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Introduction 1IntroductionAlthough 2009 was one of those years that many of us will be glad to see the back of,it has taught us some salutary, if sobering, lessons about organisational life; from theimplications of our globally interconnected world to the psychology of managingand regulating risk. Perhaps the credit crunch was the inevitable fate of the debtfuelled,celebrity‐addicted ‘noughties’ with a Generation Y, like Icarus, flying tooclose to the sun.As we move forward to a new decade, the ‘twenty‐tens’, the ‘teens’ or the ‘teenies’, asit is variously designated, the HR team at IES has been reflecting on some of thepriorities we see for organisations as they start to emerge from recession and look tothe future. In these short articles our topic leaders provide insights that haveemerged from our own recent consultancy and research practice across the publicand private sector.Issue 1: Workforce planning – a workforce fit for the futureA top priority for organisations this year is to ensure the workforce is ‘fit forpurpose’ as we emerge from recession. Although the recession has made it easier torecruit good people with scarce skills, it has created a new set of workforcechallenges. Dilys Robinson provides some tips on effective workforce planning andunderstanding demand, supply and the labour market.Issue 2: Ways of working – keping your organisation agileFigures suggest that employers, where possible, have tried to avoid redundancies inorder to take advantage of the recovery with a fully equipped workforce. Creativeapproaches to reducing wage bills have seen people take sabbaticals, agree shorterworking weeks and adopt more flexible working patterns. Mary Mercer considershow new forms of working have helped organisations through the recession andtheir importance for the future.