Challenging times require a different talent focus
| Published date | 19 June 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390910963883 |
| Date | 19 June 2009 |
| Pages | 24-28 |
| Author | Gordon Barker |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Challenging times require a different
talent focus
Gordon Barker
Abstract
Purpose – The economic downturn has created new priorities for HR, including a greater focus on
organizational performance and less emphasis on recruitment. This paper seeks to outline the results of
a new survey, which claims that HR teams are being asked to do more with less, and explains how
organizations can increase the ‘‘likelihood of engagement’’.
Design/methodology/approach – The Employee Engagement and Retention Survey 2009 was
conducted via a detailed questionnaire, completedonline by HR practitioners working in a cross-section
of 336 UK organizations.
Findings – This paper offers insights and practical recommendations for HR practitioners. The full
survey report and/or an executive summary can be downloaded free from TalentDrain’s web site, www.
talentdrain.com
Originality/value – The paper is based on original TalentDrainresearch. It translates the survey findings
into practical implications for HR practitioners and organizations facing difficult economic times.
Keywords Human resource strategies, Employee involvement, Employee turnover
Paper type Research paper
Organizations have traditionally allocated a massive, and arguably disproportionate,
percentage of their HR budgets to the attraction and recruitment of staff. In so
doing, HR has become enmeshed in a self-fulfilling, vicious circle: too little time,
resource and capability to drive more strategic issues, such as understanding how to
engage and enable employees to be successful and thus address the rocketing attrition
rates that create the requirement for the endless rounds of recruitment in the first place. This
vicious circle is often further reinforced by recruitment becoming a comfort zone for many
HR practitioners.
The good news, or perhaps the bad for some, is that the current recession is forcing
organizations to redress this imbalance. Our Employee Engagement and Retention Survey
2009 reveals the impact of the UK’s economic instability on HR strategies, budgets and
employee turnover. It also highlights what attracts and engages new starters to an
organization, including differences between HR’s perceptions in this area and what new
starters actually report.
Increased focus on performance management
According to the survey, almost of a third of HR practitioners (30 percent) have changed
their HR strategy, switching their focus from recruitment (56 percent are giving this a lower
priority) to areas that more directly impact on organizational performance. Seventy-two
percent of organizations are putting greater emphasis on performance management, 67
percent on organizational communication and 54 percent on employee engagement and
retention. This change of focus is often linked with the added challenge of a cut in the HR
budget; 38 percent of organizations have reduced their HR budget by more than 5 percent,
PAGE 24
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STRATEGIC HR REVIEW
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VOL. 8 NO. 14 2009, pp. 24-28, QEmerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 DOI 10.1108/14754390910963883
Gordon Barker is based at
TalentDrain, Surbiton, UK.
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