HR PERSPECTIVE
of resources at Edinburgh City Council. To start the conversation in front of the
capacity auditorium, which saw more than 1,500 people attend the conference over the two days, Mr Cheese asked the panellists how they see their roles, the development of the profession and the key issues they face.
With the UK in
the midst of significant economic and political change – including Brexit and a General Election – delegates at the CIPD annual conference and exhibition in Manchester heard how the people agenda is central to the business and social conversation. Ruth Holmes reports.
STATE OF PLAY FOR THE PROFESSION Ms Pickering – whose HR team at O2 won the 2017 Relocate Award for HR Team of the Year for the company’s extensive work on attracting, retaining and recruiting people from diverse backgrounds – outlined the issues HR departments and HR directors face, and how they are impacting the HR and people function at O2. “We
all share the same
on the agenda of sustainability, inclusion and diversity, wellbeing at work and good work have been around for some time, Mr Cheese believes that they are coming back even more strongly and that now is HR as a profession’s time to take the lead. “This is an opportunity for businesses to make a difference and see their role in their societies and communities.”
SKILLS, EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE AND THE
INTERNATIONAL
DIMENSION The second day of CIPD conference was a platform for eminent HR leaders to overlay the context of the previous day’s discussions with personal experiences of the challenges and insights in the likely future direction of the profession. Skills, employee experience and the international dimension were all front of mind for the panellists. Mr Cheese was joined by Ann Pickering,
group HRD at O2/Telefonica; Tim Jones, group head of HR at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG); Valerie Hughes D’Aeth, chief human resources officer at the BBC; and Stephen Moir, executive director
challenge: attracting and retaining talent. We are probably all chasing the same people,” she said. “Hanging onto them is, therefore, really important. That’s about creating an environment where people choose to be there – a hotel rather than a prison. Creating a culture where people can thrive is important. “When it comes to what skills
we will need in five years – I don’t know. But I firmly believe if we can recruit for attitude, we can train for skills. The hardest roles to recruit for are specialist IT skills. We are going through a huge IT change. A lot of people in these roles are older and looking towards retirement, so we are looking at
bringing in younger people and transferring skills to the next generation.”
FUTURE SKILLS FOR HR Picking up the international aspect, LSEG’s Mr Jones said a combination of acquisition and growth had caused the company to double in size in recent years. This presents goals for personal development as well as the wider HR function, he explained. “The challenges we face are how
to appreciate and gently knit together acquisitions that have different legislations and cultures. A lot of the aspirations we have around improving means we are looking to Asia and countries like Sri Lanka. We are doing a lot of hiring there. This is a challenge, in addition to supporting the complex range of teams, boards, legislators and regulators. Using influence is a particular area of growth for HR.” Publically owned organisations are not
immune from international competition and influences. The BBC’s Ms Hughes D’Aeth is facing a double challenge of skills and an increasingly contingent workforce. “We have 25,000 employees and a huge volume of contingent labour on short-term arrangements,” she explained. “This makes the HR world quite complex. “The big challenge is very much about
skills and making sure we have the right mix. It is also very competitive. Companies like Netflix and Amazon have very deep pockets. We can’t afford to pay huge sums of money. We are using AI wherever we can and making the most of it. We have to prove we are being efficient and effective in everything we do.”
Below: Trevor Phillips OBE speaking at the 2019 CIPD ACE
➲
RELOCATEGLOBAL.COM | 23
CIPD: The voice of 46,000 HR professionals
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
