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HR Recruitment February 2010
HR News |
09/02/2010
If human resources professionals imagined their difficulties would end with an exit from recession, they were sorely mistaken.
With the Recruitment and Employment Confederation seeing an increase in overall job availability and the Ashdown Group Jobs Index witnessing a 20.85 per cent rise in HR vacancies alone, a new set of challenges is now emerging.
After being primarily occupied with driving workforce efficiencies over the last 18 months, and in many cases reducing the headcount - HR staff now face a renewed battle to keep hold of their top performers.
Research conducted by King's College London HRM Learning Board and law firm Speechly Bircham suggests as much, with 68 per cent of firms seeing employee engagement as being their top HR challenge for 2010.
And given that succession planning (53 per cent) and talent management (42 per cent) complete the top three, there is little disputing where the principle HR concerns currently lie.
Many UK firms seem set to become the victims in of a sudden power shift from employer to employee ? with top performers now holding all the aces in the labour market.
But remarkable as it may seem after 18 months of lay-offs, redundancies and reduced hours, this rebalance comes as an inevitable consequence of a return to growth.
With increased confidence and job availability heralding greater career ambition, it may now prove very difficult for HR to limit staff attrition.
Difficult perhaps, but not impossible, that is according to Stuart Woollard, managing director of the King's College London HRM Learning Board.
In his mind, the effective engagement of workers, and a concerted attempt to improve morale levels, can have a positive impact on employee retention rates.
"Management is increasingly seeking the elusive 'Holy Grail' that is employee engagement," he commented.
"Real engagement is vital for employers to help retain the commitment of key employees and move their organisations towards recovery."
Confirming the importance of this key HR function, the HRM Learning Board study suggests that higher levels of engagement are directly associated with increased levels of productivity.
So if the desire to limit recruitment and training costs is not enough of a motivator for HR staff, the ability to make a tangible contribution to company turnover surely must be.
As Speechly Bircham employment partner Richard Martin notes, improved relations between employers, HR and the general workforce will be essential over the coming months, as the labour market "moves into calmer waters".
For those firms unable to meet the demands of staff - both repairing the damage done during the recession and providing incentives to remain loyal - the outlook is somewhat bleak.
It would be grand to assume that ambitious, career-minded employees will simply sit back and savour their newly-improved job security, but the world rarely stands still.
In fact, the strong increase in HR job availability is no coincidence this month, businesses will be doing all they can to rebuild their workforces, and even more importantly, protect their major people assets.
So after having its hand forced during the recession, HR must now work even harder to minimise the impacts of a resurgent job market.
Posted by Jon Aspinell
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