Soul searching is always an interesting time.\u00a0 Whether it’s deciding what priorities there are in your HR department as you attempt to polish off any remaining budget you have for 2008, knowing that little budget will exist in 2009, or if it’s something much simpler like deciding whether to continue a popular blog.\u00a0 I’ve predicted earlier that the HR industry would not stagnate with an economic slowdown as we’ve learned from the dot-com-bubble-burst that it took too long for HR to recover projects and budgets.\u00a0 After 2001, it was not until perhaps 2005 that HR budgets for discretionary projects returned.\u00a0 And it took years to catch up.\u00a0 I thought this slowdown would be different, and by all indications it was – for a little while at least.\u00a0 HR spending in the 3rd quarter seemed to be up, all the consultants I know were running around trying to keep up.\u00a0 And then the financial crisis really hit bottom.\u00a0 Governments started bailing out banks and financial instituations and perhaps even the automotive industry.\u00a0 HR spending is down and it’s entirely possible that 2009 is going to be a complete meltdown of HR budgets.\u00a0 Already, the Silicone Valley is seeing major RIFs and I’m sure it’s happening across the country as well. Those of us in HR may not have budgets in 2009, but we had better start planning exactly how we will emerge from this crisis once our budgets return, hopefully in 2010.<\/p>\n
I’ve taken a couple months off.\u00a0 At first, I was simply locked out of the site and could not write.\u00a0 I’ll admit that just before I was locked out, I was about to write my final posts.\u00a0 Indeed, the inability to write those posts have given me some opportunity to reflect and ponder the future of systematicHR.\u00a0 In the last few days, certain events have taken place that have reminded me how deeply systematicHR has imapcted my life.\u00a0 Rest assured that I will spend much of December writing, and the site wil lbe back in full swing in January.\u00a0 I thank you, my readers, for your patience as I’ve taken time for some soul searching.\u00a0 Most of you know, this is not a for profit enterprise, but a labor of love, and I will continue to give back to the industry that has given me so much already.<\/p>\n
Thanks<\/p>\n
-Dubs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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