They’re back. The difficult duo of the war for talent and its partner-in-crime attrition have resurfaced in organisations around the world as economies emerge from recession.

Speaking at the Kenexa EuroSummit 2011 in London last week, Anne-Marie Malley, partner at Deloitte Consulting, said that organisations are rebalancing their talent strategies as they adapt to the “new normal”.

Competing for talent globally and in emerging markets came out on top as respondents’ most pressing talent concern in Deloitte’s recent Global Talent Research Talent Edge 2020. Rounding out the top three talent concerns were developing leaders and succession planning, and retaining employees at all levels. Ranked lowest on the list of 14 concerns was aligning HR and talent with business priorities.

“Getting the right talent in the right place at the right time represents a significant challenge,” Malley said.

The survey results reflect the views of 334 senior business leaders and human resource executives at large businesses in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

When asked how they anticipated their organisations’ focus on core talent management priorities would change over the next year, performance management ranked first overall. Emerging leaders and high-potential employee development shared second place, with experienced hires in third place. In fourth place were workforce planning and retention of employees with critical skills.

Research and development (R&D) skills emerged as the area of greatest shortfall, with executive leadership emerging a rather distant second concern to 56% of respondents, compared to R&D’s 72% (see chart below).

Malley went on to say that executives believe the most effective retention initiatives will vary by generation. For instance, for Generation Y, or those under 30, company culture is rated highest, with the three other generations currently represented in the workplace favouring bonuses or financial incentives (those over 65 and those ages 30 to 44) and Baby Boomers (ages 45 to 64) believed to favour additional benefits such as health and pensions.

By 2020, the Deloitte survey suggests, significant talent gaps will be strongest in Australia, North America, most of Europe, Japan, South Korea, Turkey and states in the former Soviet Union. The UK will experience talent shortages, but less so than the regions listed above. China will experience a moderate talent shortage by 2020, which will lessen later on.