The company is poised to launch salary-sacrifice benefits, including a cycle to work scheme and childcare vouchers from April as well as reducing prices in its staff canteen as part of a plan to engage staff at low cost.
In March 2009, The Guardian reported the television channel's profits had slumped by 41% as it was forced to compete with 450 other UK-based television channels for advertising revenue at the height of recession.
Speaking yesterday morning at the European HR Directors' Summit in Birmingham, ITV's group HR director, Andy Doyle, said: "The only thing we knew for 2009 was that it was going to be hard. We delayed decision-making but in the end we had to press the reset button.
"We only employ 4,000 so when we made 400 redundant, no part of the business was untouched. My HR team is 40% smaller than it was last year." But he added: "We did it the right way, in outplacement; we worked to find out what was important for staff. I have to say, JobcentrePlus really helped sort some staff out with funded training opportunities."
But the idea of an upturn and a potential end to the recession brought with it a new set of challenges for Doyle and his team.
He explained: "Now the market is a bit livelier - my challenge is not to sound like the HR police. Education of line managers is now a big thing for us and I have to do this with a 40% smaller team. A third of our senior management went last year and we need to develop new managers.
"Also last year we scared the living daylights out of staff and people are still considering leaving. It is hard to engage staff but we are still on a journey to do this."
As well as the additional perks and revamp of the staff canteen, the company is investing in refurbishing its reception and simplifying its payroll system.
Doyle reports that in the most recent engagement survey at the start of 2010, engagement levels among staff were equal to those before the start of the recession.
He added: "There is no master plan - no silver bullet. I am just an HR guy who tries to get on with stuff - I am no great thinker.
"We made some really difficult decisions last year. But 91% of the UK has watched an ITV programme in the past week. ITV brings families together and creates a shared experience. Our customers love us and our people have done more creative things than we ever thought about. Those things have stuck."
Doyle concluded: "We want engagement scores to rise further. But although it is a tough year, we have to keep smiling. We have been here before."
