The current economic turmoil presents many challenges in managing top talent. While the high turnover rates seen in recent times may have subsided, savvy organizations are seeing the current environment as an ideal opportunity to poach key talent from competitors. HR professionals need to be more active than ever in managing key talent.

In a recent podcast, Jim Matthewman, Mercer Worldwide Partner and Workforce Strategies Business Leader, EMEA and Middle East, discussed the challenges of adapting talent strategies to support today’s market turmoil as well as the opportunities for tomorrow. "If organizations don’t have talent management effectively in place, they are going to start to see leakage and… people may decide that it may be the time to move on and move out of the organization," says Matthewman.

Investing in talent management remains as important today as it was twelve months ago, particularly in Asia were there is still a shortage of qualified technical and managerial talent. In a recent Mercer study in Asia, acquiring and developing critical talent was highlighted as a key “recession proof” human capital initiative. Now, more than ever, organizations need to take a strategic, long term approach to key talent that will enable them to not only weather the current turbulence, but be prepared for the recovery.

"Organizations are not only looking at key individuals but also critical positions and how they match up, and making sure they have got the right people in the right place," highlighted Matthewman.

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To listen to the full podcast, please visit here where you will find a series of Mercer Podcast that give you ideas around developing a competitive and forward-thinking talent strategy for 2009 .