I attended the CIPD's HRD 2009 conference in London this week, travelling on the Docklands Light Rail past the Square Mile, where so many fingers point as a contributing factor to the recession.
A brief sidenote - the CIPD's introductory videos played before each seminar are always well done, but lately they're beginning to sound darker and more serious. Think Carmina Burana or Requiem for a Dream.
It really sets the tone for seminars with stark titles like "Feeling the Talent Pinch", "Handling Difficult Conversations" and "Sustaining Performance in the Downturn".
Jill McCormick, senior HR manager at Big Four professional services firm Ernst & Young, spoke on dealing with the talent pinch in 2009.
"We as HR need to find time for talent management and ensure the Credit Crunch doesn't put it in the backseat," McCormick said.
She explained that focus on talent should be on your current staff rather than surfing through CVs to make the most of the UK's two million unemployed.
"Our energy should be focused internally on keeping the good people we've got," she said. "Yes there are many people in the market, but unless they fill a specific gap, conserve your energy and effort."
Also speaking on talent was Chris Parkinson, talent director with American Express, who said that the company stopped the majority of its HR schemes to focus on the surviving the recession and realigning with the business.
"Because of all the uncertainty for 2009 and beyond, we took the opportunity to scale back everything in HR, cutting anything we legally could, in order to focus on things that would help the business," he said, describing it as "one of the most liberating things [he'd] ever done".
"We refocused our talent management programme on pivotal positions to be more strategic about the work we do in the area. It's less work and requires less people."
The company announced it was cutting 10% of its workforce late last year, as well as freezing recruitment and manager's salaries.
Unfortunately, Parkinson was unable to comment on the cuts, but he did assure me that the savings made in stopping needless HR projects and expensive external training schemes for senior managers had been "significant".
