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Courtenay HR and Personnel Today team up again for the second Best Places to Work in HR awards Following on

Searching For a New Way

At a seminar last year Dr William Scott Jackson from Oxford University outlined the results of a research project entitled

A Better Place..!

Hello and welcome.  We are celebrating the second year of the Best Places to Work in HR initiative in association with Personnel Today.  There are a few changes from last year as we have created separate categories for best Large and best small companies as well as for best Public Sector/not for profit organisation.  

Please CLICK HERE and register your views on your organisation and encourage your colleagues to do the same.  Your opinions will culminate in an awards drinks ceremony in October where we will be recognising those organisations that have HR right at the heart of their business.  We look forward to seeing you there!

And while we are on the subject, what an interesting time to be delving into the thoughts and views of the HR population!  The current economic climate brings with it a number of challenges, not least of which is how to keep your organisation functioning effectively when business in general is tough and every customer and income stream is fiercely competed for.  If you think your competitors gave you a good run for your money in the past, wait until they genuinely start feeling the squeeze!   In a climate where budgets are going to be a lot harder to meet, defending your market share and hanging onto those customer relationships will be absolutely key.

And that perhaps presents a more significant challenge for some in 2008 than it did the last time we faced such challenges both  in 2001 and for those old enough to remember, (like me sadly!) 1990.  Nearly 20 years ago when the last real major recession kicked in, even though people often appeared as a company’s ‘greatest asset’ in the annual report, the reality was anything but.  Accountants ruled the roost much more so than they do now, and whilst wielding the corporate axe was necessary, it was done with great enthusiasm in some cases and with little regard to the long term effects of the business.   HR – or Personnel as I fondly recall it referred to  - was also a very different function and place and with notable exceptions, they were reduced to adding up the severance packages, giving out the bad news and mopping up in the aftermath.

This time though I suspect will be different.  People issues are much higher up the corporate agenda and significant investments in their growth and development have been made that probably equal, if you added up the global spend, the GDP of a small country.  On the other hand you have a workforce with a different mindset.  The general perceived shortage of ‘talent’ has meant that people have been much more choosy,   have demanded more and have created much more choice for themselves.  This in turn has created a more confident and independent employee, one who is much more likely to say “Whats in it for me?”.   If they don’t get this right, some organisations may find that their good people, far from sitting out the storm will walk of their own accord, taking with them the skills and experience necessary to survive the downturn. 

And HR?  Well, it remains to be seen if we will be involved in some really interesting work at the heart of the business ensuring that the customers and employees are retained or, if we will be back to mopping up behind the corporate reapers.  Watch this space but don’t get your calculators out just yet!   

"Leadership is a people game, and a contact sport."

Bill McAneny