You don’t need a degree in economics to see that we’re in a serious economic recession. The Meriam-Webster Dictionary defines a recession as “a general slowdown in economic activity.” Similarly, the Encarta World Dictionary says a recession occurs when there is a “contraction in the business cycle” of buying and production. Truly hindsight is 20/20, as we can now see how precariously the financial fate of our nation was throughout the nineties and new millennium, placing all our stock on a housing and construction gamble. Yet many Americans are still asking, “How did we get here?” And more importantly, “Why did no one see this coming?”

Anyone who studies basic economics saw the current recession coming for several years now, although it was hard to predict just how hard and how fast we’d fall. Mere months before the bottom fell out, causing enormous financial institutions and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to collapse, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was quoted as saying, “the fundamentals of the economy are sound.” In Economics 101, students learn the signs of a recession, which are job losses, exports support manufacturing, a drop in housing prices, a decline in profits, limited impact of short-term stimulus dollars, rising inventories, artificially low interest rates, lack of buyer confidence and lack of investor confidence. The American economy had all the ingredients for the perfect disaster.

Microeconomics experts have been busy examining how individual households and businesses make decisions. When consumer spending goes down, companies first cut jobs and sometimes they collapse. This, in turn, causes more consumers to stop spending because they’ve lost their jobs, which may affect other unrelated businesses. In the current economic recession, massive-scale job losses began in February 2008, when 63,000 jobs were shed. By the following September, another 156,000 jobs were lost, which was followed by an astounding 533,000 job cuts in November, which was the largest single-month job loss since the Great Depression. From December of 2007 to March 2009, there have been 5.1 million job losses. Over this same period, investor and consumer confidence has declined further, thus making it more difficult to rebound.

Top market economists disagree vehemently on how we can dig out of the economic recession. Some argue for a heavy-handed government comparable to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s, where the “New Deal” programs stimulated much-needed industries. Others argue for decreasing business taxes and regulation to create more jobs or investing in energy/infrastructure to create more jobs. Perhaps we really found our way out of the Great Depression through World War II production and exporting. The current administration has used a number of different approaches so far to stimulate our road to recovery, but eager Americans wonder when we’ll actually see the signs of a rebound.

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Most people know about 401k retirement plans. They are an easy method of putting aside money for retirement, with favorable tax breaks. Savings are only taxed when money is withdrawn. 401k plans are quite useful in helping people save effectively, but they are not in place for anything other than retirement. This means that any need for a withdrawal of money from your 401k before you are a certain age will likely result in steep penalties or at least a lot of red tape in order to access the funds.

The standard withdrawal from a 401k retirement plan occurs when an individual has reached the age of 59 and a half or over. Once this milestone has been reached, the government will not impose an early withdrawal penalty of ten percent on whatever you take out. The 401k accounts are there to provide Americans with money when they retire, and the tax breaks that are involved are only available for those who use the account for retirement purposes. If money is withdrawn earlier, then there will be penalties.

A 401k retirement plan is not really there for any reason other than as a source of funds for when you retire. However, in the event of a bad financial situation where you have a real and viable need for the money in your 401k account, you may be able to make a request for a hardship withdrawal. If approved, this will allow you to take money out of your account before the age of fifty-nine and a half and not get hit with the ten percent penalty. Yet the granting of a hardship withdrawal does take time and is not guaranteed.

There are a few other withdrawals that can be made from your 401k investment account before you actually retire that will not necessarily incur penalties. Most of these situations are special exceptions, such as when you die and the money from your 401k is distributed to your beneficiaries or your estate; when you have medical expenses that are more than 7.5 percent of your gross income; or when distributions are made to the IRS to pay for any levy that may be on the plan.

401k retirement plans are a great way to save money for those years when you no longer have income from employment. Withdrawals should take place after you are fifty-nine and a half but there are exceptions that you can explore if you desperately need the money. The system is based on encouraging people to save money for when they are no longer earning, so early withdrawals tend to be looked at very closely.

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Training in all forms - including management training, has become an indispensable activity for every business, and no one can deny the incredible benefits that businesses can reap from it. Some of us might ponder on the need for investing in training our existing employees when we have the option of hiring new employees that are already highly skilled. The simplest and most obvious counter to this question is that the expense of hiring someone new is quite a bit higher than the expense of training an existing employee. So, what would you do now?

Training might be seen as a heavy investment in the beginning, but the array of benefits it brings to the organization is enormous. As any business coaching expert will say, to stay competitive, and for sustained growth in our ever-changing market, a business needs to keep its workforce trained and highly motivated. These valuable employees are usually considered to be essential assets - playing pivotal roles in the long term success of organisations around the world.

Let’s have a look at the benefits that come from training the workforce:

1. Increase Productivity - Great training will almost always lead to a massive increase in the productivity of the employees in just about any business. Highly trained employees can apply new techniques and skills when going about their daily tasks, thereby optimising their accuracy and efficiency. Any significant increase in accuracy and efficiency will - as a result, automatically increase the overall productivity and profitability of the entire business operation.

2. Increase Morale of Employees - Training helps with improving the attitude and morale of employees. Training will, over time, minimise the reluctance of employees towards future changes in the organisation. People will form a positive attitude towards training if they can clearly see its relevance and the benefits it brings.

3. Decrease Staff Turnover - It has been observed that trained and motivated employees are the ones that serve a business for a longer period of time - as compared to others. As a trained employee is satisfied with his work, he is far better able to coordinate his goals with that of the organisation.

4. Workforce Flexibility - Training aims at developing different sets of specific skills in employees with the goal of making them more flexible, so that they can be engaged in a wider variety of activities. The idea is not only to make the workforce effective and efficient, but also to make it multi-tasking or specialist in nature.

5. Decrease Costs - Does it really? Yes, training can definitely lead to a decrease in various business costs. Training saves money through limiting waste - whether in time or material, lowering the supervision cost and lessening the number of workplace accidents. Trained employees can perform diversified sets of activities single-handedly.

So, irrespective of what sort of business you’re in, the number of employees you have, or the size of your business - Train to Gain!

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The FDA governs the pharmaceutical industry in the US and the EU-GMP has the same duties in Europe. The role of these institutions is to make sure that the drugs, medical products and blood supplies that are on the market or used by healthcare professionals are safe for the public to use. As research has successful results and new products are made, more and more regulations are implemented. Staff involved in the manufacturing, processing and packaging of any products under the jurisdiction of GMP regulations are required to have regular training to keep on top of any issues that may affect them.

Pharmaceutical consulting firms put on training sessions around the world and the tutors have experience with GMP regulations on every level. The courses are made up of lectures, discussions and team work.

There are five areas of GMP that all GMP training courses should cover. Each are essential so that companies know what they need to do so that they comply with the GMP regulations governing them.

Explaining the differences and similarities between FDA and EU requirements.

The results of any new regulations, reviews and tests that affect the industry as a whole.

Advice on how to deal with any changes that need to be made and how far you can deviate from any regulation.

Knowledge on how your premises, processes, procedures and people can affect GMP regulations.

Information on how GMP is critical in the areas of sterilisation, packing operations, dosage forms and computers involved in drug manufacture.

You can use the internet to find a good training course for your employees. Look for consulting firms that have good reviews from delegates that have attended their training sessions, make sure the tutors have enough relevant experience and that all of the above modules are covered. Do not limit yourself to a particular region or even country. The best training sessions in the UK have attendees from across Europe, price should not limit your options on such a vital factor in your business success.