feature
STRATEGIC UPSIDE OF LAYOFFS
Having to trim a workforce’s numbers, while never an easy
thing, can present an opportunity for recalibration.
“In an economic downturn, I think there really is an opportunity
to reevaluate,” said Newton. “In the oil and gas
industry here in Alberta, a lot of organizations found they
were a bit ‘fat’ in terms of having extra employees they didn’t
need or employees who weren’t pulling their weight and were
allowed to slide. The downturn really caused organizations to
look hard at their people and only keep the very best.”
“Even for organizations with slow or flat growth, recruiting
for key critical roles never stops,” said Girimonte. Thoughtful
and careful reorganization can help better define pivotal roles
within the organization and help narrow down exactly the
strengths needed from any new hires. “We’re really seeing a
focus on critical roles and those that are going to drive the
brand forward during times of need but also during times of
growth.”
SEIZING OPPORTUNITIES
It may sound counter-intuitive, but some organizations
turn up the heat on recruiting during times of economic
uncertainty.
“If you’re really bold, a downturn is an opportunity to hire
critical talent,” said Girimonte. “Toyota was famous for that.
In bad times, they would try to expand and gain market share
because that would give them better economies of scale when
times were good again.”
Newton has experienced this strategy firsthand.
“When I worked at Mosaic Sales Solutions – a large marketing
company out of Toronto – during the economic
downturn of 2008, we heavily invested in our campus recruitment
ProStockStudio/Shutterstock.com
that year, more than any other year,” said Newton. “By
investing when others were pulling away, we managed to create
a huge differential between us and our competitors. If you
can make it work, it’s an excellent time to be focusing on high
potentials.” She points out that, in the oil and gas industry,
compensation is heavily weighted on long-term incentives
like stock options. “Because of that, some organizations are
finding that now is a really good time to hire people because
they’re resetting at a low share price.”
Even if an organization isn’t in a position to expand during
tough times, recruiting channels need to be kept open, with
an eye to the future.
“You don’t want to walk away from having a very strong
acquisition strategy with schools and other partners within
the market during times of need,” said Avedon. “Those take
a while to establish and you want to keep them up. Thinking
long-term, you want to make sure you have that funnel.”
STRATEGY UNDERPINS EVERY MOVE
In a tough economy, an organization relies on its best performers
more heavily than ever. Having a strategy to find
them, train them, keep them and help them lead others is the
best way through the downturn and out the other side.
“It’s really about having a strong alignment between business
strategy and people strategy and making sure that clear
connection is understood by the C-suite,” said Avedon. “This
is what’s going to continue to drive results – and possibly
growth – during a time of uncertainty.” n
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ JULY 2017 ❚ 27
