News in brief

Whitbread HR threat

HR staff at Whitbread face an anxious few weeks after the leisure group announced plans to cut head office jobs as part of a corporate restructuring programme. The group, whose brands include David Lloyd Leisure, Costa and Premier Travel Inn, plans to consolidate HR,
IT, communications, and
property services.

WEBLINK www.personneltoday.com/31774.article

CBI puts out feelers

The CBI has begun its search for the successor to Sir Digby Jones as director general, with headhunters expected to be appointed this month. Jones, who has been head of the employers’ group since January 2000, will step down at the end of next year. His successor is likely to be announced next spring, to give the candidate time to prepare fully for taking up the role on 1 January 2007.

WEBLINK www.personneltoday.com/31858.article

BT to retrain IT staff

BT is investing 15m in training 8,000 internal IT staff to transform itself from a telecommunications services company into a firm offering network and IT services to external customers. The company aims to transfer the staff to higher-value work, including programme management, solutions design and systems integration.

WEBLINK www.personneltoday.com/31793.article

Outsourcing ignored

Only 8% of mid-sized companies have outsourced their HR functions, according to research from professional services consultancy KPMG. Only 2% of the 100 firms questioned said they were considering or might consider outsourcing the HR function in the future. The most popular roles to be outsourced were training, IT and payroll.

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WEBLINK www.personneltoday.com/31771.article