January 9 Benefits and Pensions Monitor Daily News Alerts

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Fiscal Policy Offers Solutions

Growth will remained subdued in 2020, says Darren Williams, senior vice-president and director of economic research at AB. Providing an ‘Global Macro Outlook: Tailwinds Turn To Headwinds Economic Outlook’ at its ‘Economic Outlook,’ he said risks are still skewed to the downside making a global recession more likely than a synchronized upswing. However, given the limits on monetary policy to respond to this, governments are moving to fiscal policy for solutions. And while things are moving in this direction, it is not yet a game-changer. In fact, a recession may be the trigger point to move from monetary to fiscal. The ability of central banks to respond to a financial downturn is heavily restrained in large parts of the world, although central banks in Canada and the U.S. do have some room. One indication of this is the number of “zombie firms” ? companies that are only being kept alive by low interest rates ? is on the rise. This makes fiscal policy the “de facto” policy of choice. Central banks have provided the architecture for large scale fiscal stimulus and there is a lot of fiscal space available, but no-one is really ready to use it. There are encouraging signs in the UK and Germany that they will start to use it to support demand growth, but they are only at the beginning of the journey.

CPOs Realize They Need New Skills

Most chief people officers (CPOs) realize they need new skills to meet the demand of the 21st century role, but few are prepared, citing a lack of development and investment from the C-suite. A study by HR People + Strategy (SHRM’s Executive Network of business and thought leaders in human resources) and Willis Towers Watson found virtually all respondents (99 per cent) believe CPOs must have the agility and courage to evolve, yet only 35 per cent said today’s CPOs are prepared to respond. More than nine in 10 respondents (94 per cent) say it’s important to explore accelerating the growth and development of future CPOs, but only about a third (35 per cent) agree future CPOs are receiving the development they’ll need to succeed. Only one-third of respondents (36 per cent) are prepared to think about how technology can be used to execute work in the future and only a quarter (26 per cent) say they have the technical acumen to evaluate new technologies. “As the pace of innovation and technological change accelerates in the workplace, CPOs will need to reinvent themselves,” says Suzanne McAndrew, global head of talent, Willis Towers Watson, and a study co-author. “With disruption on the horizon, organizations will require strong, visionary people leaders who can think through the people and talent strategy and work with management on the business strategy. Unfortunately, as our research shows, most CPOs are not prepared.”

For details on these stories, visit www.bpmmagazine.com

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