As a member of the SmartBrief on Workforce Advisory Board, Editor Mary Ellen Slayter asked us to share our thoughts on what's happened over the past year from an HR / labor / work issues perspective.

It's been quite a year.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor it now takes an average of 27.2 weeks - more than six months - to land a new job. This is up significantly from 19.1 weeks in September, 2008 and 16.7 weeks in September, 2007.

According to visualeconomics.com, manufacturing has been by far the most negatively impacted industry, followed by healthcare and social assistance, and construction.

So, I've been happy to watch as people get creative. Some people have taken to desperate measures, and that's hard to watch, but many have learned to turn their passions into sources of revenue.

• People are taking on freelance and contract work and starting to view employment as less permanent and more project-oriented.
• People are building websites and blogging to demonstrate expertise in their chosen fields.
• They're doing strategic volunteer work in order to stay busy, fresh, and expose themselves to new opportunities.
• Internships aren't just for college students anymore; people of all ages and experience levels are seeking out both paid and unpaid internships now in order to gain additional experience, exposure, and for the possibility of longer-term work opportunities as a result.
• Social media has significantly impacted how that people and companies communicate, network; how individuals look for jobs, and how companies attract talent.

There are now online marketplaces for employers to offer work and for potential freelance employees to show their portfolios. An excellent example is guru.com. Once an individual has registered they can bid for jobs that prospective employers have advertised, and employers can go to the category of work they need done and search through a list of professionals that they can contact to do the work.

With all of that said, there's another side to this.

A large percentage of employees who count themselves lucky to have jobs are miserable in their current positions or with their current employer, and yet wouldn't consider rocking the boat under any circumstances right now in fear of jeopardizing their paycheck.

Due to layoffs and hiring freezes many employees are now forced to do the work of 2, 3, even 4 people.

They're tired.

They're frustrated.

They're burned out.

If they felt they had any options and felt they could walk out today, they would.

What does this mean?

It means that many employers are in for a mass-exodus and significant reduction in workforce (read: talent) - and then, a talent acquisition problem, obviously - when this job market turns around unless they get their act together fast.

How to prevent this?

An excellent article on morebusiness.com sums it up quite well:

Differentiate Between Your Good and Average Employees

You will first have to check the performance of all your employees. You need to do this so that you can identify your good employees, which show potential and others who could be lagging behind due to lack or interest or because they may not be able to handle the pressure.

The good employees are the ones that you will need on your side to brave out the recessionary storm. The bad ones will turn out to be bigger liabilities once the pressure to perform inevitably increases.

Redirect Your Employees to Other Departments

One of the best ways to retain your employees is to redirect them to other departments when the need arises. You can do this from day-to-day, if necessary. For example, if there are too many sales people handling too few sales one week, then you can redirect them to another department until the storm blows over.

That way, you will not have to fire any of your employees, and they will acquire additional skills by learning the ropes of other departments.

However, you'll want to keep your best salespeople in the sales department, since you will still need to concentrate on increasing sales.

Listen To Your Employees

You need to listen to the grievances of your employees in order to nip any potential problems in the bud. This will also inspire confidence in your employees and will enable them to see you as a leader whom they can trust.

Getting feedback from your employees will also enable you to make changes in your policies faster.

Keep Them Motivated and Busy

During lean times, you need to keep all of your employees occupied and busy. This is the best way to keep them concentrated on the business at hand.

Send some of them to attain higher skills, so that their knowledge about your company's products and services increases. Keep them motivated by organizing a small get-together or a short trip on a regular basis to keep their minds diverted from stress.

Lay Your Cards on the Table

You should paint a clear picture when you have meetings with your employees. Explain to them that the recession has forced you to take some harsh steps. Tell them that you expect their cooperation during these tough times and that they will be rewarded when the storm passes.

Being upfront with your staff from the very beginning will help prevent your key employees from jumping ship.

The above steps will enable you to hold your team together during a recession, and will even make bond between all of you stronger. Your employees should be motivated enough to stick to you during tough times and put in the extra effort required for your business to come out of the storm unscathed.