Well it’s the second of January 2009 and I’m sat in Shire Hall in Cambridge. It’s lovely and quiet and I’m taking the chance to catch up on the bit of my job that I never enjoy - admin and weeding out some old e-mails.

Anyway, all things back to normal from next week and I hope you enjoyed a great festive period.

Best wishes

Stephen

Well, that time has come around again - within a matter of days it will be Christmas and then we’ll commence 2009. 2008 has a good year for the PPMA and the members of the Association, the PPMA Office and the Policy Board have once again worked tirelessly to improve the standard of people management and development across public services.

PPMA’s stock is riding high (at least in my mind) and it’s probably time to take a well-earned break for us all - I’ll be back to the blog again on 2nd January.

On that basis, please accept my very best wishes for Christmas and for a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.

Stephen

Hi all, not much to report this week - surprisingly I’ve actually managed to get another day to work at home - twice in two weeks is a bit of a record!  All things PPMA are becoming really quiet pre Christmas, although I did have a chance to catch up with John Tonks last night and all seems to be moving along well for the 2009 conference - but can I remind you all to please book your places as soon as possible - leaving this to the last minute will only lead to disappointment…

That’s pretty much it for this week - I’ve now got another piece to write for People Management - let’s hope the creative instinct kicks in soon!

Have a good weekend and wrap up warm.

Stephen

For once, I’m writing a blog update whilst sat working from home - what a pleasant novelty! 

Even more surprising is that this week there isn’t a huge amount to report on the PPMA front. Last week’s attendance at the Personnel Today Awards was hugely successful and the PPMA guests appeared to have enjoyed themselves, as did the PPMA members in attendance. I was delighted to see that there were a number of public sector finalists, including my former colleagues in South Tyneside - well done to all the public sector entrants who made it to the final stages and especially to those who won!

Other than updating on the tail end of last week, from a personal perspective PPMA business appears to be winding down towards the Christmas break - but I’m pretty sure that it will quickly ramp up again in the New Year. The one bit of business to highlight was a discussion I held this morning with our lead on Pay and Reward, Jim Savege, and Andy Cook from Marshall-James HR consulting. Our discussion was about employee relations training for HR teams and we agreed an outline proposal that I’ll be writing to PPMA Regional Chairs about to consider further.

Before closing for this week, I would like to make a personal comment about the national press and what appears to be an increasing anti-public sector line.  Newspaper articles have covered all sorts of issues from public sector pay and pensions to job titles - if I didn’t know better, I’d say that a general election was impending (you can call me a cynic at this point). When messages such as these start to appear in the broadsheets, it’s pretty clear that lobby groups and political parties are starting to flex their campaigning muscles.

Compound this with the additional public sector efficiency targets and increases in employer national insurance contributions, etc. then public servants and public sector employers are very much under the spotlight, especially our colleagues working in children’s services across the country.  With the backdrop of the credit crunch and interest rates at a 57 year low, this is not only going to be a tough time for HR teams supporting employers and employees alike, it’s unlikely to get any easier in the meantime. So, rather than crumble or hide away, HR really has to step up the pace and help the public sector as a whole weather the gathering storm.

Best wishes

Stephen

I chaired the last meeting of the PPMA Policy Board for 2008 on Friday, 14th November - many thanks to Local Government Employers’ for providing us with such excellent meeting facilities in the LGA Offices in Smith Square. The meeting had a reasonable attendance level, particularly from Regional Chairs, although the number of Lead Officers in attendance was slightly disappointing - in part a recognition of the busy day jobs that people have, but also an issue I intend to review further. On the plus side, I was delighted to see each of our recently appointed Lead Officers for Diversity, Talent Management and HR Transformation in attendance, all of whom have ambitious plans to move these areas forward for the Association.

Agenda wise, we had some healthy debate and discussion on a range of key issues - including hearing about the 2009 conference from Gillian Hibberd. Progress reports for Regions and Policy Lead areas were received and scrutinised by the Board and our financial health was also considered as an Association. Having completed a full series of agenda items, we also considered nominations for the post of Vice President (Elect) for 2009/10 and PPMA Treasurer. Subject to the views of our members via the AGM next year, I’m delighted to advise you that Jim Savege, currently our Lead Officer for Pay and Reward, has been nominated as Vice President (Elect).

The role of Treasurer will also see a change next year. Steve Traynor, our well known and well regarded Treasurer, has decided to stand down from the role after a number of years serving in this capacity. As many of you may know, Steve has a highly successful private business that is taking up more of his time and given our constitutional position, regarding the Treasurer being a serving public sector HR professional, it means that we do need to nominate another person to take these responsibilities forward. In the meantime, Steve will serve as Treasurer of PPMA until the AGM next year and will continue to provide his sage advice, wisdom and support to the Board and especially to the Principal Officers. At the November Board meeting, a nomination for the role of Treasurer was also received….I have been nominated to fulfil this role for the Association. This might be surprising to some, but I’m delighted to accept nomination to undertake this role in the future and also recognise that I want to provide active participation and support for PPMA going forward.

Finally a brief trailer for this week: This week sees the formal launch of “Raising the Standard” - the specification for HR Directors in Local Government on 27th November. I’m delighted to see this excellent piece of work come to fruition - congratulations to Alan Warner for his vision and drive to see this through. Also on the 27th, I’m pleased to advise you that, on behalf of PPMA, I’ll be hosting a table at the Personnel Today Awards for 2008. This will be great chance to further raise our profile, thank some of our key contributors and supporters and generally celebrate what’s best in people management - hopefully including a range of Public Sector winners!

Hope you all have a good week.

Stephen

Well, it’s been a busy week (again) and I must confess to feeling a bit out of steam as I write this on the way down to London (for the 3rd time this week) to chair my penultimate PPMA Policy Board meeting as President…yes it’s actually gone that quickly! One more Board and then it’s the AGM and Annual Conference in Manchester.

This week a number of Board members met with LGE colleagues and facilitators Andy Cook, from Marshall-James HR, and Chris Johnson from Mercer (formerly at the Cabinet Office and a PPMA conference speaker in May). The session was a great opportunity for us to look at the PPMA/LGE working relationship and future arrangements. We all committed to taking a number of actions forward following this ‘Think Tank’.

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of speaking at the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) annual H R conference. PPMA member Martin Tiplady, the Met’s Director of HR, asked me to talk about my views on HR, the good, the bad and the future. Not being your shy and retiring type, I leapt at the chance to express some opinions - and had great fun at the Q and A session, where my workplace nickname of P.O.D. was ‘outed’. Yes, it’s true - I am the Prince of Darkness - or at least some colleagues think so! I’m pretty sure other HR colleagues will have equally interesting nicknames - some of which will no doubt be unprintable…

Following the Policy Board, I’ll do an update on issues/decisions made early next week.

Hope this post finds you well, have a great weekend.

Stephen

PS - Book your place for PPMA’s annual conference now on-line!

PPS - VP (Elect) Dean Shoesmith can be seen and read about in glorious technicolour in the current edition of People Management…two HR Heads in one VP (Elect) - good value I’d say!

Well, I’ve just attended one of the most sociable, informative and enjoyable conferences I’ve ever been at! The content was good, including: Prof. Cary Cooper; Grieg Aitkin (RBS Group and PPMA speaker this year) and Cllr. Pat Waters (President of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities - COSLA) amongst others. If Cllr. Waters and COSLA (LGA equivalent) didn’t give it away…I’ve been attending the SPDS (Society of Personnel Directors in Scotland) annual conference in St. Andrews.

Along with Dean Shoesmith, Anne Gibson and John Tonks, PPMA was well represented (including both Dean and I providing input as speakers on the programme - Dean provided an informative and challenging issue around the ’skills timebomb’). The details are due to emerge later this week, but I’m delighted to confirm that SDPS and PPMA have concluded a formal partnership agreement to bring the two organisations closer together - many thanks to SPDS President Murray MacFarlane and Past President Iris Wylie for their leadership and support to achieve this (I’m proud of being involved as a Scot as well!).

Scotland apart, this week sees a number of key activities, including a PPMA/LGE workshop session on pay and reward and the PPMA Policy Board on 14th November.

Final post - is that the much-awaited 2009 PPMA conference has arrived and what a conference it is! Apart from the great venue of Manchester, Gill Hibberd has put together a stellar programme, including no less a person the David Ulrich. This is a not to be missed opportunity, so economic climate in perspective folks this is a conference second to none, with the chance to select a range of masterclasses, skills workshops and to learn, share and network in a great location! A range of delegate packages means that this offers real value for money. Get booking your places now - I know that I am!

Best wishes

Stephen

P.S. I’d love to get your feedback on any of the topics discussed in this post - it’s very easy to join in the conversation and get your views heard, just click on ‘Leave a comment’ underneath the headline of this post and type away.   

If you want to stay right up to date with all the latest blog postings it’s really simple - all you need to do is ’subscribe’ free. You can do that in a couple of ways, either via email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column - you’ll receive the latest blog updates in your Inbox as soon as they’re published or via RSS by clicking the orange button.

Jim Savege, PPMA Lead Officer for Pay & Reward has taken part in the first of a series of audio and video podcasts produced for the LGE. The podcasts are designed to inform the Local Government HR Community about the work being done to help resolve the difficult matter of Equal Pay.

Jim says “PPMA continues to work at a National and European level with LGE and other colleagues in seeking to address issues across equal pay and single status - and that whilst we are also wanting to make firm progress on a modern pay and reward agenda, for example on total reward, we are also continuing to support members in recognising that implementation of equal pay proof pay arrangements remains a priority across local government and the sector”.

To view the video, click in the middle of the screen below.

To hear more advice from Jim on the best ways to deal with Equal Pay, click the grey arrow on the media player below.

Well, following up on my post from last week, I thought you’d all be pleased to hear that Gill Hibberd and I attended an event organised by the CIPD to launch their new programme “Shaping the Future”. This programme is intended to be a cornerstone of the CIPD’s policy and research agenda and will focus on the future of people management and the implications for H R as a consequence. Perhaps CIPD will draw upon PPMA’s Evolution or Extinction Theme for this year? This new research programme, unlike others, will be heavily influenced by HR practitioners like ourselves (Andy Albon and colleagues at Birmingham City Council have already signed up to be a case study I believe).

During the launch we heard an interesting presentation from Dr. Tim Miller, Director of People, Property and Assurance from Standard Chartered Bank. Tim made a lot of sense with what he said and the approach of his organisation to employee engagement was fascinating. As a side note I should add that in a room full of predominantly private sector HR people that Gill and I were both “winners” at the event during one of the exercises and were gifted with pens from the CIPD for our efforts to identify the most important factor in engaging and motivating employees. You guessed it, we both (independent of each other) identified Leadership and A Sense of Purpose as the key factor. What was really strange was the fact that we both also talked about the need for authentic leadership. Talk about continuity for the future of PPMA!

Anyway, what else to report? Well in People Management this week I’ve got another opinion piece - this time on employee relations. The purpose of the piece is to stimulate some debate (as always) and I’d be interested in your comments having read this.

It’s also worth saying that next week sees me head north to Scotland for the SPDS conference in St. Andrews. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to speak at the conference again this year and watch next week’s blog for some more news on this front.

Also, just a pointer towards the PPMA website to say that our intrepid adventurer, Dean Shoesmith, returned safely from America. Dean has produced a series of updates and information items to share his american conference experience with all of us and this will be appearing on the PPMA website - I recommend his report. However PPMA Board members have also been active in travelling the length and breadth of the UK - many thanks to Gill Hibberd and John Tonks for visiting the South West Regional Group. I understand that there was good engagement and attendance at the session - it’s great to hear that we have some flourishing regions out there! This also counts as another region visited by either the President or Vice President this year. A few more to go and we’ll be close to a full house.

Lastly some personal congratulations to HR colleagues from Castle Morpeth for being an award winning HR place to work - I’d say I was surprised, but I’m not - Paul Moody, the Council’s H R and Performance Manager, is someone I studied at college with. If anyone can create a fun working environment, it’s Paul or maybe that’s just my ‘alcohol fuelled’ memories of college?

Best wishes

Stephen

P.S. I’d love to get your feedback on any of the topics discussed in this post - it’s very easy to join in the conversation and get your views heard, just click on ‘Leave a comment’ underneath the headline of this post and type away.   

If you want to stay right up to date with all the latest blog postings it’s really simple - all you need to do is ’subscribe’ free. You can do that in a couple of ways, either via email by entering your email address in the box in the right hand column - you’ll receive the latest blog updates in your Inbox as soon as they’re published or via RSS by clicking the orange button.

Well, I’m finally back from holiday and I’d like to thank both Gillian and Dean for their contributions to the blog whilst I’ve been away. I’d particularly like to thank Gill for her extremely kind comments, even if they did make me feel very humble and slightly embarrassed!

Being on holiday made me realise just how much effort being PPMA President requires - I was pretty frazzled before having 2 weeks of sitting on a tropical beach not doing much. It isn’t for the faint hearted and means a “ruthless” focus on priorities at all times - both PPMA and the day job. The Association has been fortunate to have the services of some exceptional Presidents in the past and my level of respect for them has only increased as my own term of Office continues.

However, lots to update and lots going on (as always). Some key highlights as follows:

- PPMA has joined forces with Personnel Today to support the “Ditch the Default” campaign. This means that we are equally supporting the campaign to get Government to remove the default retirement age from law. For the ageing public sector workforce profile, it is a real no brainer to apply a default retirement age….people can make valued contributions to public services at any age and we should support this. I’d urge PPMA members to sign the PT petition on the Number 10 website, which can be found here.

- I promised to announce our new Lead Officers for PPMA. It was a hard set of decisions to make, but I’m delighted to confirm that Jack Markiewicz, Director of H R and Change at Swindon Borough Council, is our new Lead for Talent Management. Martin Rayson, Director of Resources from Boston Borough Council has been confirmed as our H R Transformation lead (I met with him and other colleagues last Friday, they are doing some great work). And last, but by no means least I’m really pleased to welcome Janice Joannou, Head of Organisational Development at the London Borough of Croydon, as our new Lead for Diversity. All talented, skilled and committed people - they’ll make immediate contributions to our work. The knock on effect however is that with Jack moving to take over Talent Management, we will need a new Lead Officer for Pensions - applications welcome folks for this critical role!

- You might have noticed that PPMA members did really well in the Personnel Today Power Players List for 2008 - I’m delighted we have 3 people in the top 10. Yours truly was gob smacked to be number 7, until a cheeky colleague suggested that only a Director of H R from Scotland could be 007…..don’t worry no bad Sean Connery impressions will follow!  I did however want to say thanks to all those who chose to vote for me and other PPMA colleagues - it’s a privilege to represent you and public sector H R generally.

- Anyway talking of foreign travel earlier in the Blog, I thought you be interested to know that our very own Dean Shoesmith is currently undertaking an American sojourn - to Las Vegas of all places. Dean kindly agreed to represent the PPMA at our American cousins annual conference. We’ll all get a chance to share in Dean’s letter from America upon his return via the PPMA website (Letter from America is a good song by the way - but not as good as 500 miles for all you Proclaimers fans out there….Anne Gibson, you have been named and shamed!).

And that’s it for now folks - more to update later this week, including CIPD related contributions by PPMA.

Best wishes as always.

Stephen