The opinion pages of Personnel Today provide the ideal forum for getting
your ideas across and help to put HR on the national agenda
With this being the final issue of 2003 (our next issue comes out on 6
January 2004), it seemed like an opportune moment to thank all those who have
contributed to this section in Personnel Today this year, making it a fabulous
platform for some raging debates.
We’ve seen heated discussions on topics ranging from workplace stress to human
capital management, and much more besides.
But perhaps the hottest of them all was sparked by columnist Stephen Overell
who questioned in his Off Message column (13 May) whether it was right that
employees with children were given unfair advantages over their childless
colleagues.
Some of you thought bosses were too lenient with working parents, who
demanded and took far too much time off in the name of their kids, leaving
their colleagues to pick up the pieces.
Naturally, those with children argued their case loudly and clearly through
these pages – for months.
This healthy discourse demonstrates the importance of letting your
colleagues in HR know what you think through the opinion pages of Personnel
Today.
One letter sparked a Personnel Today/Doctor magazine survey of GPs and HR
professionals, to see what they thought about the current situation on issuing
sicknotes. The result? A front page story that has been picked up by the
mainstream media, and has made the issue a matter of national importance. It’s
a good example of how effective your input can be and how HR can influence the
national agenda.
And so to 2004, when the economy is predicted to inch forward and purse
strings are expected to be slightly loosened.
What will be the issues of the day? Our crystal ball rests on fact: HR flew
from backstage to centre stage this year, and there it will stay as people
management gets ratcheted further and further up every organisation’s agenda.
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Personnel Today is here to be the independent voice of the HR profession,
but it is your day-to-day experience in HR that sets the agenda. So keep those
letters rolling in.
By Penny Wilson, Deputy editor, Personnel Today
