Une approche pratique du management des ressources humaines en temps de crise

Résumé du document

With the actual economic downturn, in many companies, Human Resources are the first department that the top managers approach to cut coasts.
Indeed, the human capital is often the one which costs the most to the company. That's why the recent years were those of the strict limitation of recruitment, of the increasing in departures, and of lower pay. But reacting like this isn't always the best choice, because it's often slows down the future development of the organisation and affect its competitiveness.

HR Planning is an unavoidable step in a period of cost reduction. Downsizing is often the first solution used by a company in order to avoid too much loss. Furthermore, all the choices that will be made by the HR department are critical, that's why it is paramount to plan them. Although, that in that kind of period, companies are more used to dismiss, it's sometimes needed to recruit for particulars jobs. In that case, the company has to forecast the right number of people, in the right place, with the right knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

Downsizing is define as "A reduction in the size of an organization, especially by reducing the number of direct employees in order to save costs and increase the flexibility and adaptability of the organization." Oxford Business Dictionary. In an economic downturn, the expenditures of the company stay the priority. That's why the past few years, we saw so many companies which suggest to their employees to leave. Even the large organisations as PSA Peugeot Citroën, Renault, Continental, Valeo, ArcelorMittal, Natixis, Sanofi Aventis, Hewlett-Packard, have been forced to use that kind of methods to face the crisis.

Extraits

[...] Training and development Nowadays, businesses need to interest about training and development. Indeed, in a context of globalisation which is very competitive with fast change, the human capital, in an organisation is significant. To be sure, the department for Education and Employment produced a green paper in 1998, stated that “investment in human capital will be the foundation of success in the 21St century”. Taylor, Harington, Hall 2008 a. Needs Analysis and design Training is about acquiring skills and knowledge to carry out a specific task or job for a person. [...]

[...] Obviously, in an economic downturn, employee engagement becomes more important. According to Watson Wyatt, when employees are highly-engaged they are more resilient to organisational change, and as reorganisations are usual in today's turbulent economy, it's a real advantage to own engaged employees. Nowadays, companies tend to reduce the working hours to cut cost, although the working load grows. So, when an organisation has the chance to owns engaged employees, they can afford them days off unpaid, because they are sure that the work will be done, despite of the lack of time at the office. [...]

[...] In that case, the company has to forecast the right number of people, in the right place, with the right knowledge, skills, and attitudes. a. Downsizing Downsizing is define as reduction in the size of an organization, especially by reducing the number of direct employees in order to save costs and increase the flexibility and adaptability of the organization.” Oxford Business Dictionary In an economic downturn, the expenditures of the company stay the priority. That's why the past few years, we saw so many companies which suggest to their employees to leave. [...]

[...] But companies have less financial resources to give financial rewards to their employees. Therefore, with the actual economic downturn, organisations have to find other ways of reward to motivate employees. According to the CIPD, the number of employers agreeing to requests for flexible hours, part-time, working to fit with school hours and job sharing has incredibly rose in 2009. Dell for example has offered in 2009 five additional days' unpaid leave to its staff. Permanent TSB bank gave employees the opportunity to take two or three years' leave of absence, with guarantee that they can return to the similar job. [...]

[...] Retention Everybody would agree that employee is the most important resource in organisation. In these unstable times it is crucial to own the most loyal staff. Therefore, companies use several strategies to keep their talents, which is actually a competitive advantage. In spite of the crisis, Tesco Lotus continues to build trust and loyalty among its employees. They categorise staff into five groups, depending on the risk that could provide the loss of each of them. If employees are in the tops groups, they access to the “option programme” which allows them to apply at any time for the position they seek, and they move when it's available. [...]