In August 2001, the total number of job cuts for the year in the United States reached 1.12 million, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That number is 83 percent higher than the cuts for all of 2000. The telecommunications industry has suffered the brunt of the staff cutbacks, making up 19 percent of the year's layoffs.

The immediate future looks rough, says the firm. "There is no evidence reported by any industry that anything that could be called a significant sustainable rebound is on the horizon for this year or even into early next year," the report said.

New employment attitudes

What can employees and managers take from the news? Are companies simply cutting numbers blindly under pressure to cut expenses? A report from Towers Perrin, management consulting firm, sheds some light on developing employment trends.

Chief among job trends is a shift in the balance of power between employers and employees, resulting in employees who are more sophisticated, informed, and individualistic than ever. The shift began during the economic boom of the middle to late 1990s, when talent was scarce and highly valued. Talent is still hard to find, says the report, despite the growing number of layoffs. In fact, even as companies are laying off workers, they're struggling to hire new ones. The overwhelming majority (88 percent) of employers say that it is now just as difficult or even harder to recruit and retain talented employees than it was a year ago. Despite hard times for job hunters, employers still feel they have to compete aggressively for talented workers, and find new ways to recruit, retain, and engage the employees they have.

New employee attitudes have emerged from these changes. Most important, most workers (56 percent) are "in the market" for a new job -- either looking actively or scanning regularly -- and no longer place much importance on a long-term relationship with their employer. The main factor in the evolving employee mindset is the availability of information, via the Internet, regarding careers and job opportunities. They can research jobs and salaries, and even apply for a new position via a job posting Web site, without their employer knowing their intentions to leave.

Towers Perrin says employers should begin to view their company or department as a collection of unique individuals, rather than a homogenous group of workers.