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+

The HR profession

My best and worst decisions: Craig Jones, global head of diversity, Barclays Wealth

by Personnel Today 4 May 2009
by Personnel Today 4 May 2009

Best decision

It was a great idea for me to move into financial services. It might seem like a strange career move, from the Armed Forces into a very different workplace and industry, at a particularly challenging time. Yet the challenges that I’d faced in the Armed Forces, and those faced during the financial crisis, have had a degree of resonance.

It’s certainly been a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. But I feel very much at home here â€“ people are having to think on their feet to find solutions for the workplace, company and clients. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years in the Armed Forces. This move has given me an opportunity to establish my professional credibility in a very different industry, and in doing so, to demonstrate my flexibility.

Worst decision

In 2000, the ban on gay people in the Armed Forces was lifted. I’d been on board a large ship for a couple of weeks, as head of operations. Having waited a very long time for the ban to be lifted, I had a really strong desire to be part of making that new policy work. I decided to ‘come out’ on the day that the ban was revoked. Unfortunately, it meant that people hadn’t had the opportunity to get to know me before they suddenly discovered that I was gay.

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.

In an Armed Forces workplace in 2000, that was quite profound. For a short while, it stopped people from getting to know me, because they were completely dumbfounded about what this news meant and how it would have an impact. Of course they gradually learnt that it would have no impact at all. But looking back, I wished I’d given them breathing space.

I made a less serious, but more dramatic, mistake during my years in the Navy. I was on nightwatch on a ship in Scotland. I wasn’t really experienced, and when I looked out the window, there was shipping everywhere. The captain had gone to bed and I panicked, hitting the emergency alarm to say that I needed help on the bridge. The captain woke up, ran to the bridge, and threw open the swing doors. He was in a silk dressing gown which got caught in the door as it swung shut. He fell face first onto the floor and broke his nose. He was lying there on the floor with blood everywhere when the senior watchkeeper came running up and fell over him. What a moment.

Personnel Today

previous post
The cost of cutting jobs: legal Q&A
next post
Unite union urges financial sector to end job cuts

You may also like

Why HR burnout is a strategic issue

12 May 2025

CIPD appoints expert in AI to boost support...

8 May 2025

Stress for HR specialists greater at larger organisations

2 May 2025

CIPD: Employment Rights Bill timetable needs clarity

25 Apr 2025

Movers and shakers in HR: Stagecoach, Sodexo UK,...

11 Apr 2025

Senior HR pay rising faster than junior roles

28 Mar 2025

Employee Benefits Awards 2025 shortlist revealed

24 Mar 2025

What do HR specialists enjoy most about their...

21 Mar 2025

Law firm HR professional embroiled in ‘anti-Islam’ row

12 Mar 2025

Mitie appoints Kathryn Dolan as chief people officer

6 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...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+