A significant minority of line managers are ill equipped to keep talented staff motivated during the downturn, according to new research.
A survey of more than 700 HR professionals by the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that 43 per cent believed managers in their organisations were either poorly or not at all equipped.
Fifty-one per cent were equipped “to some extent”, while only 6 per cent were fully prepared.
Management training and development, extra support from HR staff, and coaching and mentoring were seen as the main ways of upgrading managers’ abilities.
“It’s essential that organisations support and empower managers to manage and motivate employees in a downturn,” said Claire McCartney, organisation and resourcing adviser at the CIPD.
Just over a quarter of respondents to the survey, conducted in November but published this month, said economic conditions had forced them to change their approach to people management.
A fifth had cut training budgets, 10 per cent had implemented a recruitment freeze and 3 per cent had made staff redundant.
On remuneration, a third said they had restricted pay rises, while 16 per cent had cut or frozen bonuses. Rewarding top performers only and a greater use of performance-related pay were the other main approaches used.
A separate survey of 1,800 executives worldwide by McKinsey in January, meanwhile, found that companies were seizing the chance to snap up talented staff let go by other firms.
Twenty-two per cent said they had hired, or planned to hire, “talent that would not have been available otherwise” – up from 16 per cent in November 2008.
