Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • 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
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • 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
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Change managementLatest NewsHR strategy

HR chief admits making his mark putting spark back into M&S was a tall order

by Louisa Peacock 26 Feb 2008
by Louisa Peacock 26 Feb 2008

Marks & Spencer’s HR chief has admitted he took over a “dated” function when he began his job, just three years ago.

Chief executive Stuart Rose hired Keith Cameron as HR director in 2004, after a dramatic profit and sales tumble. He replaced Jean Tomlin, now HR director for the London Organsing Committee of the Olympic Games.

In 2004, M&S was failing to hold its position in the marketplace as a retail icon catering to the shopping needs of an entire family, and had lost sales to competitors as its clothes were seen as increasingly old-fashioned and unexciting.

Cameron told Personnel Today a lot of work needed to be done to update HR and improve business performance.

“M&S had relatively dated approaches to dealing with some of the HR subject matter. What we needed to do was significantly increase the learning and development as line manager training had more or less been abandoned. On the customer service side, staff had also had very little [training] for years.”

Cameron restructured pay and career paths for employees, and spent £10m putting getting on for 60,000 people through motivational training with guru Mary Gober.

“The real money was spent on getting people on side – and that costs a lot of money, with the training materials and everything else,” he added.

Cameron admitted he changed the HR function three years ago to better fit purpose and add more to the bottom line.

“HR was on a specialist agenda, and it wasn’t what the business needed, it was commercial enough. That’s not HR’s fault, but in our view there was something that needed to change. We now have a function that provides very important support and activity to the mainstream of buying and selling.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“We’ve got quite a lot of work on our plate now – including a bit of modernisation to do in terms of improving our systems,” he said..

“We’ve put so much into [motivational training] the key to it now is to build it and keep momentum. It’s not time for doing something radically different,” he added.

Louisa Peacock

previous post
Employment of illegal workers
next post
Staffordshire County Council union members vote in favour of pay proposals

You may also like

Performance management is broken: how can we rebuild?

11 Jul 2025

Gregg Wallace case: don’t be too hasty to...

11 Jul 2025

‘Replace sick notes with gym’, Streeting tells GPs

11 Jul 2025

Workers with second jobs at an all-time high

11 Jul 2025

How using data can transform return-to-office mandates

11 Jul 2025

Ministers loosen fire and rehire proposals in Employment...

10 Jul 2025

£188k tribunal award for director sacked after cardiac...

10 Jul 2025

It’s no secret – parity in the workplace...

10 Jul 2025

Firms’ salary secrecy means ‘they lose out on...

10 Jul 2025

Court of Appeal rules that Ryanair agency pilot...

9 Jul 2025

  • Empower and engage for the future: A revolution in talent development (webinar) WEBINAR | As organisations strive...Read more
  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...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 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • 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
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+