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In the tough and often unpredictable environment of an economic downturn, a company's workforce is more critical than ever in driving the organisation forward.

While many companies, in their anxiety over cost-cutting, are adopting the simple expedient of laying off staff, many advisers question the wisdom of this.

Moreover, the common dilemma of lay-offs to save money or recruiting to prepare for economic recovery is but one aspect of workforce management in an economic downturn in which many managers lack experience and are consequently confused and uncertain.

Global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm Hewitt Associates has issued a report entitled "Making the Most of your Workforce amid Economic Instability". In brief, the following are its "Top 10" recommendations:

1. Get the right leaders in the right place, right now.

At present, employees are looking to their leaders to set the right direction and mobilise the company's workforce. Leaders need to be able to not only communicate the realities of the business - however tough they may be - but also to capture the hearts and minds of their subordinates to do something about it.

The leadership skills required to manage through and then out of a downturn are different from those required to manage during times of growth.

Organisations need to understand this, and take steps to better equip leaders, or change them, so that the right leaders are in place to navigate the way forward.

2. Ensure that you are rewarding and retaining your best talent.

Recruiting in Asia and around the world just got a lot easier. Candidates who, six weeks or six months ago, may have been unapproachable are today within reach.  Consider, for example, top graduates in India who were being lured to the United States with dollar-salary offers from investment banks. Those days are over.

Smart organisations will be using this time of turbulence to selectively recruit some of the very best talent. Top performers still require top rewards, and reassurance, and in some cases, about clear retention packages. These are the talented people who are going to help pull your organisation through the difficult times ahead.

Amid the current uncertainty, immediate action is required to make sure your very best are on board, motivated and focused on the things that matter.

3. Get good advice on executive compensation.

Governance is more important now than ever. Stock-based compensation programmes are surely not having the motivation and reward impact that was once intended, although they are placing a sharp focus on performance. Companies need to carefully consider changes to executive rewards during such periods of upheaval.

4. Find human-capital interventions that will have greatest impact on business results.

More than ever, it is vital that human-resources practitioners focus their attention on how they can impact business performance. Quantitative approaches to diagnosing organisational issues need to be employed so that the potential benefits of taking action can be estimated in advance of committing resources.

Clean, clear processes need to be followed to track the impact of human-resources interventions to ensure estimated business impacts are achieved, so that successful interventions can be replicated elsewhere in the organisation and the course of less successful interventions can be corrected.

5. Focus on human-resources effectiveness, not human-resources costs.

A singular focus on driving down human-resources costs will surely come back to bite you later. We have seen this happen during the [1997] Asian crisis, SARS, and post-9/11. We must learn from those experiences.

Now more than ever, human-resources departments must show they can drive business outcomes, not just deliver on programmes and practices. There may be some need for taking targeted cost actions, but human resources will create the greatest value by supporting the business in driving performance and sustaining engagement.

6. Recognise that recovery will come sooner for companies with high performing, engaged workforces.

Ultimately, your workforce will be the critical determinant of how well and how quickly you move beyond the immediate financial challenges. Even amid the uncertainty, you can't ignore the fundamentals of what employees are seeking in their work - supportive managers, genuine career opportunities and a chance to make an impact. At the same time, companies need to identify a few targeted performances and engagement "interventions" to ensure the workforce is productive and focused on the right outcomes.

7. Manage the transformation that is under way; don't be managed by it.

Help your organisation to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to changes by creating organisational agility. That can mean different things to different companies, but at a minimum, use this time to make sure the workforce is nimble and ready to respond to further changes. Start with a robust management change and communications plan. Establish clear governance around how decisions are made, and build jobs and organisational structures that are scalable and flexible.

8. Focus on the sales force: you need sales.

The ability of your sales function to drive growth in the present environment is absolutely critical.

Now is the time to rethink go-to-market strategies, assess your sales workforce and take some deliberate actions to refocus and re-energise the team. Well conceived sales-compensation plans can help drive business success, while poorly conceived plans can lead to a spike in sales force turnover at the worst possible time.

9. Become more strategic about talent planning.

Build a talent strategy that identifies the most vital opportunities for managing talent. In this sluggish economy, be opportunistic and grab good talent where you most need it. Look for opportunities to accelerate labour-cost reductions via global sourcing. At the same time, take a longer-term focus and think about where your workforce needs to be in order to accelerate growth for the future.

Use technology to establish workforce planning that enables your organisation to model various scenarios, so that you can be prepared and quick to respond to changes in the environment. Stop trying to predict the future, and instead plan for a variety of possible futures.

10. Get serious about the health aspects of your employee population, from both prevention and treatment perspectives.

Health-insurance premiums are rising substantially, and they have the potential to weigh heavily on your total compensation costs, so review these in order to save wasted outlay. A critical component of a high-performing workforce is that it is fit and ready to work - from both a mental and a physical standpoint.