From the Personnel
manager to HRM
and beyond
Mike Emmott
Employee Relations Adviser CIPD
History of CIPD
• 1913 Welfare Workers’ Association (WWA)
• 1920s Labour Officers appointed to manage industrial
relations
• 1931 Institute of Labour Management (ILM)
• 1946 Institute of Personnel Management (IPM)
• 1994 IPM merges with Institute of Training and
Development to become Institute of Personnel and
Development (IPD)
• 2000 chartered status: Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development (CIPD)
Industrial relations:
the last 50 years
• 1968 Donovan report targets
unofficial action
• 1969 In place of strife
• 1971 Industrial Relations Act
attempts to construct
comprehensive framework to
regulate collective bargaining
• 1974 Conciliation and
Arbitration Service set up
• 1976 Grunwick strike over
union recognition
• 1977 Bullock report on
industrial democracy
• 1979 “Winter of discontent”
• 1980s Thatcher union reforms
• 1964 Department of Economic
Affairs (DEA)
• 1968 -70 Manpower and
Productivity Service
• 1962-92 NEDC
• 1960 to 1979 Prices and
Incomes Policies
• 1964 Industrial tribunals
• 1974Health and Safety at
Work Act
• 1999 National Minimum Wage
What is employee relations?
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relationship between employers and trade unions
managing the employment relationship/HR
conflict management
employee engagement
employee voice
“good practice”
compliance with employment regulation
New horizons in ER
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Human rights/ “soft law”
Global supply chains/IFAs
Strike ballots
Leverage/protest
Non-union representation
Collective bargaining without trade unions?
Revival of collective bargaining?
Procurement
Consultation
Role of ER function
• raise standards of line management
• embed culture of trust, fairness and respect
• develop workforce communications by involving
employees in crafting credible messages
• recognise role in relation to risk management and
corporate reputation
• ensure that ER insights into change management are
incorporated into organisation development
• enhance conflict management practice/ADR
Is employee voice
the new ER?
• employee voice: today’s “pluralism”
• a workplace culture where people can speak out with
confidence they will not be penalised
• whistleblowing: do employees feel comfortable raising
concerns about wrongdoing in the workplace?
• line managers need training to listen intelligently
• management development, coaching and OD: improve
communication at all levels
• leadership needed to create trust
• partnership between employers and unions can bring
about culture change
ADR: towards strategic
conflict management
• Gibbons review (2007) sounded death-knell for
tribunals as preferred route to deal with conflict
• mediation/ADR as a mind-set, not just mechanism
• mediation skills acquired/deployed in-house
• move to resolve disputes at earliest possible stage,
including conflict prevention
• look at wider options eg “early case assessment” or
“peer review”
• greater role for front-line managers
Developing political
consensus on workplace issues
• no central co-ordination of policy on workplace issues
• Acas and UKCES have specific responsibilities for
improving workplace practice
• but continuing government focus on skills neglects
wide sweep of practices to improve productivity
• leadership, culture, line management and employee
voice needed to support employee engagement
(MacLeod and Clarke)
• Nordic example: is social partnership/dialogue the key
to increasing productivity?
A Workplace Commission?
• “depoliticise” workplace policy and develop a more
strategic approach to the labour market
• bring together key “social partners” to form a hub for
advising Government on workplace issues
• support co-ordination of policy across government
departments
• engage bodies with the expertise and leverage to
improve employer practice
• develop and drive a government supported, sectorbased and workplace focused campaign on
productivity, performance and good work
Thank you
m.emmott@cipd.co.uk
www.cipd.co.uk