Unprecedented turnover ahead?

The days of telling workers they should consider themselves lucky to have a job are just about over, according to futurist Roger Herman, CEO of The Herman Group. At last month’s National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment he warned that economic and demographic trends are transforming what had been a “buyers’ market” for employers to a “sellers’ market.”

Complicating matters, as the economy tightened during the past few years, management became more “autocratic,” Herman said. As a result, “employers during the past four years have not been treating workers as they should.” Employees in turn are harboring resentment over being overburdened and told to “put up or shut up.” The result, he said, will be “unprecedented turnover.”

About 35%-40% of today’s workers are actively looking for another job, Herman said, and some regions of the country are already seeing unemployment rates of less than 2%.

To retain your best workers, Herman stressed the importance of replacing the subpar workers. The “good” employees tend to pick up the slack of the underperformers, leading to — you guessed it — frustration and resentment.

Above all, he said, keep in mind that “people join companies; they leave bosses.”