Employers may be Unprepared for New Regulations and Workplace Challenges

New research from employer and labor law specialists Littler Mendelson in its 2012 Executive Employer Survey has found that over 70 percent of employers will be hiring more workers over the next twelve months, but should be cautious of new federal employment regulations coming into effect this year. Areas expected to make the most significant impact on employers, as found in the survey, include:

• Healthcare reform (64 percent)

• National Labor Relations Board union organizing issues (41 percent)

• Immigration reform (22 percent)

• Further anti-discrimination employment regulations (21 percent)

Of the nearly one thousand senior HR, employment specialists, and senior level executives polled for the survey, the leading challenges expected to be faced in the workplace include:

• Employees needed to perform better with fewer resources (91 percent)

• Unproductive workers staying in current positions due to lack of other employment options (85 percent)

• Underemployment (67 percent)

Furthermore, employee retention was found to be the most challenging issue being faced from a workforce management perspective, despite the high unemployment rate.

As far as political considerations go, polled executives thing the job creation will be a high-priority issue regardless of the next president. Mitt Romney was found to receive the highest vote of confidence regarding the issue with 85 percent of respondents saying that they think the Republican challenger would put a higher priority on the issue of job creation compared to 70 percent for incumbent Obama.