Welcome

The present job market presents a unique set of challenges. While recession-related concerns – swingeing job cuts, plummeting budgets and the desperate scramble to enter new sectors – remain, the signs of recovery have thrown up questions about what companies should be doing to position themselves for the upturn.

First off, this will mean a flurry of takeovers, and the HR challenges that ensue – trying to get predators and their recently devoured prey to transform themselves into one happy team. This is a hugely difficult and time-consuming task, but if you don’t do it the chances are excellent that your merger will turn out to be a mistake.

There’s also the matter of ensuring you have the skills to take advantage of the job opportunities that emerge once cash starts to flow again – this is why this year we have included the number of hours companies devote to training staff in this year’s guide to the industry’s top 50 employers. Throughout all this, keeping your employees happy and making sure every person is in the right job has remained important, lest they stray irretrievably into a different industry. Finally, we have a naturalist’s guide to identifying bad bosses, which is something that gets no less important in difficult times.

The construction sector may be a very different place once recession is over, but it is still those that manage their staff well that will be in the best position to succeed …

Debika Ray, editor