Stephen has now returned refreshed and ready for work, following his two weeks in the sun.
Before departing on his trip, he wrote a post updating you all on the events that happened during the previous two weeks, including the outcomes of the Policy Board meeting in Cambridge. The post can be found here.
Did you know the expression having a ‘Hey’ day dates back to an Anglo-Saxon use of ‘hey’ as an expression of great enthusiasm and happiness? A person’s ‘heyday’ is the period of her or his greatest vigour and success.
If only this were the case with the latest position on the UK default retirement age. I use the Heyday analogy, as this is the name of the case that has been commented upon by the European Advocate General before the matter finally washes up in the European Court of Justice. For those of you who haven’t been following this case it’s about the Heyday organisation who want people to work beyond the age of 65 and consider that the UK’s current stance with a default retirement age of 65 is discriminatory.
The Advocate General commenting on the case has said that the UK’s stance may not necessarily be discriminatory…but at this stage it is only a comment and the case has to be finally determined by the European Court of Justice.
I do hope the Government uses the opportunity of the Single Equalities Bill to sort this mess out. The default retirement age is really difficult for employers to follow and many end up unsure of what to do when their employees reach the age of 65…even some with large HR and legal departments at their disposal; so spare a thought for small businesses.
In my view, the ‘default’ retirement age is too woolly and we need a clearer statutory position. So please can we have some clarity before I revert to some good old Anglo Saxon expletives?
Dean Shoesmith - Vice President (Elect) PPMA
Last week we were all sat watching the turmoil unravel in the British banking system never expecting it to turn into such an unprecedented global issue. As many of us help our organisations deal with the impact of losing money in the Icelandic banking collapse, it seems slightly ironic that just a couple of weeks ago both Stephen and myself participated in a CIPD roundtable discussion with a range of HR Directors on the impact of the economic downturn. I doubt that either of us expected the national situation to be so fast moving at that time!
Difficult as current times may be, they do present opportunities for us. Something very dear to my heart is the value proposition of the HR function. How better can we display value in current times than prompting strategic debates at the highest levels in our organisations on the impact of the economic downturn.
Whilst this may usually be the domain of finance departments, I believe that HR has just as big a contribution to make to the debate. The impact on morale, engagement, mobility of staff, pension fund implications, impact of energy costs and commodity costs on balance sheets, the need to achieve greater efficiencies to name but a few - all have significant HR implications.
In my own organisation, I’ve prepared a discussion paper for Cabinet on the key issues for informal debate. I’m happy to share this with others if it would be helpful. Sharing knowledge is something else we should do more of - I’m a great believer in not reinventing the wheel.
Stephen is back next week so I will be handing back over to him.
In the meantime have a relaxing weekend!
Regards
Gill
Colleagues – you may have read a topical piece in the Sunday Telegraph about Local Government Chief Executives’ pay over the weekend (Sunday Telegraph, 5 October 2008). The article provided a commentary on the so-called 50 top paid Local Government chief executives and was written in the style of condemnation of how big a bill the Council Tax payer is footing. In fairness, the article was balanced by quotes from Paul Coen Chief Executive of the Local Government Association where he put into perspective the amount of responsibility chief executives have in terms of people, budget and other resources – as well as the challenges many face in trying to provide services to deprived communities.
Like many articles in the press some of it has to be read with caution and I don’t think the list of the alleged top 50 earners was necessarily accurate as a league table…some big names and Councils seemed to be missing to me. Probably what would have been accurate would have been to say this was the top 50 earners of those Local Authorities that responded to the Freedom of Information Act disclosure request from the Sunday Telegraph.
In simple terms it’s correct to say that senior pay in Local Government has increased beyond the rate of inflation over recent years. However, in my view, this simply boils down to the old Keynesian economic law of the balance of supply and demand. Securing the supply of scarce talent carries a price tag. There aren’t many people out there in the employment market with the skills set to run a Local Authority. Having the leadership skills to run multi-million pound organisations that have a huge array of stakeholder interests to balance is certainly no cake walk and compared to the level of skill, complexity and responsibility in the private sector, or public industry, the pay of a Local Authority Chief Executive is still very modest.
I can remember a chief executive saying to me once that unlike other sectors he’d worked in, being a Local Government Chief Executive wasn’t just a job - it was a way of life; you’re almost married to the job where Members can - quite literally – contact you day, night, or weekend. So the ‘fat cat’ often doesn’t even have the chance to skim the cream off the milk - they’re too busy.
Dean Shoesmith - Vice President (Elect) PPMA
Stephen is now off on a very well deserved break, so its over to me and other colleagues to fill the blog spots.
In this blog post, I’d like to take the opportunity to say a few words about Stephen and the rest of the PPMA policy board. Under Stephen’s leadership we have seen our organisation go from strength to strength. Our media profile is as high as it’s ever been and our credibility as an organisation is also strong. The organisation has been through incredible change over the past three years but it is now on very firm foundations from which we can continue to grow. The development of the organisation is a team effort and all Members play a role but Stephens influence, leadership and steer have been exceptional. So a very big thank you to him and the rest of the board for all their contributions.
Stephen and I met with Jackie Orme (Chief Executive, CIPD) last week as he mentions in his recent blog post. I felt it was a very productive meeting and I’ve agreed to continue to meet with Jackie throughout next year with the aim of bringing the CIPD and PPMA closer together. I’m delighted that Jackie has agreed to come along to the PPMA Conference next year and will be one of our keynote speakers on the Friday. You should start to see marketing material for the conference in October and watch out for the early bird discount if you book before the end of the year.
The Personnel Today Top 40 Power Players were announced this week. The public sector was better represented than ever with a number of PPMA colleagues featuring in the list including:
Well done to everyone in the top 40!
To all blog readers out there, it’s important for the visibility of PPMA that we have members featured in the list, so please vote when you get similar events opportunities in the future.
Have a great weekend.
Gill
Hi, sorry I’ve not updated the blog for the last couple of weeks, it has simply been a bit manic. However, manic has been good in terms of ground covered, issues progressed and then some rest and relaxation.
Within the last few weeks, the following has all taken place:
1) PPMA Policy Board meeting in Cambridge. A resounding success in which decisions were made to appoint 3 new Lead Officers to the Policy Board - these will be announced via the PPMA website and via an all member e-mail, but I’m delighted we have been able to make these great new appointments. The Board also covered a lot of additional business, including updates from out regional chairs and lead officers - some great work going on across the country and regional chairs have now been provided with a digest of lead officer reports to share with PPMA members. Discussions also took place about our future association development activities and we agreed to commission a major new programme of HR Transformation work. Finally, this was also a chance to let the policy board see a bit more of the splendours of Cambridge and to thank them for their hard work and support this year - you’ll be pleased to hear that there was no drowning involved whilst punting.
2) Harrogate and back twice in the last 2 weeks to speak at the CIPD conference on performance management and then latterly to chair the first day of the Northern HR Briefing - organised by our PPMA North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber regions, ably supported by the three regional employers’ organisations. This was a great conference with good speakers and allowed me to meet more PPMA members face to face, including 2 friends that I used to be at college with and another chum that I worked with in Lancashire Police in years gone by - they know who they are!
3) I’ve also had the pleasure of addressing the Eastern, Essex and Hertfordshire PPMA regional meeting on my theme of “Evolution or Extinction”. A real matter of pride for me since this was the region that nominated me to become PPMA President. Thanks to Anne Gibson and the team for the invitation. Other regions take note - that’s technically 4 regional visits in 2 weeks if I take the combined benefit of the Northern HR briefing and this visit together…presidential terms only last so long - book yours now to avoid disappointment!
4) Finally a visit to the capital with Gill Hibberd to meet the new CIPD Chief Executive, Jackie Orme. A good meeting to discuss matters of mutual interest and opportunities to strengthen our working together in the future. We’ll follow this up with the CIPD in 6 months or so to see what’s happened.
So other than the usual round of media and articles, you can see PPMA and I haven’t been up to much! In need of a well deserved rest, I’m handing the blog over to the capable hands of our VP, Gill Hibberd, for the next 2 weeks.Speak to you all when I get back with a suntan!
Best wishes
Stephen
As a regular columnist for People Management, I thought you might be interested in my latest article all about culture change. Click here to read it online and I’d like to hear any views you might have on this topic, just click on ‘leave a comment’ under the headline above and type away.
Best wishes
Stephen
The weekend was, once again, an example of nature at its worst. My heart went out to the poor people of Morpeth and the other communities of the North East particularly affected by flooding. Having lived in the North East, I still have an affinity for that part of the world and was really saddened to see the devastation caused.
My reason for mentioning this? Well disasters or emergencies such as this, whether natural or man made, call upon HR people to really summon up all of their strength and stamina to manage all the people implications and to support the eminence of essential public services via employees who are probably also affected by the floods - HR has a key role to play.
During the major flooding in Gloucestershire previously, Sue Scrivens and the HR Team at the County Council were rightly praised and highlighted for their work to support the recovery efforts. Equally, I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight the work I am sure is going on by the HR teams in Northumberland and elsewhere within the country in response to the flooding - unsung heroes one and all.
Best wishes
Stephen
It’s been an interesting week watching the Democratic party conference as they nominate Mr. Obama for Presidential candidate for their party in the American elections. I don’t recall anything quite so elaborate or expensive when I was nominated for PPMA President…..ah well, delusions of grandeur aside, another week of presidential stuff comes to an end, comments as follows:
- Great response from willing volunteers to join the PPMA Policy Board as Lead Officers - so you do exist and want to contribute more - fantastic! Expect announcements on appointments to be made following the Policy Board meeting on 11th/12th September. Thank you to all of you who expressed an interest.
- Good article in the LGC this week on Total Reward and profiling some of the work that my authority, Buckinghamshire CC and Hertfordshire CC are doing in partnership on a pilot basis. A similar article on reward appeared in Personnel Today last week. Watch out for further PPMA profile stuff in People Management next week.
- Arrangements are developing well for the PPMA Conference in Manchester next year - I can’t wait to see the details from Gill Hibberd and her planning team, but suspect I’ll be bowled over like the rest of you.
Finally, just in case you thought I’d have a week without mentioning it, I’m London bound today to meet the IDeA about the national jobs portal for Local Government and the ‘Best Councils’ initiative. Following which I’m delighted to say I’m catching up with Yvonne Skingle (now working with Tribal). Yvonne is already working on a range of assignments, including the Tribal/PPMA interface - you might also want to have a look at some of the jobs she is involved in the search activities for, including the HR and OD Director for the new Wiltshire Council.
Best wishes
Stephen
You might be interested to know that the last Leadership & OD Network meeting marked the first of a series of debates that we’re likely to hold on the topical issues of leadership and OD within the public sector.
Our first debate was on Changing The Way We Work (download a pdf of the notes from the meeting here) when we were joined by David Robinson from Herts County Council, Lucille Thirlby from Unison and John Atkinson from the Leadership Centre for Local Government. The work that Herts CC is undertaking on change is impressive and the debate allowed us to really get underneath the process being followed there and the people issues that surround it. There will be more on this topic in due course!
Watch this space and the PPMA website, for the next debate is likely to be on the thorny subject of the leadership and OD implications of LGR. We also want to link this to the experiences of other sectors, including the private sector in terms of acquisitions, mergers, divestments, joint ventures etc.
Richard Crouch - PPMA Lead Officer for OD & Leadership and Head of HR & OD, Somerset County Council
