A recent ERE article published results of a Watson Wyatt survey on the effects of the recessionary economy on HR. Specifically, the survey was looking at what HR is planning for the future given the economic circumstances.
The results are not overly surprising, but the trends are nevertheless interesting. Of most interest, in my mind, is the increased interest and necessity of strong communication between HR and employees. For example, 67% of companies surveyed have (or plan to) increase communication with employees about benefits. 59% have (or plan to) increase communication about pay-related issues.
Retention is key.
Retention has always been an issue, and it’s only going to get worse.
HR needs to keep panic to a minimum. It’s responsible for communicating what’s going on to employees - in good and bad times.
Although the survey was focused primarily on internal HR issues, I expect we’ll see similar patterns with plans for external communication as well. The 2009 recruiting trends already point towards increasing external communication in cost-effective ways. That will mean finding ways to attract and engage job seekers & candidates more strategically as budgets for “the same old” job advertising are cut or frozen.
The Watson Wyatt survey indicates that a sizable portion of surveyed companies are planning hiring freezes, but generally this is a short term, knee-jerk tactic. Hiring freezes don’t last. Companies can’t survive without hiring - turnover alone will kill them at some point, let alone the lack of new blood coming in, with new innovations, expansion opportunities, etc. And it turns out that hiring in a recession isn’t easier than hiring in good times; it’s oftentimes harder. So as HR is re-energizing itself to communicate more actively and effectively within the organization efforts need to be put towards increasing communication externally as well. And that’s really all about strategic recruiting.
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