Heinz is announcing layoffs, plant closings, and price increases in a weak economy with rising ingredient costs. One could argue that the cost of employing people is not really the drain they say it is – not anymore. It’s not employment cost, it’s employer cost . There are lots of alternative ways to put people to work and reduce costs without layoffs without remaining a traditional employer for trade or professional skills that need to scale up or down with costs and demand.
Now more than ever, the Free Agent Source model is a potential godsend, but not if big corporations (and small businesses and startups following suit) continue to insist on the traditional employer-employee relatonship to get work done. It doesn’t leave them agile enough withstand serious upheaval, and it’s a waste of capital on control, which is more of an attitude than an organizational need. It doesn’t produce more efficiency, more hours worked per dollar spent, or enhance production.
At the same time Heinz is in the news, so is Boeing. They just got the biggest order in their history – guess who it’s from? Indonesia’s Tiger Airlines. They’ll be opening plants while Heinz closes them, and hiring while Heinz is laying off. Anyone see a cycle here? Help us out… These ups and downs are random, right? It is interesting though to see how rising economies internationally place manufacturing demand on the U.S.
