CHART OF THE DAY: Messaging Apps vs. Social Networks

While you were busy growing your empire on Facebook these last few years, something interesting has been happening in the non-US parts of the world and in particular, among those crazy kids that won't get off of your lawn. 

Global usage of the top 'messaging' apps, (like WhatsApp and WeChat) have caught up with global usage of the top social networking apps, (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). Here's the chart, courtesy of Business Insider, then of course, some FREE comments from me after the data. 

Some quick thoughts on what, if anything this trend might mean for for HR/Talent pros:

1. Messaging, like regular old SMS texting, is always going to be the most effective way to get people's attention. If you can get into a candidate or prospect or employee's 'white list' of messaging buddies, then you can capture some valuable attention and even more valuable mindshare. Of course this is easier said than done, so for now most of us will just keep emailing....

2. Communication preferences and habits, as evidenced in how some of these messaging apps dominate in certain countries and among certain age cohorts, vary quite a bit around the world. While the US has been slower to adopt messaging compared to say Asia, other parts of the world see messaging as their de facto communication medium. Some of this is probably due to the greater tendency in many non-US parts of the world for internet usage to be almost completely a mobile-device scenario. And for many of these users, Mobile = Internet = Messaging. Whatever the reason, any HR pro that has to operate globally has to be aware of how local audiences want to and expect to interact and communicate.

3. Some of the elements that have fueled the growth of messaging apps are bleeding into workplace or enterprise apps as well. The best recent example would be Slack, a corporate communication platform that works on both smartphones and computers, and seems to be succeeding where other attempts to create corporate social networks, i.e. the "Facebook for the Enterprise", have struggled, by replacing e-mail as the main communications channel inside firms.  Organized around short, direct and group messages, organized into topics or projects, Slack seems to be catering to the same kinds of people who have adopted messaging apps overall. 

Anyway, one last thought, take a look at what kinds of apps your kids are using these days too. Chances are they are using much more messaging and less 'social networking' than you think.

Have a great day!

CHART OF THE DAY: How America will look in 2050 in one chart

This short, but fascinating recent piece from the Washington Post is the source for today's installment of CHART OF THE DAY - a quick snapshot of how the US population is expected to change by 2050 in three key areas - religious affiliation, age, and race/ethnicity. As always, I will drop in the chart, then some FREE commentary from me after the data: 

Washington Post

Let's take a shot at interpreting the meaning/relevance to HR/Talent pros of each of chart's three data sets in order, shall we? Sure why not...

1. Religious affiliation - A big trend here is the increase in the percentage of the population that will categorize their religious affiliation as 'unaffilitated', i.e., not attached to a specific or traditional religion or church. Folks who consider themselves 'spiritual' but not formal church members fall into this group. What might be the HR/Workplace implication of this trend? Kind of hard to say. Could be that more organizations over time will have to re-think their company holiday schedules and practices as fewer employees will identify with the religious-oriented holidays. Probably of the three data sets in the chart this one is the toughest to interpret.

2. Age - This data is not surprising to anyone who watches demographic trends - a big surge in the population of older Americans, so much that the 65+ cohort will be almost the largest in the country by 2050. Of course living longer in general, means working longer into older age as well. Workplaces in the next few decades are going to have to do more to accommodate this rise in older workers through some combination of physical and environmental changes along with support and benefit programs more tailored an older workforce.

3. Race/Ethnicity - Again, nothing really surprising in this data, America in 2050 will be less white, more Hispanic, and generally much more diverse overall. This trends has been playing out for a while, but slowly, so perhaps most HR pros are not yet doing or at least thinking differently about what it might mean for work and workplaces. At a minimum any organization that is conscious about wanting their workforces (and more importantly perhaps, its leadership ranks), reflect more closely their customers and communities are going to start to feel the pressure soon. It will be kind of a shame if by 2050 if most of the white guys we see in the workplace have C-level titles.

Anyway, that's it from me. Share your thoughts in the comments on this data, if it matters at all to you as an HR pro, and what you and your organization might do in response.

CHART OF THE DAY: The World Economy in 2030

Today's Chart of the Day comes to us courtesy of Bloomberg - a look at the World's 20 largest economies by GDP, stacked up and showing both their relative sizes today, and the estimates for where the Top 20 will rank by 2030 - just 15 years from now.

As always, we will hit you with the chart, then some FREE commentary from me (it is my blog) after the data:

So for the HR/Talent pro what is there to make from the data on the World's largest economies in 2030?

Three things come to mind:

1. Look around. If you and your organization is US-based, or derives its sales and income primarily from US customers, you probably have a few years, maybe as many as 10, before you need to really worry about how these shifts in size and scale might impact your business and livelihood. You might be ok for a while, maybe for a long while, but if double-digit growth in sales and income in on your organization's 5-year plan, then it is going to be really challenging to achieve that target unless you start (or increase) the business you are doing in the faster-growing countries of the world.

2. China. Of the Top 20 economies China is expected to grow the most in the next 15 years, coming really, really close to topping the US as the world's largest. What are you doing today to help your organization better prepare to compete for your piece of this huge and growing market? Do you have the right kind of talent that can work in and understand this market? Are you able to talk confidently about the unique HR/Talent challenges you'd face, both with managing expats as well as recruiting locally?

3. Slow growth in the old world. Places like Germany, France, Italy - heck, pretty much all of Europe are predicted to grow much slower, and thus make up a smaller portion of the world economy, over the next 15 years, than emerging powers like India, China, and Brazil. This is not really news, but again for the most part in the US we still tend to think of Europe and European countries as having much more influence in the global economy than perhaps we should.

No HR pro lives in a vacuum. No organization operates completely immune to the larger market forces that surround us all. It's important to know where the future might take us, and perhaps even more important to know how to speak the local language when we get there.

Have a great weekend!

CHART OF THE DAY: How's your retirement fund?

Real quick shot for a busy Thursday...

In the last year I have hit the entire topic of the tightening labor market from a few different angles (companies reporting jobs are hard to fill, candidates control the conversation, more people are voluntarily quitting their jobs than at any time in a decade), and today I wanted to share one more data point that suggests a tougher market for employers.

Many folks retirement piggy banks have come back from the lows of the 2008/9 financial crisis.

Here's the chart, courtesy of Financial Planning, and then of course some FREE commentary from me.

Some quick thoughts:

1. US retirement assets (from all sources) stood at $24.7 trillion at the end of 2014, an all-time high. And a remarkable comeback from the huge drop in 2008 when so many folks had to dip into their savings after they lost a job and the markets themselves were in free fall. 

2. One of the reasons older workers have been unable or unwilling to consider either retiring or moving to some kind of reduced work schedule in the last few years, that their 401(k) balances were in the dumpster, has for many, disappeared. Sure, there might be other compelling reasons someone will extend their working career, but a rock-bottom retirement account balance is less likely to be one of them.

3. There is no doubt in my mind that in just about every organization there are older workers who will open their 1st quarter 2015 account statements and think to themselves, "Hmm.... Maybe it's time to hang it up." And for most of these folks, it won't matter if they are the only person at the company that knows how to do XYZ or they are the one with the key relationship with important customer ABC. For them, it is just about totally a decision about $ and quality of (retired) life.

4. HR/Talent pros - keep one eye on the S&P 500 and one eye on your voluntary termination trends this year - particularly with your experienced, senior-level, 50+ employees. I bet the two lines are going to move in the same direction, and if you don't want to be the one who has to explain what is going on in November when the CEO asks you why all the VPs are retiring at once.

Happy Thursday.

CHART OF THE DAY: The decline of employer provided training

Today's installment of the wildly popular CHART OF THE DAY series offers a selection from some light reading that you can perhaps spend some time with this coming weekend, the 300+ page long 2015 Economic Report of the President. 

Nestled on page 147 of this tome, is the below chart - a look at trends in Employer-provided training and on-the-job training opportunities for the US labor force from the period 1996 - 2008 (the latest year this data was available). As always, take a look at the chart, then some witty, wry, and as always FREE commentary from me.

The Chart:

As you can see from the data, both employer paid for and on-the-job training activity, as reported by workers, were both on the decline from 1996 to 2008. And even with 'old' data from 2008, it seems pretty defensible to argue the ensuing few years, the tail end of the recession and the ensuing years of halting economic recovery, that trends and declines in employer paid for training would not have reversed themselves.

So, what do we make if this data? Here goes....

1. No one has time or much tolerance for onboarding new people who have to be 'taught' very much, at least taught more general, and transferable from one employer to another type skills. Every job ad you see for say an Accounting Manager just about demands that the person actually already be an Accounting Manager to be considered to get hired as an Accounting Manager.

2. When employers perceive workers to have fewer attractive options outside the organization, the pressure or impetus to invest in upskilling and employee career development tails off. While this is a pretty obvious conclusion, it does not diminish its significance. By 2008 firms, often by financial necessity, had backed way off training and development. That is a short term strategy and decision that can have much greater than expected consequences once times start to improve.

3. Employee training continues to be 'someone else's problem' for many employers. It still is really easy for organizations to demand fully trained and capable candidates for any role prior to hiring, as the fears of costs of training become sunk if and when the employee leaves present a high burden for proponents of more employer provided training to overcome.

4. As an employee, you remain, invariably, on your own. Keep yourself ready, keep current, be willing to pay for it yourself, since fewer and fewer employers are willing to invest in you.

Ack, that was kind of cynical. Sorry.

Happy Thursday.