About time
After 100 years of existence, the CIPD has decided to let employers know how valuable their staff areA news story caught my eye this morning, about a new scheme launched by the CIPD in conjunction with UKCES, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. The scheme is aimed at helping business leaders to understand how their people drive value in their organisations.
According to the report, “this human capital project aims to give employers tools to measure workforce skills and value, and provide evidence of the impact on productivity and output. With clearly and consistently defined metrics, business leaders, investors and stakeholders will be able to objectively assess the value of an organisation’s people practices”.
Still awake?
Well, I thought it was interesting that the initiative comes after the CIPD celebrated its centenary with a lavish dinner during its annual conference. That’s right, after 100 years of existence, the CIPD has decided to let employers know how valuable their staff are. Come on, don’t be cynical – it could have taken 200 years. And the CIPD has been busy, organising lavish dinners and the like.
The initiative was launched with trumpety quotes from fresh new HR voices Peter Cheese and David Fairhurst, reflecting the revolutionary nature of this scheme.
Okay, so perhaps I’m being unfair. The initiative looks like a useful one, and it pulls together a bunch of different organisations to highlight how valuable employees are. But surely it raises the question of why it’s taken until now to do this?
If HR doesn’t yet value people sufficiently, why have we waited so long for such an initiative?
What has the CIPD been doing before now, and could the industry have expected this sort of activity to have happened much sooner?
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