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and declares its purpose is to ‘champion better work and working lives’. Eh? How does that square with the looming prospect of executing redundancies? Not every HR person is a CIPD member – but, of those who are, many say (publicly, on LinkedIn) that they resent paying the annual fee to renew their CIPD qualification, while the organisation can’t get the basics right. HR directors tell me the CIPD doesn’t understand their priorities (such as skills and workforce capability, employment law, smart use of tech and AI, and managing restructures). And they’re angry that Cheese still hasn’t acknowledged the impact of distributing CIPD–stamped workplace guidance on trans inclusion, which included mischaracterisations of the law, and created legal risk for the organisations whose members followed it.
and I’ve concluded that standards have collapsed across HR. We have HR people who think their first duty is to employees – not their employer. Who crumple when asked to make redundancies. Who don’t know the Equality Act’s nine protected characteristics. Who think following the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of ‘sex’ is optional. Who can’t conduct a grievance procedure without siding with the colleague they like the most.
Oddly, they still haven’t admitted their industry is in big trouble. The good HR practitioners (yes, there are still many) rarely meet the bad ones (unless they’re rejecting them for jobs), so they can’t see how deep the rot goes. And the bad practitioners don’t realise they’re bad. Who is to blame? The prime suspect is the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD). Led by CEO Peter Cheese, the professional body for HR has drifted away from its core purpose of serving its members
HR directors tell me the CIPD doesn’t understand their priorities (such as skills and workforce capability, employment law, smart use of tech and AI, and managing restructures).
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GLOBAL PAYROLL MAGAZINE ISSUE 16
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