Looking Ahead to 2009 – HR Trends in the New Reality

Well, it’s that time of year again. Amid the turkey and the holiday parties we all do it – predicting and forecasting what we see ahead for 2009. Whether it be at home or at work, this upcoming year is one that will be bringing many people unexpected new situations. Major global issues are having an impact on almost all of us, and HR managers need to stay on top of the trends more than ever in order to bring value to their organizations.

Talent management analyst firm Bersin & Associates is no exception to the future-gazing rule. They’ve just published their Enterprise Learning, Recruiting and Talent Management 2009: Predictions for the Coming Year. And it’s worth a look. After all, in 2008 they accurately predicted the tremendous expansion in the talent management market and the evolution toward more integrated HR solutions.

Three of the top ten trends are a direct response to the global economic forces we’re all addressing. They include:

• Budget Cuts Force Restructuring of HR and L&D: It’s no secret that reducing costs is now the top business issue for HR and L&D executives. But I was really surprised to see the stats that Bersin collected – a full 26% of their responding organizations are involved in major restructuring, and another 19% are going through a merger or acquisition. That’s almost half of the respondents – and we’re not even into what many think will be the worst of it yet…
• Succession Management Emerges as a Critical Issue: As a direct result of the above challenges, succession plans give companies the ability to rapidly identify key talent from within. Unfortunately, Bersin’s research shows that most companies have not yet instituted a complete succession process covering critical roles, and many still lack formal executive succession planning. If organizations want to be ready to bounce back – and indeed flourish – when we begin to recover from this downturn, they are well advised to maintain their leadership development and succession management budgets. They’re going to need the right leadership skills to steer their originations through the next phase of this global restructuring.
• The LMS Market Continues to Grow and Shift in Focus: This may seem counter-intuitive in these times of strain and change. But the SaaS delivery model has made it easy for companies of any size to implement an LMS. Organizations, many of whom are veterans with various LMS approaches, now are looking for robust portal-based architecture and integrated talent management functionality. They’re trying two things: tying learning directly to employee performance, and developing the LMS as a learning or knowledge portals. These portals present a wide variety of information and tools – not just learning – in the context of an employee’s job. And although LMS vendors are rushing to tack on their own talent management systems, I think that the talent management vendors who already have flexible, easy to use performance centers are better suited to wrap it all up in one offering.

To read the rest of the predictions, you have to be a Bersin subscriber. If you are, I’d be interested in hearing your perspective on the entire list! In the meantime, enjoy making your own predictions for 2009. Share them with us – we’d love to hear what you think in these interesting times!

Cheers.