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, 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

The summer has certainly been with us in force this week (at least in Cambridgeshire) and other than melting, I’ve had a week of relatively low key PPMA commitments. 

Yesterday, Jan Parkinson from the LGE kindly visited Cambridgeshire and we were able to talk about both PPMA/LGE business and a range of specific issues facing Cambridgeshire County Council - I can’t afford to forget my employer after all!  In particular, we were able to share intelligence about the concept of the public sector worker and some interest in this that appears to have been expressed by the Cabinet Office - something that from both a PPMA and Cambridgeshire perspective, I’ll be following up.  We also, of course, discussed the status of the local government pay award and the proposed “nothing ruled in, nothing ruled out” discussions with the trade unions, like you I await with interest the outcomes from the next round of discussions, which will involve Jim Savege, our lead officer on Pay and Reward.

Today I received an e-mail from the Director of HR at Communities and Local Government (CLG), Clive Norris. CLG’s Permanent Secretary, Peter Housden, has asked Clive if he could explore opportunities for the Communities Department to develop a more shared agenda across the public service - but specifically between the Department and local authorities, such as on matters of joint interest related to public service improvement or diversity for example. This sounds like a very positive opportunity to forge stronger links for the PPMA directly with CLG and is something I’ll be following up on in weeks to come.

Finally, I’m delighted to say that the ‘Edinburgh Summit’ with SPDS colleagues - previously mentioned in the blog has been agreed for 15th August. Both I and John Tonks, PPMA’s Executive Officer, will be heading to Edinburgh to discuss closer collaboration with our friends north of the border.

I hope this update finds everyone well - and if you haven’t already done so, get writing those applications PPMA Lead Officers in waiting!

Best wishes

Stephen

Sorry folks, a later blog update than normal from me…as with many of you, I’ve been immersed in preparations for the forthcoming 2 day industrial action affecting local government employees and some sections of the civil service (including having some bizarre conversations about proposed strike exemptions and strange information from the unions on schools included in the strike that aren’t even within the public sector!).

Last week, from a PPMA perspective, involved catching up on some of the ‘business’ of the association including some of our commercial/contractual arrangements, reviewing Policy Board minutes for approval and seeking to organise an ‘Edinburgh Summit’ with our colleagues north of the border in the Society of Personnel Directors in Scotland or SPDS - we are really keen to develop a stronger partnership with SPDS and bring the common agendas of both organisations together. As a fellow Scot, this is an issue very close to my heart.

Other than these issues, last week was spent upon more of a Cambridgeshire focus - it’s really important to make sure the day job comes first and that my employer and my team gets the same level of support and advice that they would normally receive, even whilst I’m being Mr.PPMA for 2008/09.

Seriously though, this week will finally see an advert being issued to PPMA members inviting applications to become one of our new Lead Officers for Diversity, HR Transformation or Talent Management - these are all serious roles that need serious contributions and commitment from the people appointed to undertake them. As a Lead Officer, you’ll be a member of the PPMA Policy Board and have the chance to shape the overall approach of the Association as well as providing ‘thought leadership’ on one of these key areas for our membership, working with a range of stakeholders, partners and the HR media.

These are cracking opportunities for people willing to give of their time and energy and will allow you to build new and stronger networks with a range of people, raising your profile and that of your own organisation. Not for the faint hearted though, PPMA expects the best from our Lead Officers - most of all delivery, delivery, delivery!

By the way, I can personally recommend becoming a Lead Officer - that was my first real involvement with the policy board and the national end of the PPMA (it’s all been a slippery slope since then).

So, keep watching for the all member e-mail later this week and if you can match the expectations, put yourself forward and be prepared to get more involved in PPMA.

Best wishes

Stephen