Employers need to adopt a more sophisticated approach to staff retention and development if they are to weather the current financial storm effectively, according to a new survey.
A recent poll conducted among 550 senior HR managers in 17 countries by HR consultancy The Scala Group and the ACE Network found that only 25 percent believed that enhancing employees’ pay and benefits was the answer to both surviving the recession and preparing the business for any upturn.
Instead 65 percent placed a much higher importance on increasing communication with staff. A further 63 percent felt that developing employees’ skills was key, while 51 percent indicated that engaging personnel effectively was crucial.
Janice Caplan, founding partner of The Scala Group, said: “In contrast to previous recessions, UK companies are clearly dealing with the crisis in an increasingly sophisticated way, through focusing on skill and capability development as the means to achieving business recovery.”
But a huge 56 percent of respondents also indicated that their organisations still needed to tackle poor staff performance issues.
Barry Mordsley, global co-head of law firm Salans’ employment group, which sponsored the study, said: “Many companies may have taken the easy road and used cost reduction directives as the reason to tackle poor performance. What the survey shows is that, from an HR perspective, tackling employee performance issues head on at any stage of the economic cycle remains one of the best ways to ensure business strategy stays on track.”
