Addressing
Employment Trends 

New York Times    Fortune
Black Enterprise  Business Week NPR    CNBC    ABC-TV
are some of the places you’ve seen, heard or read about us.

Managing Your Career
Amid Layoffs

In the December 10, 2001issue of FORTUNE Magazine, in an article by Suzanne Koudsi: 

This is the perfect time to acquire new expertise. (If the boss can’t pay, do it on your own.) Brush up on computer skills, audit a class, or get a certificate or degree in your field--and when jobs do open up, you’ll be ready. Richard Bayer, COO of the Five O’Clock Club, a career counseling and outplacement firm, tells of a client who wanted to work as a CFO but didn’t have quite enough experience. She decided to volunteer at a not-for-profit as a temporary CFO. That way she could learn the components of the job, make mistakes without jeopardizing her career, and beef up her resume. Eventually, she got the position she wanted.

Supporting Employees
in Time of Crisis

In the December, 2001 issue of Black Enterprise, in an article by Monique Brown:

How can you ensure that you’re properly supporting your employees in a time of crisis? Sensitivity is the key, advises Kate Wendleton, president of the Five O’Clock Club, a nation career-counseling network in New York (www.fiveoclockclub.com). Here are some more suggestions:

· Watch for signs. “Be aware that employees may be hypersensitive,” she says. “[Employees] may be nervous, drop coffee, not sleep well, giggle, or say dumb things-these are all due to anxiety.”

· Prepare for a decline in productivity. When tragedy strikes, staff members may need to talk more about the issues. This could greatly impact productivity, particularly if the tragedy was on the job or impacted a fellow employee.  Productivity may also suffer as a result of increased absenteeism or late arrivals. You can also expect increased vacation requests.

· Take time to grieve. Grieving at work may help an employee bring closure to an incident. Understand that people grieve differently and respect those differences. Allow them to openly express their concerns. Also be prepared with on-site or telephone counseling.

· Provide reassurance. After a tragedy, it’s important to communicate what kind of safety procedures are in place and what employee-assistance programs are available to the staff.

· Return to normalcy. As much as possible, try to help the staff ease back into their daily routines. Adds Wendleton, “A normal routine makes people feel normal and helps alleviate some anxiety.”

About Severance Packages

In Business Week, October 22, 2001:

Severance packages will likely become less generous as corporate profits plunge. And in mass layoffs, it will be tougher to convince the boss to single you out for better treatment. But exceptions are made. Richard Bayer, chief operating officer for The Five O’Clock Club, a career counseling and outplacement firm, points to a client laid off three months after moving across the country to take a new job. Reminding supervisors that his wife had just quit her job to follow him, he appealed to the company’s sense of fairness and won more cash and additional career counseling.

The Anthrax Scare and
Impact on Productivity

On Wall Street Journal radio, Judy Martin, one of the show’s anchors, asked Dr. Bayer for The Five O’Clock Club’s predictions on the effect of anthrax scares on business productivity.

Bayer started off by addressing the damage caused by the initial attacks on the World Trade Center, “No company in New York or Washington got anything done on September 11th. People were still in shock the next day. It wasn’t about being distracted, it was about feeling threatened.”

“Anthrax is similar, depending on your company’s geographic location,” asserted Bayer. “The key is to ease your own fears, put things in perspective, then get back to work.”

Bayer says the goal of management should be to reassure workers that they are safe, and allow employees to talk about their concerns with each other, while keeping productivity in mind.  “If employees feel threatened, you have to allow people to talk. The closer the attacks are to home, the more water-cooler conversations are going to happen. You can’t expect people to keep those things inside.” 

Bayer went on, “Companies do have to let people discuss events to the extent reasonable. Only then can they return to a productive atmosphere. However, you need to catch when the conversation turns to other things. That’s when your business is being disrupted. People can’t go from talking about anthrax in the neighborhood to talking about their plans for the weekend.”

About the
Merrill Lynch Downsizing
and Corporate Buyouts

Ron Insana, the key anchor on CNBC for financial news, interviewed Dr. Bayer about the severance or buyout package that was being offered to 10,000 employees at Merrill Lynch. The question: Should a person take a severance package, and if so, what room do you have for negotiation? An excerpt:

Ron: The head of the company said the company’s managers will decide who should and shouldn’t receive packages. What does that mean?

Dr. Bayer: The company is trying to move forward, and it has to keep its key personnel and position itself to do well in the future. That’s the whole purpose of the buyout: so that both parties can move forward. So the company has to try to maintain good morale with its key personnel, and the individual wants a package that is sufficient for him or her to move forward as well. 

Ron: How do you know when to take the check and walk?

Dr. Bayer: This crisis may present an opportunity for you. If [taking a package] positions you well for your long-term goals, then take it. You may want to do some consulting, or open your own business, or move your career in a new direction, and the package may give you the money to buy the time you need to do that. So look at your long-term objectives and if the package fits in, then take it.

And you might want to remember: if you don’t take the package the first time it’s offered, it may not be as generous the second time around.

Sometimes the people who are the most marketable will want the package, and that will present a problem for the company. The company would be left with the people who may not be able to find work elsewhere. So Merrill Lynch said that managers should decide who can leave and who should stay and keep the company strong.

Ron: Merrill Lynch suggests that anyone who did not take the buyout package could be subject to firing. Is this the usual way to handle buyouts or is this a slightly different spin from the usual buyout process?

Dr. Bayer: I don’t know if it’s always true, but what I do know is that certain departments get highlighted for reductions. So, even in a company-wide offer, take a look at whether or not your department is in for a heavy cut. If so, this increases the pressure on you to take the initial offer.

About Salaries

In a recent NPR interview, Dr. Bayer stated that despite the economic slowdown, wages generally are not falling. At The Five O’Clock Club, three out of four people getting new jobs are receiving the same or higher salary. After all, the current 5.4% unemployment rate is still quite low by historical standards. The Department of Labor and the Conference Board are still predicting long run labor shortages throughout the decade.

Job-Search After 50

 In an interview with Henry Weill of “New Choices For Living Even Better After 50” Magazine (circulation: 610,000), Richard Bayer discussed the issues facing job-seekers over the age of 50 and outlined the following helpful tips:

· Ask yourself how many more years you want to work.
· Decide how you want to live in those years.
· Act to overcome any prejudice you might encounter as an older worker.
· Remember that maturity and experience count.
· Don’t confuse age prejudice with salary prejudice.
· Focus on companies with fewer than 1,000 employees.
· Keep up your skills, read trade journals, join associations.
· Don’t assume you won’t have to prove yourself.

Weill went on to ask Bayer’s advice for job searchers who just don’t know where they want to go. Bayer suggests that they seek out small-group career counseling. Bayer even suggested some Five O’Clock Club techniques that can help an over-50 job searcher formulate appropriate targets based on what they do well, and what they enjoy doing.  “The Forty-Year Vision” and “Seven Stories” exercises help job searchers target the job that’s best for them.

Protecting Yourself
During a Downsizing

In a recent interview with Essence Magazine, Richard Bayer discussed how to protect yourself during a downsizing. First, Bayer listed some ways to evaluate yourself and determine if you may be the next to go.
 Bayer listed some questions that can help you evaluate your position:

· Do you get the leading-edge assignments? Or do you simply help out while the choice assignments go to someone else.
· Do you volunteer for critical responsibilities—including tasks for which your boss is responsible? Doing your job well is not enough.
· Is your company doing well? Or are the warning signals everywhere? If the prognosis is bleak, it may be time to look elsewhere.

Bayer also listed some steps to take to help prepare yourself for a downsizing:

· Develop your long-term career plan.
· Anticipate trends in your industry and outside of it.
· Join trade associations; get to know people in your field, especially outside your company.
· Bring good ideas back to your present company, you’ll get to keep your present job longer.

Bayer said that if you do get the ax, aim for a severance package that includes career counseling help, benefits, and a cash settlement.  l

6 Tips for Keeping Your Job in a Shrinking Company

Companies are reacting quickly to any changes in the economy or negative signals from the stock market. They’re canceling projects that were “full speed ahead” only a few months ago. Companies may get rid of entire departments, axing good performers along with bad. Or, departments across the company may be asked to cut staff by a certain percentage.

Regardless of how a company cuts staff, employees can reduce the likelihood that they will be cut. Think of it as your own personal “public relations” campaign.  Get on the good side of your bosses, and make yourself indispensable.

1. Keep your skills up-to-date.  Companies get rid of people whose skills are obsolete and replace them with workers who are already trained. Take classes, join trade organizations, prove you're plugged-in.

2. Take initiative on behalf of the firm. Don’t get a reputation as someone who simply does what he or she is told to do.

3. Show only your good character traits (reliable, honest). Are you seen as someone who tries to get away with doing as little as possible, lies to get ahead, or irritates management and peers in other ways? Don’t get caught acting adolescent, and don’t take part in office gossip. If you're known as a jerk, a staff cut-back may be a good excuse to get rid of you -- even if you have great skills.  Don't lie about your expenses, don't spend all day writing e-mails to your friends, don’t stay home with the sniffles.  With a cut-back bearing down on them, your bosses will not be as likely to overlook your flaws. 

4. Take leading-edge assignments.  Don't let choice assignments go to someone else. When your organization decides who has crucial skills, will you be included?

5. Volunteer for critical responsibilities, including tasks for which your boss is responsible. Pick your head up, look around and get in on the action. Doing your job well is not enough.

6. Make yourself visible to those above you in the corporate pecking order.  Make sure everyone knows about your great work and what you bring to the company.