At least 600,000 jobs could go in the UK in 2009, according to a report by a personnel managers' professional body.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development says even those who escape redundancy face pay freezes.
It says that while total unemployment will not hit three million, the time between New Year and Easter will be the worst for job losses since 1991.
According to official statistics, there were 1.86 million people out of work in the UK in October.
That figure was the highest since 1997, taking the overall unemployment rate to 6%.The CIPD, which represents managers and personnel staff, issued its gloomy forecast a day after children's retailer Adams joined a growing list of well-known chains applying for administration.
Chief economist John Philpott said: "This time last year, in the face of some scepticism, the CIPD warned that 2008 would be the UK's worst year for jobs in a decade.It was, but in retrospect it will be seen as merely the slow-motion prelude to what will be the worst year for jobs in almost two decades.
"The CIPD's annual barometer forecast is that the UK economy will shed at least 600,000 jobs in 2009."Overall, the 18-month period from the start of the recession in mid-2008 until the end of 2009 will witness the loss of around three quarters of a million jobs, equivalent to the total net rise in employment in the preceding three years."
Mr Philpott said job losses were likely to continue into 2010, taking the final toll to about one million.
The CIPD also surveyed 2,600 workers and found that more than one in four did not expect a pay rise next year, while others feared a wage cut.
The institute's reward adviser, Charles Cotton, said employees were "realistic about their pay prospects".
"Against this backdrop, employers will need to work hard to find new ways to motivate their employees to perform," he said.
Financial incentives and targeted investment in training and development could be effective ways to do this, he added.
"More than ever, this is a time where organisations need to engage in an open and straightforward communication with staff, clearly explaining the reasons for any difficult measures that will affect them," he said.
"This will help preserve staff loyalty and engagement even during times when unpopular decisions need to be made." .
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Jerusalem, (ANTARA News) - Pesawat-pesawat perang Israel telah menghantam 230 sasaran di Jalur Gaza sejak Sabtu.
"Sebanyak 230 sasaran telah dihantam," kata jurubicara militer Israel seperti dikutip AFP. "Sasaran itu mencakup infrastruktur Hamas seperti gedung, depot senjata dan tempat peluncuran roket."
Israel melancarkan serangan pemboman besar-besarannya terhadap Hamas di Gaza sejak Sabtu pagi. Aksi itu adalah salah satu operasi militer terbesar terhadap wilayah yang mereka rebut dalam perang 1967 itu.
Sedikit-dikitnya 280 warga Palestina tewas dalam serangan gencar itu, sebagian besar dari mereka anggota Hamas, menurut dokter.
Hamas membalas dengan menembakkan puluhan roket ke Israel, yang hanya menewaskan satu orang dan melukai sedikit orang lainnya.(*)
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Playing Games During Working Hours – Mad Retailers Make More Money
Saturday, December 13, 2008
James, Judy and Judd are here today to sell. They’re on my shop floor and I have made a massive effort to stock my shelves with terrific merchandise.
It’s Thursday. James is working all day. Judy and Judd are working in the afternoon. Thursdays are slow in the morning and fast passed in the afternoon.
My Salespeople are going to play a game. It’s a selling game and they are going to be scored - on a level playing field. This means even though James is working in a slow period of the day he knows that his team mates have a handicap. Judy has to stock shelves for an hour and take an afternoon tea break. My retail management performance tracking system knows that and has accordingly given her a lesser amount to sell than Judd.
I have already entered a sales goal for the day and rostered my staff. My software spits out an individual sales target for each Salesperson which I hand out. Off they go to play a game that’s going to give me my best possible sales result for the day and their best opportunity at having fun and being motivated to do what they are here to do – sell.
The objective of the game is to achieve the highest sales. He who wins takes the spoils.
Psychologically they believe in themselves, are motivated by competition, and are interested in developing their sales skills. That’s rather utopian! The probability is 6 out of 10 of my Retail Salespeople are not like that. But my game keeps that in check by identifying their weaknesses and telling me what specific sales skill to coach them on next.
Integrated with my POS system I’m getting sales feedback on my Retail Dashboard every three hours and my system is comparing Actual sales versus Targets. It’s also comparing each Salesperson to the Store Average across 5 key performance indicators or KPIs: Sales per Hour, Average Sale, Items per Sale, Wage to Sales Ratio, and Conversion Rate.
I see that Judy has a low Average Sale, compared to everyone else. I let her know she’s been selling the cheaper items all day and challenge her to sell more expensive items for the rest of the day. James has lower Items per Sale than the rest so I tell him to focus on the products that have a natural ad-on. He’ll get more items per sale and increase his deficient statistic.
Here’s the rub for me – I have been able to tell my staff exactly what to focus on to get the maximum sales increase for my store. Individually they also have a better chance of winning the game. And this happens every single day!
At the day’s end I get a straight forward tally of who performed best overall – my winner. Apart from the statistical analysis I also get a visual assessment that uses colored symbols to identify sales performance across the 5 KPI’s.
My system tracks these numbers daily, weekly, quarterly, and annually to show me visual trends about each of my Salespeople. It tells me exactly what to coach them on to achieve the biggest impact on their own personal sales success – and ultimately mine.
I can’t get these numbers from my POS because it doesn’t have a Sales Goal framework and related Roster with Handicapping. At best my POS system gives me the 5 KPIs at store level – not individual level – and without the individual numbers I can’t make my people play a game. So while my POS system helps me compare performance across my different stores it does not compare performance within an individual store.
I care about who works in my store. When I sign them up I tell them about my sales game and they realize they have a chance to succeed within a framework tied exclusively to their own personal success - based on statistics not emotion.
If you think playing games in retail is not for you try watching your next sports match on TV without the on-screen statistics or score. www.articlecity.com
