The economist suggests that as economic conditions continue to take precedence, the focus on HCM issues will wane:

The biggest loser in the struggle for power will be the human resources director. In the past five years HR has been enjoying the greatest power it has ever had. The “war for talent”, which companies have fought tooth and nail, will be over in 2008, neither lost nor won: there will be a ceasefire brought on by lack of funds and exhaustion of the troops. An old truth will be whispered by the brave: most workers are not terribly talented and most of them don’t need to be, as most jobs don’t require it.

In the 2008 Aberdeen Report (data collected in Dec 2007 - Jan 2008), 31% of the executives surveyed cited the “shortage of labor/talent” as a top overall organizational challenge. In the follow-on report for 2009 (data collected Dec 2008-Feb 2009), we saw that number decline to 19% as other concerns such as economic conditions (84%) and market volatility (51%) took precedence.

The economist article continues:

In 2009 a more elitist shift will occur: companies will worry about the performance of those at the top of the pyramid, while everyone else will be managed like a commodity. “Talent” will be a word we wave goodbye to. In 2009 the word “staff” will make a comeback, as will “headcount”.

Although not as severely stated, our data seems to support this notion. In the 2009 Aberdeen Report survey, HR executives reported that talent retention was the number one challenge (4.03 average on a 5-point scale) in 2009, followed by leadership development of existing managers (3.94), talent recruitment (3.9), workforce productivity (3.87) and future leadership development (3.82).

We are currently putting the finishing touches on the 2009 Aberdeen Human Capital Management Summit in Atlanta on March 24th and 25th. As I prepare my opening/closing remarks, I am interesting in hearing from you about current people challenges and employee-related anecdotes.  Are you hiring or firing; is the war for talent over? Or has it just begun?

Comment here, email me (andrew.boyd@aberdeen[dot]com) or tweet me @andrew_boyd.

Learn more about the summit here:

The 2009 Aberdeen Human Capital Management Summit