Sanchia Temkin
22 December 2008
Johannesburg — COMPANIES should nurture and retain talent in times of economic constraint or they could find themselves missing a middle management when good times return to the economy, say human capital analysts.
Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, MD of Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters, said on Friday that skills development, training and mentorship programmes were on the list of "nice-to-haves but not critical investments" in companies looking to trim costs.
Graduates and junior level staff, thought to be less critical resources by some firms, often bore the brunt of cost cutting if training courses, mentorship programmes and other skills development initiatives were rationalised. Worse, companies could stop recruiting at this level, Goodman-Bhyat said.
When the economy turned, mid-tier and senior managers could be in short supply, aggravating the skills shortage.
Goodman-Bhyat said cutting investment in employee training and development programmes at any level could have dire economic consequences.
While it was tempting to cut costs with markets slow, "there is a real risk that organisations will not have enough competent staff to fill lower and middle management levels in the future if insufficient resources are applied to the attraction and development of talent graduates, and junior staff who will ultimately be promoted to middle managers", she said.
"In fact, the current slowdown in the economy presents really great opportunities for companies to attract people that they might not have had access to in a strong market.
Companies that previously used big pay packages to lure talent were less inclined to do so in a tough market.
"It's the time when companies who do not value staff and cut back on skills training might lose good people who will be hard to replace when the economic heyday returns," she said.
The credit crisis highlighted a skills gap in the risk management field, according to research by the consultancy.
The new Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act and credit laws changed the playing field, forcing businesses to be far tougher on internal controls and procedures and ensure they were employing the right skills and experience to handle all aspects of their risks strategy and implementation.
Martin Westcott, MD of human resources consultancy P-E Corporate Services, said employees would feel the "bite" of global recession in about six months with companies seeking to cap pay rises at about the 8% mark. Rises for some executives and skilled staff were expected to be 10%-11%, Westcott said.
Companies would be reluctant to lay off skilled staff.
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