Retaining Talent in a Recession _{29 January 2009}

If ever there was a time for organisations to secure their top talent, it’s now. According to KPMG’s recent poll of nearly 200 senior executives of UK firms, 83% of respondents said human capital was the key to maintaining an edge over competitors. So how can you make sure that you hold onto your management and leaders of the future?

It is important to let employees know how an organisation is performing at any time, but it is even more critical in a recession. People need to know the business strategy and if it is on track. If it is not on track, employees need to be clear that any remedial action is well thought through to ensure the future of the business.

Once you are clear about your requirements, you can start to think about what sort of talent you are going to need and create a talent management strategy.

One of the first things that you need to establish is: who are the key people that you want to hold on to? It is important to look down and across the organisation: these people won’t necessarily be senior managers, but may be the people who are busy doing the doing and keeping the ship afloat or stopping Rome from burning.

As well as understanding those who are capable of replacing the baby boomers (who are retiring in droves) you must be quick to understand which employees can push things forward during tough times.

Then it is important that you meet their career development needs ensuring that good learning development opportunities are available to them and that your are taking care of their career progression … rather than letting a prospective new employer do it instead.