Head Count - 2009

An on-going comment on the times.

Recruitment freezes, redundancies and increased unemployment dominate the headlines. For many companies in this period of economic instability ‘cost- cutting’, particularly of payroll, is regarded as the first way to increase the bottom line.

This approach is not revolutionary. It offers immediate, practical and unfortunately necessary means by which companies can be temporarily stabilized.

We at ORESA recognize that in markets such as these:

• Trimming headcount is an effective tool for reducing costs. 
• Voluntary redundancies can backfire and lead to losing truly talented people as well those that some may consider ‘dead wood’. 
• Top talent is far harder to replace in good markets than it is to keep in difficult markets. 
• Tough markets will allow strong businesses to capture talented individuals looking for change and for stability, thus increasing their ability to compete and grow.
  

In our opinion true talent will always be at a premium and poor market conditions will not lessen the struggle to attract and retain it.

On the contrary, the struggle is exacerbated as the strong put in place increased incentives to hold onto their top talent and the weak are left fighting to hold onto theirs.

In recent weeks I have spoken to recruiting line managers who believe that they can, owing to market conditions, offer lower salaries for the same position. In some instances (with certain disciplines/ skill sets) this is true, but not in all. Often, all that will be achieved is a fruitless search for people that are simply not ready for the role in question or the hiring of individuals who will always be looking to improve their position.

In any market you always pay a premium for quality: this is the reality of supply and demand.

As a result we are advising our clients to ensure that they retain the best and strategically bolster their talent pool where immediate and envisaged future growth create demand.

The markets may presently be challenged but, more than ever, any company that is planning for future growth must successfully secure those individuals that will enable them to ‘make things happen’, not just now but for tomorrow.

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