There are probably few things more tired and lame than bandwagoning on a popular internet meme or pop culture phenomenon and twisting it for your own designs. So with that, I apologize in advance for the easy and hack use of the 'Occupy' protests for the title of this post, and for the theme of tonight's HR Happy Hour Show, also titled - 'Occupy HR'.
It doesn't take a cable news pundit to realize that most of the impetus and energy around the growing 'occupy' movement is drawn from economics - at least the perception of some people that economic opportunity is no longer fairly or even reasonably distributed or available. No doubt that is an arguable point, and I am sure you have heard of many stories of success, or even looked at your own background and career arc and thought, 'Heck, no one gave me anything, I worked my way through college working two jobs, anyone can get ahead if they just work hard, etc.' And you'd probably be right for thinking that way. But I have to believe the issues are more complex than that, and taking a look at some of the underlying issues seems to bear that out.
Last night I spent some time doing some background reading in preparation for the show and within twenty minutes I had found about a dozen pieces describing the confluence of sustained high levels of unemployment, mounting pressures from the rapid increase in the costs of higher education, (and the corresponding student load crisis it has spawned), a 'skills mismatch' causing millions of open jobs to go unfilled, significant gains in corporate profits as a percentage of GDP, reports about the trillions (that's with a 'T'), of cash that corporations are sitting on, and the growing percentage of people surviving at or near the poverty line. It's enough to make one pretty angry I suppose, and the 'occupy' protests certainly have to be feeding off of that anger.
It's a subject worth discussing I think, and since so much of the protest seems to be about work and the workplace it makes sense for Human Resources professionals to have a chance to weigh in.
So tonight at 8:00PM ET, we will open up the lines on the HR Happy Hour Show for the HR and Recruiting community, (and really for everyone else too), to call in and talk about the issues surrounding 'occupy', and the implications for the workplace, workforce, and for the world of work our children will inherit, (or re-invent).
What can HR professionals actually do to make a difference?
Can we do better at getting people back to work?
Can we influence and change the way higher and vocational education programs prepare people for employment?
Does it make sense to see our organizations as more than self-interested entities and that have a role and responsibility to our larger communities? And if so, what does that even mean?
And whatever else you want to discuss.
So I hope you will consider listening in to the show tonight, and better still, calling in between 8:00 - 9:00PM ET on 646-378-1086 to share your views and ideas.
Aside - For the benefit of what I perceive to be a group of new blog readers, the HR Happy Hour Show is a weekly live internet radio show/podcast that I host where we discuss workplace issues, technologies, talent management and recruiting, industry trends, and sometime sports and movies. You can learn more about the show here.