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White-collar workers are still being made redundant but the numbers have slowed dramatically since the frantic cuts made at the end of last year, says one recruitment chief.
Mark Steyn, New Zealand and Australian chief executive of Hudson, said the industry was starting to see recruitment activity pick up again.
"People have pushed really hard to drive the costs out - they are now starting to lift their heads above the parapet to see where the opportunities are for their business."
Steyn said there was a lot more talk about hiring compared with three months ago but he still believed there would be more job cuts to come.
He said Hudson's change management business - the part of the firm that supported companies through redundancies and restructuring - had doubled in the latter half of last year to around 20 per cent of the business.
At the same time its recruitment business had dropped off by 50 to 60 per cent year on year.
"It's had a huge effect on the recruitment sector."
Steyn said recruiting for permanent positions had been hardest hit.
Contracting work was also down but some companies were recruiting contractors and project managers to get them through having fewer permanent staff.
Steyn, who has been in New Zealand talking to human resource specialists about the issue of change management, said the biggest concerns were about inexperienced managers and the ability to support staff who remained.
"They have got senior managers saying 'we want things done and we want them done now'."
Steyn said there was a short-term focus on driving costs down and shoring up the financial health of the business.
"I am concerned it was only 12 months ago companies were asking how do we find and retain talent."
Some managers being asked to make the cuts were not well prepared, many were of the X or Y generations which had not personally experienced the last cuts made in the early1990s.
Steyn said remaining staff were also being left without support.
"Most organisations pay scant regard to how those groups feel about the process."
The risk was that once people began changing jobs again, those staff would move on because they were not engaged with the company.
LOSING STAFF
* Make sure managers have the skills to cope with making redundancies.
* Support managers through making the changes.
* Communicate and engage with staff.
* Do it face to face - not by email.
* Run workshops during the cuts so people can share their views.
* Engage remaining staff in future development of company.
* Measure staff engagement.
