"The human resources of an organisation are its most important intangible asset, with an unlimited contribution potential to business operations ...

During periods of  economic crisis though, the organisation's human capital is the first to suffer cutbacks with the aim of reducing operating costs.

According to research published in Creating People Advantage Reports, concerning HR policies implemented by businesses during the recent economic crisis, two were the main findings:  one set of businesses implemented radical policies such as freezing of new hires, firing of staff and cuts on overtime costs, while another set of businesses chose to implement moderate policies such as reduction of weekly working hours, offering intangible rather than tangible incentives, reducing training and development investments.

The decision related to which strategy to follow, has to take into account how quickly the business foresees that the crisis will end, and how fast does it wish to return to normal operations."