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

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

Well it’s been a funny couple of weeks, we’ve had the 2 day local government strike and depending upon which part of the country you sit in, this seems to have been managed within relatively minimal disruption and at least the employers and the unions appear to be willing to talk with “nothing ruled in, nothing ruled out”. I’m seeing Jan Parkinson from the LGE next week and will see what further insights I can glean from her.

On the local front, I’ve been personally tied up with recruiting two Heads of Service for my Directorate - one for Corporate Development (including Corporate Policy, Partnerships and OD & Learning) and a new Head of Communications. I’m delighted that I’ve got great appointments for both positions - who says local government hasn’t got talent! Talking of talent, we’ve finally advertised for our vacant PPMA Lead Officer positions… I’m waiting for the flood of calls to come through (I hope the expectations didn’t frighten everyone away).

As seems to have become the norm, it’s also been another round of media enquiries on behalf of PPMA - I have to say that our Board Members are really doing a great job to raise our profile at present, with Gill Hibberd, Dean Shoesmith, Alan Warner, Jim Savege, Richard Crouch, Sue Steen and Martin Rayson all being quoted, pictured and opinionated all over the place and in different sorts of media - well done to them all (I’m continuing my modest efforts in this respect on your behalf as well).

On the congratulations point, I’d also like to publicly congratulate our Pensions lead officer, Jack Markiewicz, currently Service Director for HR at Nottinghamshire County Council for his new appointment as Director of HR & Change at Swindon Borough Council - which for the good memories amongst you, was actually advertised at the PPMA Annual Conference by our Colleagues from SOLACE resourcing.

And finally, I’ve completed a site visit to the venue selected for the PPMA Policy Board overnight meeting in September. This is an annual occurrence for the Board Members to get together and look at key business planning issues for the Association, as well as conducting our normal quarterly meeting. Needless to say the venue is always on the ‘Presidential Patch’ which this year will be in Cambridge. I’m intending that if the weather is nice enough, we’ll do a bit of team-building involving the river Cam and punting……stand by for a September blog entry along the lines of raise the Titanic!

I hope everyone has a great summer and I and other Board Members will continue blogging away - keep reading and comment away!

Best wishes

Stephen

So here I am sitting here after having done three pre-recorded radio and TV interviews about the strikes set for the next two days, and an afternoon with more media queries and interviews to deal with. That is alongside having to scratch my brow - along with many other senior colleagues - on how to deal with the very harsh and firm line being taken by Unison about exemptions for the strike. ‘Yet another day in the life of a Director responsible for HR’, I hear you say.

PPMA are keen that a positive conclusion is reached to this year’s local government pay negotiation - not least because it holds the prospect of a three year deal - which will give our members some stability - as well as the long overdue delivery of reviewing and reforming the core employment terms and conditions. It’s heartening to be involved in so many conversations with colleagues which, whilst sometimes slightly cynical about quite how far-reaching this reform will turn out to be, are all fully supportive of the need to modernise and reform the employment and reward framework across the sector.

Total Reward and Contribution Based Pay are fast becoming more than just concepts offered up at conferences, given the amount of Authorities making firm and steady progress in these areas. The demands and expectations that people have of local government services - quite rightly - are rising, so we do need to modernise and reform to be able to meet that expectation. Linked to this, the concept of ‘The Public Sector Worker’ is becoming a reality in terms of how we need to work, given the amount of integration and collaboration across public sector organisations that is taking place - so we do need refreshed reward and employment frameworks to be able to deliver the goods here.

So, looking forward, it’s good that we’re in firm discussions with the Trade Unions about reward. It’s good that their members are expressing their views. We recognise that the offer is not generous, and that the credit crunch and general economic climate is bringing with it a rising cost of living. But as with many employers, local government are looking at how to deal with that alongside sustaining services, rather than moving into job losses or increasing council tax rises. Let’s keep moving forward, and get into the modernisation agenda on the back of this - so that, simply put, we can deliver better, sustainable services to the public. PPMA will continue to represent its members views nationally as a positive part of making progress.

Jim Savege - Lead Officer, Pay and Reward

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

Well another week of PPMA presidential life comes to an end and sees me London bound once more - this time for the MJ Awards and a chance to celebrate some of the best work in public services, including the PPMA/LGE/IDeA jointly sponsored pay and workforce achievement award, which I’ve had the privilege to help judge this year - good luck to all the finalists.

However, this isn’t simply another awards dinner/excuse to wear a DJ, but instead makes good on my promise to get out and about to the PPMA regions, with the London Regional meeting on Friday - I’m looking forward to meeting with more of our members face to face and to some challenging questions being posed!

Having mentioned the LGE, this is an obviously interesting week as we await the formal confirmation on the proposed UNISON strike action by local government workers. At a meeting yesterday with Jan Parkinson, MD of the LGE, I and other PPMA colleagues had a chance to discuss opportunities for future collaboration and the possibility of joint policy development on the future reward agenda - all very exciting and a good place for PPMA to be involved.

All in all, another busy, enjoyable and good week for the Association, forging links in the right places, shaping thinking and being seen as ‘up there’ with other professional associations!

Best Wishes

Stephen