Golden
opportunity to prove your true worth
It
should come as a surprise to no-one that there are plans to cut jobs in the
public sector. After all, it has long been regarded as the home of the
‘job-for-life-in-the-slow-lane’ mentality.
There
is clearly a lot of duplication of effort and in some cases a total lack of
effort, that needs to be addressed. And with Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development figures showing that there are at least 29,000 HR practitioners
working in the public sector, it would appear there is too much overload.
The
leaked report outlining Government plans to axe around 80,000 jobs from the
Civil Service might well have sent a shiver down the spine of anyone working in
the sector.
But
the cold winds of change should not be seen as a direct threat to HR.
Rather
they should be viewed as a golden opportunity for HR in the public sector to
show the stuff it is made of.
It
could learn a thing or two from the way the country’s entrepreneurs manage
their teams. The concept of managing performance is nothing new, but it has
been more rapidly adopted by the private sector than the public sector. Nearly
70 per cent of private sector companies have some form of performance
management system in place, compared with only 32 per cent in the public sector.
HR
in the public sector should at this point take note of the recent Accounting
for People Taskforce report. It puts HR firmly in the frontline when it comes
to changing the way businesses operate in the UK. And if the Government is
serious about changing the culture of the UK workforce, then it is right to
look at all opportunities to make the Government more effective. If that means
trimming some of the fat from a few public services, then so be it.
Can
you say, hand on heart, that everything you do adds value for the shareholders
or stakeholders in your sector? One way to find out is by demonstrating the HR
return on investment.
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There
will always be plans to cut wage bills and improve service delivery. But by
showing what HR can do, you can ensure that HR is at the centre of any changes
rather than a victim of any cuts.
By
Tony Pettengell, Group production editor
