Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • 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
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • 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
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Personal profile

by Personnel Today 14 Nov 2000
by Personnel Today 14 Nov 2000

Alan Pankhurst became personnel director of GNL in August 2000 to head up the renamed People Department (formerly RTD department) and was also appointed to the board. He has been a personnel professional for the past 30 years. He has worked in engineering and in printing and spent 15 years in television.


What is the most important lesson you have learnt in your career?


Know what you are trying to do, maintain a sense of humour and develop an infinite amount of patience.


What is the strangest situation you have had to deal with at work?


Meeting the national officers of ACTT and Bectu (television unions) in 1982 just before I joined Central TV to start redundancy discussions.

I opened the meeting by saying, "We are here to discuss the redundancy situation", at which point they walked out.


Imagine being stranded on a desert island with enough food for only two people. Who would you choose as your companion and why?


Assuming that I’m not allowed to choose my wife, Nelson Mandela. His combination of achievement and humility is awesome.


If you had three wishes to change the company, what would they be?


Increase the circulation of The Guardian to an average of 550,000 a day and The Observer to 700,000.

Enable everybody in the company to get their work done in normal working hours.

Have everybody tell me that they feel they are being paid enough for the job that they are doing.


What is the best thing about working in HR?


The variety of personality types.


What is the worst?


Trying to deal with people who refuse to recognise the realities of life.


If you could adopt the management style of an historical character, who would you choose and why?


Mahatma Gandhi. Major achievement by quiet and peaceful determination.


If you were to write a book, which subject would you choose?


Why Spurs can only improve.


What is your greatest strength?


Maintaining a sense of humour most of the time.


What is your least appealing characteristic?


Ask my PA.


You stumble across a time machine hidden in the vaults of your company building. What time period would you visit and why?


1914-1918 and the trench warfare. I have a fascination for the psychology of how people survived the horrors.


What is the greatest risk you ever took?


Accepting the job of personnel manager with responsibility for a department with a workforce

of circa 2000 at Triumph Engineering, aged 22, and having been working in personnel for about three months.

 


2000: Personnel director, Guardian Newspapers


1998: Group personnel director, Guardian Media Group


1997: Left to become a consultant


1994: Personnel director, Carlton


1982: Personnel director, Central TV

Personnel Today
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Older managers are an asset in the workplace, says report
next post
Case highlights limits to employers’ duty of care

You may also like

Employees going into office just 1.5 days a...

15 Aug 2022

Barrister wins gender critical belief discrimination claim

27 Jul 2022

‘Patchy’ mental health services failing ethnic minority communities

11 Jul 2022

Global study highlights hypertension treatment failings

8 Jul 2022

NICE sets out new guideline on managing depression

8 Jul 2022

Half of employees struggle to switch off on...

8 Jul 2022

Five steps for organisations across the globe to...

8 Jun 2022

The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls

24 May 2022

Grants scheme set up to support women’s health...

16 May 2022

How music can help to ease anxiety at...

9 May 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...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 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • 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
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+