HR’s role in the effort to keep the UK economy afloat during the recession should not be under estimated, was the key message from the Acas and CIPD ‘Resilience Through Recession’ conference held today in London.

Keynote speakers, including Lord Young, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Business, Innovation and Skills; Ed Sweeney, chair of Acas; and Chris Humphries, chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, all spoke at length about the importance of people management, motivation and the role HR has in maximising the potential of employees to help reinvigorate the UK economy if we are to compete in a increasingly global market.

Speaking exclusively to HRzone.co.uk, CIPD chief executive Jackie Orme said that despite the downturn, HR’s agenda remains the same: “The big message for HR people is that the agenda doesn’t change in good times or bad – in fact in many ways it becomes more acute in bad times. No matter how distracting your organisational context is, good people practice is going to stand you in good stead.”