7 Talent Management Practices to Help You Survive a Downturn May 7th, 2009

Stanley Janas, CHRP

As HR professionals, there’s a lot we can do to help our organizations weather an economic downturn.

In all honesty, good talent management practices are important to corporate success in any economy. After all, the whole purpose of talent management is to help your organization get the most from its most valuable resource - its people. And in case you needed it, there is ample research available that finds companies who implement integrated talent management practices consistently outperform their peers.

With this in mind, here are seven talent management practices that can really have an impact on employee performance and your company’s bottom line:

1. Align individual and organizational goals and effectively track their progress.
2. Conduct regular employee reviews to keep employee performance on track.
3. Provide ongoing feedback to maximize performance.
4. Invest in performance-based development.
5. Identify and reward high performing employees.
6. Have a succession plan.
7. Be as efficient as possible.

To get more detail on each of these practices and learn how they can be of strategic value to your organization, particularly in an economic downturn, read our reference article 7 Talent Management Practices to Help You Survive a Downturn.

What do you think? Are there other talent management practices that should be added to the list?

Tags: employee performance reviews, succession planning, talent management

A Fresh Take on Generation Y: Is the Downturn Turning Around Generational Performance Issues? May 4th, 2009

Heather McCulligh

I came across an interesting article recently; about the new work approach “millennial” employees are taking in response to the continued economic downturn. The article discussed how young workers are fearful of losing their entry-level jobs and are turning to some tried-and-true performance enhancements to hold onto them:

A 2009 survey from Experience Inc., which is an organization focused on Generation Y recruitment, found 67% of 1,650 young respondents saying that, in the interest of increasing their job security, they plan to hold onto their current job by extending their work hours (33%) and taking on more job responsibilities, including helping their fellow workers (30%).

This sheds some interesting light on the intergenerational workplace friction that we’ve talked about here previously. According to the article:

…many objections to Gen Y behavior in the workplace are misguided. Their push for constant feedback, for example, is more about development and growth than neediness… Rather than resisting, criticizing and devaluing Gen Y behaviors, many recommend using Gen Y efficiency skills to optimize organizational change (Healy, 2009). Others point out that multitasking is “second nature” to Gen Y, so allowing young workers to mix work time with occasional personal texting and Internet surfing is actually good for productivity (”Status Update,” 2009).

This is an interesting take on this generation, and one that I find refreshing. It’s easy to blame the youngest workers for laziness, lack of attention and neediness. But the reality is that they deserve career development and performance feedback perhaps even more than their older counterparts, especially during these uncertain times. And giving feedback, if done correctly, can only serve to improve performance and dedication, which in the long run will be a major organizational advantage in the market. When things start to look up and organizations begin hiring again, you’ll want to keep your best Gen Y workers as a key part of your succession plan.

Even in these tough times, it’s important to remember:

Millennials will be major workplace players very soon. Organizations that develop strategies for effectively accepting and integrating them into their workforce now will be a step ahead of the game.

Tags: Generation Y, performance management, succession planning