Richard
Greenhill has been appointed European partner with consultancy William M
Mercer. A Companion of the CIPD,
Greenhill joins from Bacon & Woodrow where he was a partner in its Total
Reward Practice. Greenhill will advise
companies on planning and implementing pay and benefits packages. He has written three books on
performance-related pay and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of
Bankers, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors and a member of the Institute
of Management.
Automotive
logistics company Walon has appointed Emma Linegar as its training and
development officer. Ripon-born Linegar
joins from Great Mills Retail, where her previous role was management training
officer, looking after graduates and management trainees. In her new position Linegar will look at the
training needs across the company and develop a training plan for the year. She
will run the company’s training resource centre, which will allow staff access
to the latest training and management techniques. Linegar said, “I see my role as making training more proactive
than in the past – it is still early days but the company has a lot of
potential.”
Bob
Mayho has been appointed assistant director for policy and communications at
the Employers Organisation for Local Government. He joins from the Local
Government Association, where he was head of policy.
Top
job
Contract
hire and fleet lease specialist Fleetlease has appointed Neil Hayward as
personnel and training manager.
Hayward
lives in the New Forest and has more than five years’ experience in HR,
spending the past four years as personnel manager (Scotland and Ireland) for
the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, based in Southampton.
He
will be directly responsible for Fleetlease staff training, recruitment and the
development of HR strategy.
He
said, “One of the main challenges I faced with the Coastguard was having to
close four stations, which raised issues such as retirement, redundancy and
voluntary redundancy. In my new role I will be looking at staff taking
responsibility for the own training and implementing personal development
plans.
“I
hope to introduce training which is tailored to each employee’s needs, rather
than having everyone put through the same scheme. I also hope to introduce an
interactive HR system which people can access through the company intranet.
“In
the five months I have been here, I have tried to meet everyone in the company
and have an ‘open door’ HR policy – anyone is free to talk to me about anything
from HR issues to personal issues.”
Personal
profile
Jon
Parsons is the new European personnel director of direct marketing company
Brann Worldwide. Previous jobs include personnel roles at Unigate and he was
personnel manager at White Arrow. He hopes to spearhead Brann’s campaign to
become the leading direct marketing company on the continent.
What
is the most important lesson you have learnt in your career?
Getting people to want to work for you or with you is generally the best
way to get home on time.
What
is the strangest situation you have had to deal with at work?
Interviewing Elvis Presley in Trowbridge in 1977.
If
your house was on fire and you could save one object, what would it be?
My tenor saxophone.
If
you had one wish to change your company, what would it be?
Recognition for the quality of thinking and action we produce and our
commitment to getting it right for the customer/ buyer in an industry which has
a negative public persona.
What
is the best thing about working in personnel?
People.
What
is the worst?
The incessant angst of a section of the HR profession and its media over
its contribution and status.
How
do you get to work?
I drive about 36 miles, very steadily, listening to music.
What
would you do if you had more spare time?
Play better saxophone, get fit and spend even more time with my wife Grace
and the kids.
If
you were to write a book, what would you write about?
Why I believe a lot of the things done to people in the name of management
and leadership miss the point.
What
is your greatest strength?
My people say I encourage and trust them.
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What
is your least appealing characteristic?
My people say I talk too much.
What
is the greatest risk you ever took?
I used to rock climb on ice, and most days I walk across a road.
