Membership and revenue went up at the CIPD in 2023 as many in the profession faced “stark choices”, its annual report has revealed.
In the foreword to the report from chief executive Peter Cheese, chair of the board Valerie Hughes D’Aeth and president Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, the CIPD acknowledged that many members had struggled with maintaining the balance of managing change with retaining the trust of their workforce
“Do we enable short-term actions, in response to immediate financial challenges, that risk the erosion of business sustainability, environmental sustainability, job quality, workforce wellbeing, fairness and inclusion? Or do we push for forward-thinking, evidence-based investment that can sustain our people, our organisations and, ultimately, our societies?” they asked.
Membership of the HR professional body rose slightly in 2022-23 to 160,300 after a dip last year. The number of chartered members dropped slightly to 43,800.
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The CIPD increased its revenue by 6% in its latest financial year from £42.4 million to £44.8 million. Membership fees contributed £24.8 million of that total, while business-to-business revenue (from activities such as running and assessing qualifications or advisory services) went up 29%.
Operating costs increased as the organisation grew, however, leading to an operating loss of £1.7 million for the year.
This year the CIPD launched a new code of conduct, which has been downloaded more than 8,000 times, according to its annual report. The organisation said 119 complaint enquiries had been received about members during the year.
In terms of the make-up of the CIPD, it grew its workforce by 41 over the year to 431. Its gender split is 70% female to 30% male, and 66% of employees are white. Only 5.8% of employees report a disability, up from 3.6% in 2022.
Despite having a predominantly female workforce, its median gender pay gap was 12% (down from 13.7% in 2022), although a snapshot of these figures in June revealed this figure to be 7.4%.
The CIPD also voluntarily reports its ethnicity pay gap, which was 16.8% in 2023, up from 14.5% in 2022.
In the 2022-23 financial year, chief executive Peter Cheese earned £274,780 – an executive pay ratio of almost 7:1 to the median earner in the organisation. Its lowest salary is £23,400.
When it came to training and development, the CIPD said its average spend per employee was £812, although this was higher for leadership development training (£2,874).
David D’Souza, membership director at the CIPD, said: “2023 was a year where the profession continued to do remarkable work – work that fundamentally impacts the quality of people’s lives and the performance of organisations. We are proud to support our growing membership and organisational partners through past challenges – and will be there for those still to come.
“Our strong pipeline of students shows that, even in challenging conditions, the profession provides increasingly attractive career routes. Our promise is to deliver more in 2024, supported by investments we’ve made over recent years, listening to the profession to ensure those improvements are delivered where we can most make a difference for you.”
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