Learning from history

I read somewhere some years back that following the early 2000 recession, companies did not train actuarial students as they did not see a need for that in the short term. They maintained their actuarial workforce without expanding it. When the economy improved, these companies were faced with lack of actuarial resources as a consequence of their decision.

You'd think people are supposed to learn from history, but no, not in my company. We hire just enough people to do the tasks required and this number of employees is based on the old book of business, not taking into account any newly acquired business which will make worse the busy period.

Two months ago, an experienced employee resigned. This month, three employees sent in their resignation and one was convinced to stay on. Busy period is the last two months of the year and we are already short by three human resources and the employer has not even looked actively for replacements. Why should they when they can get everything done at the current cost? The employer says that him and the other main people in the company will have to roll up their sleeves and work longer hours, but in reality, they are already getting paid for rolling up their sleeves. At the end of the day, no matter what they say, it is the employees who have to put in the extra hours for no time off in lieu and no additional salary.

For the love of God, you cannot expand the business without expanding the workforce at the same rate! I would love to see more people hand in their resignation to quit early next month.

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