I’ve just chaired my last Board meeting as President of PPMA before I hand over the reigns to Dean Shoesmith at the AGM in March. The meeting on Friday was full of ‘meaty’ issues. It was also a meeting with a number of new faces some of whom have recently taken over Lead officers roles and some who were covering for Regional Chairs.

We had a couple of guest speakers at the meeting. The first was Anne Macdonald who runs the national Social Work Task Force Chaired by Moira Gibb from Camden. Anne updated us on the final report of the task force and the work that is now being done on implementation. The Task Force received vital evidence from PPMA and we had a full and frank discussion with Anne about our willingness to be a key contributor going forward into the implementation phase. We look forward to building a strong relationship with the Task Force team over the coming months. A big thank you to Andreas Ghosh for arranging the session.

Next we had a great presentation from Chris Johnson from Mercer. Chris has been working on the next phase of the PPMA’s vision for the future of reward in the public sector. He has developed a set of data that shows trends and facts about public and private sector reward. PPMA will be using this information to start ‘A Big Discussion’ across the regions over the coming weeks about what the data tells you and what you would like to see in the future reward model. This will be an exciting piece of engagement with Members across the Country and an opportunity for you to shape our policy direction for the future. Watch this space!

Finally, the Board also agreed to appoint a new Managing Director for PPMA on an interim basis initially. The post will be responsible for developing the future commercial strategy for PPMA, setting up a national PPMA office and delivering a new Member offering. This is an opportunity for PPMA to really up its game and become a leading commercial and sustainable member association for the future. If you have any views on what we are trying to do please let me know through the blog. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Finally, for all those Facebook addicts out there, PPMA now has its very own Facebook page. Sign up as a fan to link up with other PPMA members and find out the latest on what’s going on in PPMA.

Best wishes

Gill

Happy New Year to everyone. I do hope that you all had a restful festive period and are now feeling refreshed enough to start the New Year with lots of energy.

There is no doubt that this year will be a rollercoaster ride for many of us as we struggle to manage the implications of dramatically reduced public sector funding. You can all be sure that PPMA will be doing everything it can to support it members through difficult times by offering thought leadership, peer support, best practice and opportunities to discuss topical issues.

The first of these opportunities will of course be the impending PPMA Conference in March this year. I can’t quite believe that my year has gone so quickly. I am not yet in ‘wind down’ mode and have lots of things that I want to see progressed before I hand over the reigns to Dean’s very capable hands. In particular, I want to see the next phase of PPMA’s exciting proposals for business development in place and I will be taking a report to the next Policy Board in February on my plans for seeing this happen.

I have some Policy Board changes to notify you of too…unfortunately we have recently seen the resignation of both Jim Savege and Lorraine Hallam from the Board. I’m delighted to inform you that Mike Cook from Camden has now been appointed the new Lead Officer for Reward and that Leatham Green from East Sussex has been appointed the new Lead Officer for Wellbeing and Worklessness. I wish both lots of luck in their new roles and look forward to welcoming them to the next Board meeting.

We are now starting to see the first signs of election fever with the Conservatives campaign launch this week. I suspect that things will hot up even more as we approach the spring. Hopefully the date of the election will be revealed soon to put us all out of our misery.

Over the next couple of weeks I have a number of PPMA duties including a visit to the North West region and will be speaking at a conference on OD in Birmingham on behalf of PPMA. Other presidential duties include media interviews, which keep me busy and writing my regular People Management article. As always comments are always welcome on all of the topics I write about.

In the meantime, stay safe in the snow.

Regards

Gill

It was the PPMA Policy Board meeting last Friday and we had a very large agenda to get through. It was a fast paced meeting with lots of important decisions made that will in time affect PPMA members.

The first item of interest was an update on the PPMA Business plan. This is an important document, which will determine the future direction of PPMA. The draft was posted on our website for comments so thank you to those who took the time to respond. Your comments were reported to the Policy Board and were debated at length.

The next, and hopefully final, iteration of the document will be presented to the Policy Board in February next year. Topical issues such as membership development, commercial planning and our future membership offering will all be addressed in the document.

The Board also agreed the next steps on an important piece of work on the future of reward in the public sector. I’m very excited about what we are trying to do as an organisation on reward. Rather than sitting on the sidelines and commenting on existing reward models we are looking to develop a picture of what we think the new model should be for the future. Watch this space for further developments.

The Board also agreed to go ahead with a proposal to set up its own Facebook page so any fellow active ‘Facebookers’ out there be sure to sign up when we go live.

Other items included a report on Membership Development, which we will now take forward as part of the business planning work and an update on the exciting conference that Dean is planning for next year. Finally we had updates from the regions and lead officers.

The Personnel Today Awards were held on the evening preceding the Board. PPMA hosted a table and were delighted to have as our guest important friends and partner organisations such as Julie Towers from the Tribal Group, Jan Parkinson from the LGE and Chris Johnson from Mercers. It was a good night for the public sector with Birmingham City Council winning yet another award for their fantastic work on employee engagement through the Birmingham Best programme. Also shortlisted were Lancashire County Council, the Metropolitan Police and our very own Past President, Stephen Moir in the category of HR Director of the Year. Thank you to everyone for attending and I hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did.

Bye for now

Gill

It’s the PPMA Policy Board meeting next week and I’m busy preparing the agenda with colleagues. It looks as though it will be a lengthy and busy meeting with a number of meaty issues being discussed such as the next steps in the PPMA Business Plan, the future of reward in the public sector, PPMA and social networking, membership development, etc.

As usual, I will post a blog following the meeting to update members on the outcomes.

This week sees the start of the annual CIPD Conference which has moved to Manchester. A number of PPMA people will be speaking there including myself, Sue Scrivens from Gloucestershire CC, Leatham Green from East Sussex CC, Jim Savege from Cumbria CC, Angela O’Connor from the NPIA, Cathy Butterworth and Christine Brereton from GMP, Richard Crouch from Somerset CC, Martin Tiplady from the Metropolitan Police. What a fantastic showing for the public sector and PPMA!

My session is on Transforming HR Efficiency in the Public Sector and if it’s a topic that is of interest to you, you may want to look up the research publication from the CIPD entitled The Challenge for Public Sector HR - Responding to the Operational efficiency Programme. It will be published this week to coincide with the conference.

Last week I attended and spoke at the East of England regional PPMA Conference. Not only was there and excellent turnout but Anne Gibson had also pulled together fantastic line up of speakers.  If that’s anything to go by, I am looking forward to her annual PPMA Conference in 2011 already!  Which also reminds me to also mention this year’s conference. As you will have seen, Dean is busy booking a number of excellent, international speakers. It is really lining up to be a fascinating and challenging conference - one not to miss!

Bye for now

Gill

The October edition of People Management carried an article in my regular column on the importance of social networking sites in society. My thoughts on this are that there is a danger that we could fall behind by not embracing the opportunities that these fast moving cyberspace developments offer. The next generation of workers will have been brought up using these sites and will not only expect to see their use in attracting them into organisations but also their use within the organisation.

There is vast potential, in my view, for us to think differently about a whole range of organisational communication, development attraction and other strategies but follow the link to the article to read more about this fascinating subject.

As it happens I have also met today with Karen Wormwell and Jon Coulter our colleagues from Ten Horizon who deliver this blog to PPMA followers! Karen and Jon were telling me about the exciting work they are developing with clients in the use of social networking to enhance brand and reputation. They also told me about a number of public sector organisations who are already doing this successfully such as Newcastle City Council with Twitter and Barnet Council with Facebook.

In another interesting development, I’m going to be taking a paper to the next Board meeting of PPMA to discuss how we might be bale to make use of social networking sites to attract more interest in PPMA, keep people up to date with our development, and to give opportunities for more interaction and discussion amongst members - watch this space.

Next week I’m off to speak at the SPDS Conference in St Andrews on behalf of PPMA and am hoping to use technology to post a live blog and photos from the event!

In the meantime have a great weekend.

Gill

I’ve just had the pleasure of spending a couple of days with some delightful and talented people – I am of course talking about the PPMA Board. We all centred on the beautiful village of Old Amersham in Buckinghamshire for our annual 2 day event, and what a tremendous amount we achieved.

We started with a half-day session on the future of public sector reward at which we were joined by Chris Johnson of Mercers and Sarah Messenger from the LGE. We developed a PPMA position on the future direction of travel, which will now be worked up into a campaign to use with key stakeholders. After our normal Board Meeting in the afternoon we had a guided historical tour of Old Amersham with an obligatory stop at a local hostelry.

There was a great opportunity to wind down over dinner, graciously sponsored by the MJ, and then we all enjoyed entertainment in the bar – not provided by a PPMA member I hasten to add!

On the next day we started to develop our 5 year business plan which will shortly be posted on our website for consultation with all PPMA members.

Overall, we achieved a tremendous amount and I feel privileged to have worked with such a talented bunch of people! Further details of the reward discussion and business plan will appear on the website soon.

One ‘hot off the press’ news item from the Board meeting is that Anne Gibson from Norfolk County Council was nominated and appointed as Vice President (elect) of PPMA. Anne will take over as President in 2011. What a great track record the Eastern Region has of producing future PPMA Presidents and I can think of no-one more capable and deserving of the role than Anne.

Gill

Hi All

With our President currently enjoying the final rays of the summer with a well earned break, it falls to me as your Past President to give a little post on what’s going on.

First, Gillian’s written a great piece on Shared Services in her latest column for People Management. Some real food for thought about career structures for HR to consider from this.

Second, public sector pay, employment and pensions remain topical in all forms of media and the battlelines for the Public Sector cuts to come appear to be forming across all the major political parties in advance of the General Election. The PPMA Policy Board will be exploring these issues further at its next meeting where our new Deputy Lead Officer (Pay and Reward), Ian Hunter from South Tyneside Homes will be joining us for the first time. Ian will be supporting our Lead, Jim Savege, to take forward the increasingly challenging role for PPMA to play in this arena - in the grey area between employer and employee (familiar territory for HR folks!).

Third, the Public Sector is putting up a good show for the Personnel Today Awards this year, with South Norfolk Council, Lancashire County Council, Kent County Council, Lincolnshire Police, the Metropolitan Police Service, West Midlands Police, Croydon Council and London Fire Brigade all shortlisted in various awards categories - well done to all concerned!  I’d also particularly like to highlight the fact that the multi-award winning Birmingham City Council is again shortlisted for its work on Employee Engagement - Raffaela Goodby and Co should be bursting with well deserved pride by now!

Moving from positive news to really sad matters. PPMA was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of our great friend and colleague from the Society of Scottish Personnel Directors. Hogan Burke was a true friend to PPMA and SOCPO, an exceptional HR Professional in his own right and will be missed by all who knew him. Our deepest sympathies are extended to his family and friends, more detail can be found on the PPMA Website.

And finally, on a more positive note, I’d like to take the chance (while she is away) to pay tribute to Gillian Hibberd. Gill has made the PPMA Presidency her own, has enhanced our profile even further and is providing dynamic and energetic leadership for our Association, whilst balancing a big day job at the same time. I’m really delighted to be supporting Gillian during her year and think that we, as Association, have every right to praise her for the work she has done and has yet to do, well done Gill, you’re doing a great job!

Anyway, time to exit the train (I’m in London tonight for the Personnel Today Pre-Awards Reception, yes yours truly/Cambridgeshire CC has also been shortlisted for the HR Director of the Year category, whether I win or not, I’m really humbled to have been considered and shortlisted).

My best wishes

Stephen

There are a few things going on that I thought you would be interested to hear about. Firstly, Communications Management our PR and communications partners have recently carried out some interesting research focusing on HR and online social networking. This is a very topical area and the report they produced called Senior, Savvy and Social, can be downloaded here.

Coming up in September:

The PPMA Policy Board will be meeting for their third annual E day event and top of our agenda is a debate about the future pay model for the public sector, which will be facilitated by Mercers and attended by the LGE. We will also be doing work on the future PPMA business model. More details of the outcomes will be posted on the PPMA website in due course.

NEREO and PPMA (NE) are holding their third equal pay conference on 22nd September in Gateshead. The ‘What’s Happening and Where are we Going Conference?’ is an opportunity for delegates to take stock and consider the best approach to resolving the ever more complex and difficult issue of equal pay. Speakers include Barrister Seamus Sweeny, GMB’s National Secretary for Public Services, Brian Strutton and Ways HR Consulting Managing Director, Paul Robertson. The cost is £125.00 + VAT and more information and booking details can be found at www.nereo.gov.uk

Working Families are holding a Conference - The Future of Work. Preparing for Tomorrow, on the 30th September in London. The conference will explore what the future might hold for workplaces, families and communities in these challenging economic times - and in the longer term. There is a great line up of speakers from a range of organisations including BP, Talk Talk and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and if you’d like to attend, we have negotiated a special rate of £299.00 + VAT (usual rate £375.00 + VAT) for PPMA members. (please quote PPMA Member when booking). If you’d like to find out more or book a place call Rebecca Christie on 020 7017 0066 or email events@workingfamilies.org.uk

Gill

I’m back from a very restful break – to a mound of emails and papers! Hope that you are all enjoying the summer and are managing to find time to take a break yourselves at some point. With this in mind I am reminded of the wise words of Dave Ulrich at our conference earlier this year when he talked about us looking after our health and being responsible for our own well-being!

I’ve been catching up on news that I missed whilst away and see that the debate on public sector pay still rumbles on. The reality of the current economic climate has to hit home at some point and the need for pay restraint must surely apply as equally to the public sector as it does in the private sector. BA have taken the interesting stance of asking its workforce to volunteer to work for nothing for periods of a week to a month. Can you imagine the response that would be received in the public sector to similar suggestions? Personally I think it’s an innovative response to difficult times and we will all be challenged over the coming months to be more and more creative in the solutions we need to find to keep out organisations afloat.

My first opnion piece in People Management magazine on the issue of the bureaucracy we create in HR seems to have caused a stir! The week after it appeared a flurry of letters were received by People Management on the subject from various commentators – exactly the response I was hoping for. I know that not everyone will agree with my views but it’s always healthy to have a debate and to take on board the views of others.

My next piece will be on the issue of organisational design and should appear in the August edition of People Management.

One of the great jobs I get to do as PPMA President is to judge the overall winner of the Personnel Today Awards, which will be announced later in the year. The rather large judging file has just landed on my desk – watch out for more news on this later in the year!

I’m also putting together a plan for the next PPMA Board meeting which I hope will cover the big issues of the future of reward in the public sector as well as looking at the future world of work and what the challenges might be.

I will be back with more blogs soon, In the meantime enjoy what little sun we seem to be getting!

Gill

It was PPMA Board meeting last week and we had a great turnout on a very hot and sticky day in London. I changed the format of the Board meetings slightly to incorporate a debate about the future of pay and reward in the public sector. We were joined by Jan Parkinson from the LGE and had an interesting discussion about what the future holds and how reward can be positioned to help drive organisations in the right direction.

Notes of the meetings are being written up and will appear on the website shortly. A follow up debate on the future shape of the public sector, our workforce needs and the reward system will be held in advance of the next Board meeting in September. It is hoped that this will then help shape and inform the national picture.

A number of our colleagues were lucky to be the HR Excellence Awards earlier this week. Although I wasn’t there it was a GREAT night for the public sector. he winners of these prestigious awards were:

• H R Excellence Gold Award – Winner: Birmingham City Council’s BEST Programme.
• Most Effective Use of Internal Communications – Highly commended: Cambridgeshire CC for Engaging Employees with Investors in People.
• Outstanding Employee Engagement Strategy – Winner: Birmingham City Council – BEST programme.
• Health and Wellbeing – Winner: Metropolitan Police Service for work to address Stress Management. Highly commended: East Sussex County Council.
• Best Public Sector H R Strategy or Initiative – Winner: Cambridgeshire CC for Engaging People with Investors in People. Highly Commended – National Offender Management Service.

Congratulations to everyone!

I’m off for a well deserved break for a couple of weeks now but my colleagues will be positing blogs on any items of interest during my break. In the meantime I hope you have a cooler couple of weeks and I’ll be back to blog at the end of July.

Gill