Last week The Economist asked that exact question - under "human capital and the crisis", they pointed out that many organizational responses to the economic crisis are poor decisions, because not enough companies have strategic workforce planning in place:

This crisis is revealing how few firms have really thought through their talent strategies, says Mark Spelman of Accenture. Claims that “our workers are our most valuable assets” are too often platitudes, the emptiness of which is now being revealed. But those firms that have thought seriously about their talent needs have the opportunity to get ahead of those that haven’t

The article questions the wisdom of responses like furloughs and salary freezes, and summarizes some of the downturn activity and unemployment we are seeing. We asked a few months ago how many companies will be ready to respond to future crises, but how many are using strong planning techniques to make today's response wisely? Are you?

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