Documens Boss

Without any doubt, 2009 has been a challenging year for all companies around the world. The recession, starting in the US, spread around the globe and continues to impact everything, from business decisions to earnings reports. While it finally appears that the worst is over, there are still some negatives, such as the slow employment recovery in the US.
 
Unemployment in the US still an Issue

The unemployment rate edged down to 10.0 percent in November, and nonfarm
payroll employment was essentially unchanged (-11,000), the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics reported. In the prior 3 months, payroll job losses
had averaged 135,000 a month. In November, employment fell in construction,
manufacturing and information, while temporary help services and health care
added jobs.
 
Government Driving Growth
A drop in the pace of job losses this month will be seen as more proof that the economy's recovery from the worst recession since the 1930s was gathering momentum. It will also help to ease fears over the durability of a recovery that is seen as being largely driven by government spending.
 
The U.S. economy started growing again in the third quarter after four successive quarters of contraction.
"The labor market remains the single biggest threat to the emerging recovery," said Meny Grauman, an economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto.
"Payrolls could begin rising again in January, but the pace of improvement may be slowed down by the fact that even those Americans who have managed to hold on to their jobs during this downturn have, on average, seen their hours cut substantially."
Data ranging from regional manufacturing surveys to weekly new applications for state unemployment benefits have generally painted a picture of a labor market that is starting to settle down after an upheaval early this year.
Analysts will scrutinize November's employment report for more evidence of this. They will want to see if companies continued to hire temporary workers, after this segment of the labor market saw its biggest gain in October since the economy fell into recession.
The average workweek will also be watched for signs as to when firms will start hiring. The Reuters survey forecast the average workweek rising to 33.1 hours in November from 30 hours the previous month.
"The rebound in business profits suggests the labor market deterioration is in its final stages, barring a relapse in financial conditions," said Joseph Brusuelas, an economist at Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
"With more sustained improvement in final demand, we see net job growth resuming in the second half of 2010."
Average hourly earnings were expected to rise 0.2 percent after gaining 0.3 percent in October.
 
ECM, BPM and BPO Effect
 
All sector companies have been affected. However, as Document Boss continues to chat with many sector contacts, the range of impact runs from major negative impact to companies having reasonably good results. There seem to be some common elements that have changed performance, including:
·         Reaction to Recession – some companies immediately tightened spending and went into a protection mode, while others continued to drive sales and find opportunities
·         Layoffs and Quality Assessment – as we have seen in other slow times, layoffs do occur. However, in some cases companies were able to only layoff low performers, while others did regional or market layoffs, eliminating their best performers in some cases
·         Ability to Adapt – some companies were very slow to change products, processes and offerings, while some were able to adapt very quickly to the new market dynamics
·         Taking advantage of HOT markets – some markets were far more active than others. For example, Electronic Medical Records are an extremely hot area with government funding available. Likewise, SharePoint is growing very fast.
 
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