or repair the machines that replaced them.

Because we print and borrow so much money, investors have been able to borrow money at near zero interest rates and invest in technologies or the stock market with little, if any risk. Cash is king. Despite those few companies who value their employees, keeping a large amount of cash on the balance sheet is the CFO’s charter. This is an endless cycle which will remain unabated and increasing until the Fed begins to increase interest rates. Then with higher borrowing rates, employers’ tech investment goes up, more jobs get automated faster. That means fewer consumers and less disposable income for more of those in the middle-income sector — unless you have an established reputation for results in the GIG marketplace.

Some have the belief that knowledge workers can stay above the replace with technology bar. Not so, as technology is adopted and artificial intelligence (AI) software is applied, knowledge workers also remain exposed to replacement by technology. The facts are what they seem. Most of us will have several jobs and “gigs” as the pace quickens and automation technology eliminates more jobs than it will create in the short run.

Remember, you can’t be a consumer of much other than necessities with reduced or no income. Millions of baby boomers around the world will be downsizing their consumption of goods and services with a greater burden on those governments who give some sort of safety net in the form of retirement, pension or healthcare benefits. We’ve already seen the results of over promising and under funding of these in Europe. This situation is  like ours in the U.S.; “If like your doctor, like your healthcare plan — you can keep them, PERIOD.” Another over promised, under delivered and underfunded government train wreck. Yet, it is  expected we will reach more than $20 trillion in national debt by 2020 and $154 trillion in underfunded social program liabilities.

The growth or decline of medium US household disposable income is a true and accurate indicator of current and future economies where consumerism is the primary driver. That measure has declined, and still is today, since 2007, despite the Obama claim of job growth since 2008.

If you are thinking about consumers in Europe, Russia, India and China as your new consumer haven for products and services, think again. Consumers of typical US goods and services in all these counties are not like us. All, for a variety of reasons are seeing declines in consumer spending — cutting back, not seeking better quality, just lower prices. Many more countries populations’ survive on $2.00 a day without healthcare or education. They are consumers for more material goods only when they can earn enough income. China is already backing off of the 7.5% GDP growth projection for 2015 to 7% or less compared to the U.S. 2% to 3% growth rate.

Conventional wisdom economists continue to forecast “a return to normal economic and jobs recovery”. If nothing else, your “gut” should tell you otherwise. By typical economic definition we are several years into recovery. If you have been able to find full-time employment, don’t bet on pressures beyond your control or that of your employer to sustain your job.

Even Anesthesiologist jobs or part of their work is being automated with smarter recognition technologies. Can you imagine spending hundreds of thousands for a 13 year education, hospital residency and specialty training to achieve an income often greater than $300,000 annually only to see it dissected and parts outsourced to technology? Typically outsourcing or off-shoring to India, China, or St. Croix for cheaper labor is only a temporary step while developing automation technology continues to pick up speed.

If you have been in the professional independent or freelancer market, (by choice or by necessity) you have had to learn to be smarter and more varied in your marketing for new or repeat business. As automation continues an increasing number of retiring boomers — who can’t survive solely on Social Security — will enter the open freelance market to sell their particular skills on a contract basis. Some of those jobs offered by online staffing are rapidly becoming price competitive and commoditized.

It seems to many that conventional wisdom economists are forecasting with a 1920’s financial model and historical data without accepting that those models do not consider the rate of globalization and technology advances creating only a few new, but highly skilled jobs. With the advances in artificial intelligence software (AI) and robotics paced by ever more powerful computational chip sets, whole factories can be operated by as few as one highly skilled technician. Buck Rogers you say? Not so. It already exists on a smaller scale in many places.

Follow the reports and books from authors Martin Ford, Erik Bynjolfsson and Andrew McAffee if you need more details and convincing. My book “Boomerville: Getting off the Corporate Merry-Go-Round”, which illustrates the journey of baby boomers and how they will bridge the gap to the GIG economy, can also point you toward new opportunities. I offer discounts when purchased at my book store, but you will also find it on Amazon and B&N.

If you know or accept the information here, you should be asking, “What can be done about it?” The remedy has many components as a solution. Many of these component remedies are simple. Others are more complex to detail here. Others like education are beyond a unified solution. The answers involve the growing use of blending and re-purposing the workforce in an ever enlarging GIG economy.

Register to receive my FREE monthly GIG Economy Report and keep pace with these changes and how they will impact jobs, technology and labor markets. Objective straight talk you won’t find elsewhere specializing on this topic. A topic which trumps the chatter and noise of HR, recruitment, training and leadership formulas. It’s a race between you, your employer (if you have one) and technology. Who will win?

If you are not keeping up with technology and automation, you should. Few jobs, including white-collar positions, will escape the developing technologies.

HR, the supposed leader in transitioning talent up the executive ladder, is more likely underwater or over its head than in a state of transformation. John Sumser, cofounder of Master Class in HMC, recently posted “The HR Transformation is Underway” , says, “HR has spent its entire history in a cloister-like setting. Insulated from the market by its working peers, the people who do Human Capital stuff never really noticed the realities of the organizational ecosystem. Today, both the insides and the outsides of the organization are upping their demands for quality, data and effectiveness from the HR Team.” This statement is true. Bersin at Deloitte, among others, show both a shift in the corporation’s view of HR and spending on same. Is this a “build, buy and outsource decision-process” leading to REAL transformation or just using the lessons learned during the recession to use more technology and more temps to manage the onslaught of compliance, new corporate taxation and Affordable Health Care Act, better known as Obamacare, implementation?

How can you tell if your HR is really in transformation mode or just under water?

• Enterprises with thousands of employees spread worldwide have the money and resources to manage a real transformation, but only if the executives have described that vision to all employees and what HR’s role will look like. Remember, while we have the lowest labor availability rate since WWII, there are some 3.9 million knowledge worker positions still open to fill — where’s that talent going to come from? If recruiters for these openings had found an exact fit these jobs would have been filled already. Further, owners and employers, despite what any survey says, are not hiring full timers unless they really have to for critical needs. Most are finding ways to cut hours, use contract expertise where applicable and attempting to downsize the gray employees because of higher ACA healthcare risk and costs. These are just good business decisions given the uncertainty of geopolitical issues and domestic politics until a new administration is elected. These are all steps to just “keep your head above water” and keep cash as king during uncertain times and not necessarily a real transformation plan.
• While the mid-sized businesses are more likely to feel the pain of a talent shortage of 38 million college grads, mostly with STEM degrees, worldwide by 2020, according to McKinsey Global Institute, they have limited resources to add statistical, analytical, or computing capabilities to HR. Sure, there are a wide array of software and cloud vendors with many purported solutions, but those decisions will depend on a.) Owner/executive support and involvement, b.) Build, buy or outsource the tech part of the HR solution or the entire HR process, c.) A business vision which clearly sees the need for transformation through a different prism and a commitment to see it through.
• If your firm has not yet outlined a vision and plan to meet your needs of a transitioning to the new mixed blended workforce (full-time employees, PT employees, temps, independent professionals, SMEs and freelancers, when and where you will need them to meet your business goals) you are already underwater. The speed of innovation, communications and labor pool changes are coming like waves of a major tsunami. These waves will hit every business. Each wave of change will come faster and stronger than the earlier waves. Many businesses will not survive the creative disruption because HR will not be able to keep pace with the change. That’s why leadership development and their transition is so important to survival.
• If you know for sure when your baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) employee will leave full-time employment, you must be using a crystal ball or have few or no baby boomers. Only each boomer will know when they will apply for SSA benefit if they are not shown the door first. The 70 million US baby boomers represent a cohort of population equal to the 17th largest country, by population, on the planet — bigger than England, Spain, or Italy. Think of the talent loss to our permanent workforce in these terms. Currently, 60 million boomers are still in the workplace, but are qualifying for SSA benefits at a rate of 10,000+ per day and increasing. Knowing the value of boomers and how to get knowledge nuggets they may not even know they have is a requirement not an option. Read the 2nd of a two-part article on Picking the Brains of Boomers on SkilledUp.com for more information.
• In reality far too many businesses will have their HR division(s) transformed by chaos and not planning. For many who have not already reached a decision point to change dramatically, the speed of change is coming fast. Like the rush to find talent to remedy two digits in old COBOL code before Y2K, too many decision makers will wait until the last minute, but the whoosh of change you heard last year was change passing you by. And that sloshing sound in your ears is the water level rising.

Of course, I have dramatized these indicators to get your attention, but they are very real. One element which can be a game changer is the conversion of boomers in the millions to freelance experts or specialists doing gigs in the emerging Gig Economy. Boomers will live longer, remain healthier longer, hold more experience, have an ingrained work ethic and will prefer project work over full-time work. The catch is how do you merge them in your transformation and manage them to meet the IRS test as contractors not employees. Being able to carry out and effectively use a blended workforce is not easy. There is no cookie cutter solution and managers need a deep understanding of the rules and interactions they must blend in their communications with freelancers. As I describe in my book “BOOMERVILLE: Getting-off-the-Corporate Merry-Go-Round”, owners and executives will need to use a different prism to see their organization. It’s like having stacked chess boards with people as chess pieces moving around while the chess boards themselves are moving in opposite directions. Can you picture that? You will need to a new prism to see and keep up this new process of people management.

Norm Kamikow was a friend to most and the consummate gentleman. He was a great father and business person who used his Journalism degree from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, to build a small empire of informative publications — Chief Learning Officer Magazine, Talent Management Magazine, Workforce Magazine and Diversity Magazine — filling a niche market need for nearly two decades. The MediaTec family of publications included trade shows, symposium, and breakfast meetings in key cities, most of which were added value brought closer to where one worked.

Norm loved Chicago for its diversity in architecture over which we conversed many times having worked for the Chicago Tribune and Total Assets Protection on two separate occasions.

Norm’s instincts and subtle leadership was uncanny. His industry colleagues are the Who’s Who of the Learning, Leadership Development and Talent Management industry. He was always a people person and incorporated it in every endeavor. He will live a vast void among family, friends and industry leaders.

God’s speed to you Norm. You will  be remembered and missed by many.

Mike Hammer

Many liberals and hard left critics will dismiss this challenge to “a weaker, kinder, less powerful America” which gets a disproportionate amount of coverage and airtime for the small percentage of the American community who used the cover of unionization to infiltrate our schools for two decades to distort and discredit our history. Yes, they were the 60’s baby boomer children who violently protested the Vietnam War and set a course to change our history by hook or crook, or even murder. That aside, for which I am expecting a rash of rebuttals, the film “America” is a fair evaluation of two very different narratives and the way of viewing reality. It will make you think of the goodness and appreciation for the America we built, why and what went wrong along the way. Remember, if America is so bad as purported by hard left and many college academia, then why are most freedom loving Peoples from around the world STILL trying to gain citizenship in America. Why is our southern borders being flooded by thousands of illegal immigrants? I don’t see a hard rush of Americans to denounce their citizenship and take up residency in say Russia, Afghanistan, Columbia or Mexico.

While most of us were celebrating our Republic’s birthday, the Constitutional freedoms we have as a result of the foresight of our nation’s founders, and the diplomatic and military might which has kept us free; Monday, July 7, 2014 will bring most of us another round of unbearable surprises from the Obama Administration. A holiday weekend is a the White House’s prime time to bury more taxes, regulations and manipulations of the law in a PR “dump” hoping  reporters at FOX News won’t catch it and then announce it for the lame stream media, who just don’t “get it”!

Despite 13 consecutive rulings by the US Supreme Court against the Obama agenda (save the most important one thanks to the AHCA mandate being argued as a tax by the feds and not a burden of free choice), the Obama team of lies and deception flaunt or ignore these rulings with arrogance. What is Obama doing while the boiling pot of domestic and foreign issues are looming larger — campaigning of course. He loves the applause and accolades of the liberals who staunchly support is misguided trickery.  More importantly, Barrack Obama uses tax payer money to an extreme for his party and parties. With no transparency as promised when elected twice, instead we get NO accountability for “Fast and Furious”, “the Benghazi attack killing four Americans September 12, 2012″, “non-profit status targeting by the IRS for political punishment”, “breaking the law in releasing the most dangerous Taliban high level captives for the soldier who left his post 5 years ago in Afghanistan”,  “a huge plan by the NSA to capture all of our communications by any means used . . . . and we should not worry? Remember, “If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor, PERIOD — If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep your health insurance plan, PERIOD!”

This holiday, Obama and a plane load of cronies do several Democratic fund-raisers in Texas, but don’t have a single minute to objectively see the chaos on the border by the influx of illegals. They simply do not want to fix the problem and keep the borders closed. A tragedy of epic propositions is developing while the Obama’s delightfully campaigns for more socialism (the fair share distribution of wealth drumbeat) while former socialist countries strive for a free market society to solve their economic needs for their citizens or the tyrants of terrorism will fill the void Obama has left by misguided beliefs ingrained in his brain over decades.

By Monday we will know what other energy double down surprises are buried in the stack of news dumps by the White House, State Department, etc. which are dividing and deceiving us.

If a majority of folks do not have faith in this President who shows no inclination or ability to govern while ramming disliked or unwanted programs by regulations enforcement, the only recourse is IMPEACHMENT. Just because he is likable, thought to be a leader when he entered the Presidency, and black (NO, only half black) is not justification to endure Obama’s heavy-handedness with phone and pen which most agree far surpasses abuse of power of any President in our lifetime. All credible polls now show that feeling of dissatisfaction and anger by 70%+ of citizens.

So what does Obama have to do with the blending of our workforce and greater independence of individuals to create and live in the emerging gig economy?  Obama has nothing to do with our success, but his agenda and policies have much to do with the potential for our failure and the failure of freedom in America. Obama’s view of America and the rest of the world is NOT the view of the majority of the citizens — more so now than when he won re-election. There are only three narratives going forward — 1.) He will stay on the same path worsening our middle class economy and making the wealthy, wealthier. 2.) He will campaign more and continue to turn a deaf ear to the majority to the end of his term. 3.) He could be impeached if Republican’s enlarge their hold in the House and become the majority in the Senate come January, but unlikely due to the lengthy process of extricating Obama from the White House.

None is solutions that will kick-start prosperity returning to America. So get out of your “mind freeze”. Find your own path forward despite the current administration. Find the history and details of how that might happen as revealed in “BOOMERVILLE: Getting off the Corporate Merry-Go-Round” by Michael Hib. For those who love your country, freedom and can seize opportunities, we can use free enterprise and small business entrepreneurship to kick-start our economy as we have done in the past.

If we don’t, we may go over the financial cliff before a new President (other than Hillary Clinton) is elected, that President will need to have the courage to reunite us, make deep cuts in the federal budget to return to personal responsibility and less government in our lives. If you don’t believe me, just add up all the hidden or accustomed to taxes each of us pay in a month. Then add one-twelfth of your annually taxed items. Then add-on your income taxes when more than 40% of citizens pay NO income taxes is not to say they don’t all pay taxes. With this tax burden, it is no wonder net income and disposable income, particularly for the middle class has declined since 2007.

AMAC: Obamacare Increases Insurance Rates And Decreases Economic Growth Prospects

Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens, has reported, it has come to light that there’s a hidden levy built into the ACHA law that affects everyone who pays income taxes.  “The administration has claimed that more than 8 million people have signed up for Obamacare through federal exchanges to date.  The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that nearly 90% of them have had their monthly premiums offset by as much as $264 per policy.  Do the math: the generous subsidy comes to nearly $2 billion a month or $24 billion a year and guess who picks up the tab: you, the taxpayers.” Read more details here.

Surely a hotly disputed topic which often gets a partisan answer, thus creating a blast of vitreal because it is not what many want to believe or hear. However, I was asked for my opinion, and I share it now knowing it is MY opinion after more than 50 years of life learning experiences which I was blessed to have and mentors who helped me along the way, including my own service in the Navy during the VietNam War.

Some will not like to hear or read this, but it is based on the facts we have all seen. At the time of the decision to invade Iraq and/or Afghanistan, I believe President George W. Bush had the worst of two difficult decisions about going to war. Everyone agreed that those who planned and executed the 9-11 attack should be found, killed or thrown in jail never to be free again — until now (releasing 5 really bad Taliban guys from Gitmo). How quickly we forget.

At that same time the worst tyrant since Stalin and Hitler, Saddam Hussein, had gassed his own people, violated US sanctions and misled everyone about WMD, invaded Kuwait, killed untold numbers, and set the Kuwaiti oil well heads afire as he departed costing billions in oil and the worst environmental disaster since the Valdez Oil tanker disaster in Alaskan waters. Saddam was a continuous menace. Saddam and his thugs had the capacity to destabilize the Middle East again at any time and proved it by invading Kuwait.

The intel about WMD was supposed to be solid, but wasn’t, even though General and Secretary of State, Colin Powell believed it as did most who saw the intel. A nuke in the hands of this tyrant was decidedly dangerous, is equally as true today with Iran, North Korea, and now ISIS.

After each conflict except in VN, we established a status of forces agreement to insure stability in recovery and not a return to insurgency. We have more 300,000 services members deployed around the world after the defeat of Japan and Germany and the South Korean Truce to keep peace and stability, not to occupy. Americans should never die for a war unless we have a plan of overwhelming strength to win, a plan of pacification and a status of forces when we leave. We won the battle for Iraq, but lost the war for the hearts and minds by withdrawing completely before the job was completed.

Americans had become weary of the Iraq war and Obama campaigned on the promise we should have never been there and he would end it blaming Bush, Bush, Bush for nearly everything for years after. We now see the results of his community organizer skills in war, diplomacy, and foreign policy. Same is true for Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. She ran up a travel bill, at taxpayer expense, but what was really achieved under her watch? Check out our likability in Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, China and North Korea. What happened to the red line on Syria and the infamous reset with Russia, who just broke international laws to retake Crimea.

We are seeing the results right now. Al Qaeda fell back and regrouped when Obama said they were “decimated and on the run”. Sure we got UBL after a 10 year search, but his replacement is even worse, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ISIS did in days what it took us months to accomplish in Iraq. Public beheadings, hangings and mass indiscriminate killings have a way of getting your attention quickly as ISIS approaches Baghdad. Like VN the soldiers we trained collapsed and ran when they faced possible imminent life threatening danger. As we all know, freedom is NOT free. It comes with a price.

Late today, ISIS was reported to have captured Baland Airfield, about 50 miles from Baghdad. This is the location where drones, sophisticated weapons and fighter jets were being used to train Iraqis in their use. Those weapons would have had to be destroyed to prevent them falling into the hands of ISIS. If the 100 or so government contracted trainers there had to scram in a hurry, since we had no US troops there, those weapons could now be in the hands of ISIS as is true for many weapons and munitions left abandoned by Iraqi troops.

The ISIS reportedly stole over $400 million from the banks in the towns they captured and looted. With plenty of weapons, money, control of oil delivery and land they can and will establish the caliphate ULB envisioned in 1998 from which to attack all western democracies, jews, gentiles, and infidels who will not commit to Sharia Law. They have a jihad and death is a reward in their cause. You can be assured the next BIG attack on US soil has already been in the works since ULB was killed.

Nearly all strategies and foreign policies since 2008 have been the wrong calls and we are seeing the results of incompetent leadership and arrogance. Negotiating with terrorists who are still on the battlefield is unthinkable to nearly all vets and those on active duty around the world, yet the President admitted he had been negotiating for Bergdalh’s release for months and let the Taliban choose who they wanted in return. Ask any Medal of Honor recipient if they would allow themselves to be traded for 5 terrorist mass murders when we are still in the battle. They would reject such a thought. Yet, Obama did it anyway and broke the law in doing so.

The war in Afghanistan is not over for the Taliban just because we train some Afgans and withdraw. That’s what we did in Iraq and we will suffer the consequences. This is not like any war we have ever engaged in. There is NO end as long as these terrorists, including Iran, have a safe haven to launch attacks. We don’t seem to understand that. Just like we were told the borders are closed and secure, then the Obama administration hides and dispersed 90,000 illegals, mostly children, who flooded our southern border. That left the border patrol with overtaxed resources opening the border even wider. We have no idea where this illegals will wind up and how many really bad guys slipped into America.

These are political motives, not what the mainstream electorate who put politicians into power positions that would kill this country while they prospered. The victory of Dave Brat unseating an incumbent GOP Majority Leader of the House in a primary election has NEVER happened in our history as a nation. In my opinion, it is a reflection of the anger we all feel and will be repeated to get bold people to fix or undo the decisions of a community organizer who uses king like actions unilaterally and gets away with it.

We haven’t learned how to shape and influence foreign policy in a terrorist enabled world. We best learn because they won’t quit coming at us. Should we have invaded Iraq? Maybe the real question is did we over react in how we left Iraq, despite unanimous military advice that this is what would happen if we did. If you think we have given enough blood and treasure against this threat, you must think we are safe or immune to these events going forward. As I have described we are NOT. If you need some evidence, watch the movies, Peacekeepers and The Sum of all Fears. It’s NOT the country with hundreds of nukes we should fear. It’s that one person who carries it in a backpack not caring how many are killed — the more the better in their minds. Remember, we only have to be wrong once. They have time, determination and fear on their side. If we do nothing, they win. The focus has been and alway will be on the west and the infidel way of life we choose –Freedom.

Yes, we can ignore it, but that will not make it right, nor go away. The world has changed, not just in technology and globalization with smartphones, but there is another dimension and very real threat within that change. We did nothing to warrant the attack of 9-11 despite the doomsayers of their so-called US imperialism bullies policeman attitude. It has nothing to do with that. With military power covering our backs we had the credibility which can shape events to minimize or avoid expansion of terrorism which is everybody’s enemy. Now we are seen as weak and leaderless, so Putin and other villains can fill the void we have left.

After the fear from planned and coordinated bombings that will likely hit France and England first or other countries with heavy Muslim populations, they will realize this is an ideology fight to the death. Death to the extremists of any religion or cause is not feared, it is welcomed. Make no mistake, if ISIS takes Baghdad and is able to hold their territory, Israel will again be in a fight for its very survival from all sides. So the real question is not if, but when we jump back in because an attack on Israel will start and all out war in the Middle East to save the Jewish state from annihilation. This is not rocket science, though hard for far too many to see or believe. After all you can travel freely and appear to be safe in your home and at work. Then you get blindsided by a Mack truck or a tornado. What’s our plan to avoid this? We don’t know and the POTUS says he’s thinking about the appropriate action over the weekend just minutes before he boarded his helicopter with family headed for Air Force One for a weekend of golf in Palm Springs with not one reporter included. Unbelieveable!

Best we bone up on how to defend ourselves wherever we go, because our government may be incapable of doing its number one job. No, not Fast and Furious gun running. No not using the IRS to target political opponents. No, not hiding the facts on Benghazi, which cost four US citizens lives including an ambassador. No, not forcing unilateral laws upon citizens. No, not stifling our economic recovery with overburdened regulations on business. No, not lying “you can keep your doctor and health plan, if you like them — PERIOD. The first priority is protecting American and its citizens, including closing and defending our borders and those of our allies we have sworn to assist. It’s a constitutional duty, not a request.

Mike Hammer

mike@blendedworkforce.com

Presenter: Mike Hammer

Intro & Host for Webinar Andrew Karpie

I am excited to share recent “workforce” developments, my own work experience, and research for my recently published book which reveals how “work” is being redefined, and how it will be accomplished. Join our one hour webinar on HR.com, 11:00 am, May 30. Chances are, if you are in HR, an independent professional, or freelancer you’ve likely heard parts or pieces of this bigger talent puzzle. Most of us, however, are blinded by a blur of change in the use of technology and how it applies to workforce planning, yet never quite gives us a clear focus on future “work’ or “workforce planning”.

• Hear the story of Baxter Labs and Caterpillar Georgia jobs growth
• What will happen to branch banking jobs at SunTrust, Wells Fargo, and all branch banking
• The looming crisis of a shortage of commercial airline pilots
• How P&G approached a cost savings to fast track new distribution center in Ohio
• Planning to replace Chicago underground “pipe-tapers”
• Blended workforce at Just Shea
• HR know how from Mary Barra, CEO of GM

New applicable book release by Mike Hammer under pen name Michael Hib. Visit Amazon, B&N, Boomerville1.com, or MichaelHib.com

Join other HR Professionals, free agents, freelancers, independent professionals, CxOs, staffing & recruiting pros to understand the emerging Gig Economy and the new prism we must all use to view our business, people talent supply and the going global to grow your business.

Join Andrew Karpie and me for a one hour webinar on “Workforce planning, NOT . . . it is the understanding of how “work” will be accomplished” on May 30 from 11 am to Noon EDT on HR.com’s Virtual Conference for Workforce Planning and Analytics. This is not rerun of blah, blah, blah model, technology, HRIS or pixie dust, because we are not attempting to sell attendees any technology or service. We’ll just share what we know and you can connect the dots for yourself. Be there. You may be surprised by the outcome.

– See more at: http://www.hr.com/en/webcasts_events/webcasts/upcoming_webcasts/workforce-planning-not—-it-is-the-understanding-_htit673q.html#sthash.lIcp64nK.dpuf

Also follow us weekly on SkilledUp Blog. Got a blurb in todays issues.

Whether you call them contractors, freelancers, or independent consultants, contingent workers have been part of the workplace for decades. But sputtering

See on www.workforcesoftware.com

By Kevin Robinson-Avila / Journal Staff Writer

PUBLISHED: Saturday, May 10, 2014 at 12:05 am

A pumpjack operates near Carlsbad. New Mexico’s oil production jumped 17 percent in 2013, with more growth projected this year. (Courtesy of NMOGA)

A pumpjack operates near Carlsbad. …

See on www.linkedin.com

Small business owners, marketing managers, brand managers, or whoever has control of the marketing for a product, often fall into common patterns of thinking when they lay out their marketing vision. These thought patterns are fascinating because they can tell you a lot about what type of marketers you should approach for your project. Being in the digital marketing industry, I’ve compiled a list of all the different marketers that I’ve worked with or have witnessed over the years. MORE >>>

See on roarlocal.com

Keeping Pace with Global Shifts in Workforce Demographics and How “Work” is being redefined by the Emerging Gig Economy

See on sp3mike.com