In Business
Your People Remain your Greatest Asset
By Lisa Manselli, Head of the Talent & Organisational Performance practice at Accenture
May 25, 2010 - 3:18:00 PM

Lisa Manselli of Accenture advises organisations not to loose sight of the importance of employee well-being and talent management even in challenging economic times

Almost daily we read in the papers about redundancies, factory closures, increasing unemployment lines and liquidations all a result of organsiations scurrying to reduce operating costs and mange their businesses through the current challenging economic times. Many businesses across Ireland are now faced with the difficult dilemma of whether to let employees go and if they need to do so which ones.

History has shown that recessions form part of a wider economic cycle and as such come and go. That said, during a protracted recession organisations are faced with challenging questions notably in relation to employee numbers and workforce related costs. Whilst it is important for all organisations to carefully monitor and manage their bottom-line during a recession it is equally important to look after those employees who bring the greatest value to the organisation and who possess skills crucial to longer-term success.

Should an organisation make the mistake to neglect the well-being of top-performing employees during the recession they may very well see those valuable employees depart the company when growth returns to the economy and other employment opportunities become more readily available.

Currently within many organisations employees are working harder than ever before, primarily due to their awareness of increased cost pressures, heavier workloads and a generally more stressful business environment. As unemployment figures rise those workers in employment have become very aware of the value of their jobs and are a result eager to ‘prove their worth’ so to speak.

April’s emergency budget and its resulting tax increases on top of the introduction of salary cuts, pay freezes and redundancies across the private sector have all contributed to lowering both employee incomes and morale.

Without the ability to offer employees increased monetary compensation for their commitment and performance, management teams must now find other ways to ensure employees remain engaged and committed to their organisation throughout the downturn.

Accenture research has shown that employee engagement is a key factor to future company success and organisations that focus on keeping their top-performers motivated and content during challenging economic times reap rewards later from a loyal workforce when economic growth returns and business opportunities manifest themselves once again. Below are some steps that managers can undertake to ensure top-performing employees remain motivated and loyal to the business throughout the recession.

1. Identify top talent: It is crucial to identify an organisation's top-performers and to know who exactly within the organisation are performing well and have the potential to become future leaders. Explicitly identifying individuals allows organsiations to manage and nurture their careers as appropriate. The importance of clear and honest communication with each identified employee reminding them of the important role they play in business success should not be underestimated. By reaffirming an organisation’s commitment to an individual’s career success, valuable company loyalty and commitment will be created amongst employees.
2. Offer opportunity: Post redundancies or workforce changes or in response to changing market demand organisations should consider some degree of internal re-structuring. Workforce changes can provide organisations with an opportunity to offer strategically important roles to those identified in step 1 as strategically important talent. By offering valuable employees new and exciting opportunities organisations can provide conditions for invaluable professional experience which will serve employees well come future rounds of promotions. Opportunities for personal growth do exist in times of recession and can be key when it comes to motivating top performers to demonstrate their capabilities.
3. Personal Development: Now is a good time to consider introducing leadership development programmes within companies to nurture top talent. Many organisations have such programmes in place already but should now consider updating them and widening their scope to cater for larger numbers. Even small changes to leadership development programmes such as encouraging mentors to bring mentees with them into challenging business situations can prove a fertile learning ground for identified business leaders of tomorrow.
4. Revisit reward packages: Incentivising employees financially has still a role to play even in a time of recession. Rather than completely eliminating bonus and share option schemes or introducing pay cuts, organisations should investigate ways to use payroll budget more strategically. Ideally companies want to continue to pay higher salaries to their top performers and those in mission critical roles so instead of blanket payroll changes organisations should consider ways to allocate payroll budget differently across the organisation. The result of this strategic use of payroll can be that top performers maintain their packages, while other lower performing employees have pay recalibrated in a transparent and consultative process. This strategy supports long term business viability and can improve employee performance in the shorter term.
5. Employee friendly policies: Many organisations already have innovative employee and family friendly policies in place which firstly offer flexibility to employees but also to the businesses.  The offering of sabbaticals, parental, maternity and paternity leave all offer organsiations options to cut-costs without having to consider headcount reductions.

Whilst the current economic climate is highly challenging it does offer organisations an opportunity to review their employee offering and to consider what actions can now be undertaken to encourage continued high performance by employees whilst simultaneously securing commitment and loyalty amongst top-performers.

Lisa Manselli, is head of the Talent & Organisational Performance practice at Accenture

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