Nurture talent or create 'missing middle'
26-NOV-08
South African companies should nurture and retain talent during tough economic times or they could find themselves with a ‘missing’ middle management when good times return to the economy.
So says Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, MD of Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters who notes that skills development, training and mentorship programmes are on the list of ‘nice-to-haves but not critical investments’ in organizations looking to trim costs.
Graduates and junior level staff who are considered less critical resources by some organizations are often the ones to bear the brunt of cost cutting, in that training courses, mentorship programmes and other skills development initiatives are rationalized. Or worse, companies just stop recruiting at this level!
The implication of this is that when the economy turns, mid-tier (and in turn senior level) experienced managers could be in very short supply, compounding the already skills-short market we currently have in SA.
Pulling back on investment in employee training and development programmes at any level could have dire economic consequences in terms of promotable, skilled and experienced staff going forward.
Although it is tempting to cut costs wherever possible during markets such as these, “there is a real risk that organizations 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 talented graduates, and junior staff who will ultimately be promoted to middle managers,” says Goodman-Bhyat.
“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.
“The reason for this is that companies who previously used big pay packages as the lure to attract talent are less inclined to continue this practice in a tough market. And organizations who might not have been able to compete with lucrative packages, but maintain their people development programmes now have a really competitive benefit to offer. This market is a really good leveler of the employment ‘playing field’.
“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 says.
