I've read a lot lately about the "new normal" and the general reset of our economy. Consumer confidence has taken quite a hit over the past few months. It seems like many of us were living just a bit too large over the past few years. I remember hearing the phrase "conspicuous consumption" for the first time when I moved to Atlanta in the summer of 2000. I wanted to knock on some doors and ask where does all your money come from and what do you do for a living. I never really had the nerve for that. Though I see a lot more for sale signs on McMansions now than I did then.

Whether it's a "new normal" or something else, it's obvious that many people feel like the economy is in crisis, their company is in crisis, and perhaps, their careers are in crisis. The media certainly isn't helping the situation; bad news seems to be more compelling than hope and confidence. I'm not expecting a pollyanna outlook, but some people, some companies, and some leaders actually get it, always got it in fact, and are making a difference. They are positioning their companies to come out of this cycle stronger than their competitors with a more engaged workforce, more market share, and better talent to boot.

A few months ago, Geoff Colvin, Senior Editor at Large, Fortune, spoke to a group of Towers Perrin clients and offered an analogy comparing this current business cycle to running a marathon (or any race for that matter). He described these difficult times like approaching a tough hill at a difficult point in the race when your body is already taxed. Some (a.k.a., the strong) will power up the hill with little change in their cadence, and they will begin to separate themselves from those who haven't trained as hard or had the right plan. When the pack gets to the bottom of the hill and begins to run at a normal pace, the strong will have separated themselves from the others-perhaps permanently.

Many business leaders are focused on cutting costs while simultaneously improving performance. This approach takes unique dexterity. How you go about this will influence, to a great extent, if you distinguish your company from your competitors. For some, it will be about survival. It's also a place where HR professionals can truly earn their seat at the table. Many of our clients are looking at cost reduction across three aspects of the human capital framework: workforce, rewards, and HR delivery. With regards to the workforce, they're segmenting workers to determine which roles are truly pivotal to the companies' success and which are less critical to the business.  With regards to rewards, it means understanding the right mix of compensation, benefits, and career development opportunities preferred by the workforce and making a difference in attraction, retention, and engagement. With regards to HR delivery, best practices in terms of staffing levels, processes, and levels of self-service are the focus. Now many of you are already aware of these elements, and perhaps, you've evaluated them in the past. My advice is to look at it again. Your workforce understands the need and expects you to take thoughtful action.

Our recent survey of 450 workers tells us that today's employees are concerned about their jobs and their financial stability, so they are willing to take on more cost and risk because they don't see an alternative, and they see their financial fate increasingly intertwined with their employers.  We've seen some significant shifts in employee attitudes when asked about the importance of certain aspects of their work experience.

For example, we've seen an increase from 46 to 59 percent in the "importance of having a secure position I can count on for the long-term." The survey shows an increase from 37 to 56 percent in "having adequate benefit protection for myself and my family" and an increase from 44 to 49 percent in "having good quality coworkers on my team." On the flip side, we've seen a decrease in the following: from 34 to 27 percent in "maximizing the amount of money I can earn" and from 15 to 9 percent in "having regular promotions up a defined career ladder.

"The fine point is that employees get it. They want security. They want to get back to basics and what really matters. They want to help make their companies successful. This is a unique opportunity to capture their hearts and minds and to separate your company from others. So attack that hill, but only if you've trained properly and have asked some key questions:

• Do we have the right people with the right skills to drive our strategy?
• Are our people doing the right things to drive the business forward?
• Is our workforce structured to deliver value at the right cost?
• Are we creating a work environment and experience that attracts, retains, and engages the talent we need across our business?
• Do we have sufficient current and future leadership capability and pipeline to drive profitable growth?
• Are our staff functions (HR, Finance) delivering value to the organization at the right cost?