Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Change managementCIPDCorporate governanceLatest NewsHR strategy

CIPD Festival of Work: ‘Use crises as catalysts for change’

by Jo Faragher 15 Jun 2022
by Jo Faragher 15 Jun 2022 Paul Johnson from the Institute of Fiscal Studies described a 'stand-out' period of inflation at the Festival of Work
Paul Johnson from the Institute of Fiscal Studies described a 'stand-out' period of inflation at the Festival of Work

HR professionals must embrace volatility and see ‘crises as catalysts for change’, according to CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese as he opened this year’s Festival of Work conference.

In his keynote at London’s Olympia, Cheese outlined how organisations are going through an era of exceptional change, characterised by geopolitical instability, accelerating digital change, the impacts of the pandemic and environmental concerns.

“Add to that the current economic crisis,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen next. Inflation is having a huge impact on the cost of doing business. Many predicted the end of the pandemic would create huge unemployment but now we’re at a point when many of us are not able to recruit the people we need.

“We must take learnings from the pandemic – for example around flexible learning – and see these crises as opportunities to create better ways of working.”

At the same time, he added, employees have changing expectations of what organisations can offer, creating a “new deal” between employers and their workforce.

HR challenges

Record pay rises will not keep pace with inflation: CIPD outlook 

Cost of living 2022: real wages fall 2.2% in a year 

In the coming months, it would be up to managers to gain a greater understanding of productivity in a hybrid working world; how they measure output versus counting how many hours someone was in the office or in front of a screen.

“This is so fundamental to making flexible working work, rather than judging people by what we see them doing,” said Cheese. “CEOs saying ‘I want you back in the office’ just shows that your leader doesn’t trust you.”

Understanding output better could be a catalyst for increased take-up of a four-day working week – something that is currently being trialled by around 70 employers as part of a government pilot.

He added: “If we understand output and measure it as 100%, maybe we’d be more comfortable allowing people to do that in 80% of the time. [Economist] John Maynard Keynes predicted that by around 2030 we’d be working 15-hour weeks. Some of us are working 15-hour days.”

“People are at the centre of it all. If you want the best profit, best performance, you have to look after your people.”

Inflation and wages

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (pictured), explained the current economic context in which HR professionals are operating.

“This is a stand-out period in terms of inflation, which is at its highest level since 1980. Yet we have the sharpest drop in real earnings since the 1970s if you take into account inflation,” he said.

One of the biggest challenges for the government this year will be balancing public and private sector earnings, he added.

“This is the most difficult conundrum facing the government this year. Public sector earnings did better than the private sector during the pandemic, but have fallen dramatically behind in the period since,” he said.

“Pay review bodies are proposing a 3% rise despite inflation being at 8% or 9%. But faced with a competitive labour market and a decade of public sector pay falling behind, these pay decisions will be tricky for the chancellor and his colleagues.”

A further issue is rising economic inactivity among older workers, a large proportion of whom have exited the labour market since the pandemic. “What happens next? The inactivity rate matters for employers and public finances, and is one of the big unknowns,” said Johnson.

This year’s Festival of Work is the first hybrid version of the annual conference, with delegates able to access sessions in-person or online.

HR Director opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more HR director jobs

Jo Faragher
Jo Faragher

Jo Faragher has been an employment and business journalist for 20 years. She regularly contributes to Personnel Today and writes features for a number of national business and membership magazines. Jo is also the author of 'Good Work, Great Technology', published in 2022 by Clink Street Publishing, charting the relationship between effective workplace technology and productive and happy employees. She won the Willis Towers Watson HR journalist of the year award in 2015 and has been highly commended twice.

previous post
CIPD Festival of Work: ‘AI can help us work better and faster’
next post
Talent management for a hybrid workforce (webinar)

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

International business faces ‘permacrisis’ in 2024

8 Dec 2023

Three strengths for HR to build in 2024

1 Dec 2023

What will it mean to be an HR...

28 Nov 2023

Biffa’s Jane Patemen is crowned 2023 HR Director...

21 Nov 2023

2023 HR Impact Award is the right style...

21 Nov 2023

Progeny collects Large HR Consultancy of the Year...

21 Nov 2023

Parent and Professional toddles off with Small HR...

21 Nov 2023

Government of Jersey named 2023 HR Team of...

21 Nov 2023

What can the Rugby World Cup tell us...

27 Oct 2023

Reward strategies for 2024 and beyond

27 Oct 2023

  • How to spot and tackle imposter syndrome in the workplace PROMOTED | Half of all UK adults...Read more
  • BetterMe for Business: How to Build Wellness Culture at Work PROMOTED | Ever encountered a...Read more
  • Global growth with simple HR compliance (webinar) WEBINAR | In an increasingly global marketplace...Read more
  • Talent acquisition: How AI can complement a ‘back to basics’ approach PROMOTED | Artificial intelligence is now...Read more
  • What will it mean to be an HR professional in 2024? (webinar) WEBINAR | As we approach 2024...Read more
  • HR Budget Planning for 2024: Preparing your People Strategy PROMOTED | As organisations continue to adapt...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+