Drops in staff numbers expected in HR

Half of the country's senior Human Resource managers have said they expect their workforces to decline this year, according to a survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, which represents more than 6,000 training professionals in Ireland.

The survey indicated that redundancy is no longer seen as the first option for employers to cut costs, while more than half of respondents expect wages to rise in 2009.

Michael McDonnell, director of CIPD Ireland, said alternatives are being provided.

“What organisations are trying to do now is to find more imaginative ways of addressing the cost issue, without necessarily letting people go. You’ll see now things like people going on sabbaticals, or working on short-time and taking salary cuts,” he said.