City HR Blog
Seasons Greetings from City HR
Published:Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:35:00 +0000
Dear all,
With almost another year under our belts, we would like to wish all our members all the best for the festive season and we look forward to working with you during 2012.
Just a quick update - the City HR Annual Report for 2011 and Member Sevices Directory is in its final stages and will be distributed to you all shortly. We have also uploaded our new events timetable for 2012 to our website so please take a look at whats in store for 2012 and don't wait to book as our first event 'Leadership for the 21st Century' is only in a months time.
We look forward to seeing you all very soon.
Best Wishes
City HR Team
Sun in the City
Published:Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:52:00 +0000
With one Royal wedding, a Presidential visit and the first day of Summer under our belts its time to review what City HR have been up to the last couple of months...
Thank you to all of you that have supported our last few training events which have been very successfully delivered. Both 'How to engage with your business' and 'Abolishing the Default Retirement Age' seminars were well attended by over 20 of our members.
Last Thursday saw the delivery of the Member Forum and AGM which was generously hosted by Charles Russell. This was an opportunity for our Chairman to give an overview of the Association's activities during the past year, as well as focus on key projects for 2011. If you weren't able to attend and you feel that there is something you would like to see on the City HR agenda please feel free to contact us. Robert was also able to announce a new additional member of our Management Committee - Charlotte Sweeney of Nomura - look out for Charlotte's profile coming soon in our Committee Members section.
Our guest speaker at the Forum was Giles Inglis-Jones who talked about his role as Director of HR and Development for the Conservative Party in the lead up to the recent General Election. Whilst Giles took us behind the scenes of change management and HR in politics, Nick Hurley of Charles Russell provided some insight into the Bribery Act, the abolition of the DRA and Agency Worker Regulations - the latter of which has been high on the agenda for many members over the past few weeks. The evening was rounded off as always by some delicious canapes and friendly banter amongst members.
Next on the agenda is the Compensation Forum on 16th June and bookings are coming in thick and fast. Key themes will be: The FSA Code on Remuneration: The final countdown, What next in Remuneration? Where is the Coalition Government steering the pay and benefits agenda?, Pay myths and realities, and Compensation Challenges for 2011/12. If you would like to book please visit the events section of the website or contact the City HR office.
Other news - our summer party venue has been booked at The Sterling bar which is located in the Gherkin, on 7th July so book your place if you haven't already. We are also pleased to let you know that preparations are underway for our Annual Conference so keep your eyes peeled as we will be revealing the theme in due course.
Until the next time...enjoy some Sun in the City
City HR Team
Spring has sprung at City HR!
Published:Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:32:00 +0000
At last 'Spring has Sprung' and we in the City HR Office have certainly had a spring in our step the last few months with member subscription renewals, the publishing of the 'London and the Summer of 2012' guide, our first Member Forum of the year, and the launch of the City HR Academy 2011.
Firstly a big thank you to all members who have renewed their subscription for 2011 and for your continued support and contribution to the Association, we certainly have an exciting year ahead and we look forward to working with you and seeing you at forthcoming events.
Mid January saw the distribution of the first publication of the year produced by City HR - 'London and the Summer of 2012'. Our aim in producing this guide so early was to better prepare members for planning for the logistical and HR issues by year end. We hope that you have found/will find this guide useful, and if you would like a further copy of the guide, this is available for download from the 'downloads' section of the website. We were also very excited to have Loraine Martins, Head of Equality, Inclusion, Employment and Skills at the Olympic Delivery Authority as our Member Forum speaker to provide an update on what was happening with the Olympics from an infrastructure, organisation and HR perspective. This member Forum was hosted by David Whincup at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey which is the new name for the recently merged Hammonds.
The first workshop of the year was held in February by David Clifford relating to the FSA Consultation on Remuneration which was a follow on to the workshop he facilitated in November 2010. The purpose of this was to highlight the practical implications of the FSA’s revised Remuneration Code published in December 2010. It was attended by 23 of our members . This workshop was intended to build on the November event and to share participant’s experiences and concerns, to help firms as they move towards implementing the Code.
What's next on the events front? Firstly, we have a half day workshop on 21 April on 'How to Engage your Business'. This workshop looks at practical ways for HR to add value to your businesses. It is suitable for all HR professionals who engage regularly with line managers and want to be able to add more value. The session will be highly interactive and case study driven and delegates will leave the workshop with action plans they can implement back at the office immediately. On 17 May there will be a breakfast workshop held at Fox Williams, on The impact of the DRA abolishment on employment law, pensions and employee benefits. With the Government’s recent announcement that the Default Retirement Age is to be abolished, employers will need to assess how this impacts their HR and Pension Policies. Experts in the legal, Insurance and Pensions fields will be present to guide members through the issues arising from this change. All details of upcoming events can be found in the 'events' section of the website.
We were very proud to be able to launch the City HR Academy 2011 in both the City, and yesterday in Canary Wharf, and we are now enrolling for the programme which will commence in Spetember 2011. If you and/or any of your colleagues or team are interested in undertaking your CIPD qualification in a convenient City/Docklands location then please contact the office for more information. We would like to get an idea of any interested parties by 7th April. Full details of the programme can be found under the 'City HR Academy' section of the website.
Finally, we are just finalising the Newsletter for March 2011 so one should be winging its way to your desk very soon...
Thats all for now folks...
The City HR Team
Published:Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:16:00 +0000
Well, the clocks have gone back, the nights are drawing in, and it now seems that we are on the countdown to the end of the year.
We still have three events to go this year. The Compensation Symposium, being hosted by Simmons & Simmons is now 80% full, with a presentation on latest trends in City reward, tax and contracts of employment (aligned to reward proposals). Our keynote speakers are Suzanne Bliss of Towers Perrin, Paul Scarborough from PricewaterhouseCoopers and Richard Pilsworth from Simmons & Simmons. This is a members only event.
Bookings are coming in for the next Member Forum - Snow White and the 12 Months of the Year. This is a satirical look at the past year in Human Resources, as seen through the eyes of Snow White, who has been sent to work in the City due to tax haven problems in her own kingdom. As we romp through a variety of scenarios that have been encountered during the past year, many familiar faces from the world of HR will be appearing alongside the Employment Law Team at Hammonds and City HR. The pantomime will end on a serious note, with handouts being available on the HR topics that we have covered, as well as the promise of a happy ending. Or is there?
Following on from the Pantomime, will be the Member Christmas Party, which will also be at Hammonds. All members and friends are welcome and you don’t have to come to the Panto. It starts at 6.30 pm. Please do come along and enjoy some drinks and eats with your HR colleagues and our excellent range of City advisors, the latter of whom add so much value to our activities at City HR.
Next week I am due to sit down with two City Heads of HR to draft the HR aspects of an Olympics Policy that City organisations might want to adapt for their own purposes for 2012. This will be available in the first quarter of next year.
Right, that is about it then for this week. Just off to structure final ideas for the City HR Events Programme 2010. If anyone has any strong views or ideas, please let me know before 17th November.
All the best, Andrea#
Andrea Eccles
Director - City HR
City HR Association
27 Austin Friars
London EC2N 2QP
Tel: 020 7670 1934
Email: andreaeccles@cityhr.co.uk
City HR Conference
Published:Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:41:00 +0000
On 12th October, the City HR Association held its 3rd Annual Conference at the Stationers’ Hall. Many described this event as the “best one yet”.
The proceedings were officially opened by the The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor, Alderman Ian Luder, who outlined the City’s Role in the Global Economy and illustrated the important role played by HR professionals in maintaining and re-building their organisations. This was followed by an excellent presentation by Professor Lynda Gratton on strategies for organisational revival which included Leadership, Resilience and Team Co-operation. Most delegates would have liked Professor Gratton to talk for longer than her allocated hour, and for the benefit of those who were unable to attend the conference, I highly recommend her website www.hotspotsmovement.com
The programme continued with a discussion panel on Performance, accountability and reward before delegates broke into two groups to explore HR’s role in re-building City organisations. Group 1 looked at this from an internal perspective: how we do this from an organisational and employee perspective. Group 2 looked at this from an external perspective: how do we do this taking into consideration the collective views of the Government, Regulators, other Public Bodies, the Media and the Public itself. A framework for re-building the City was developed and this will be available as a download from this website from 23rd October.
Later sessions looked at issues high on the HR agenda, specifically compensation in the current City climate, diversity and the results of the EHRC report and preparing for the upturn – the steps that HR needs to take to attract and retain the best when coming out of recession.
The conference closed with a major City HR announcement. Stephen Sidebottom has stepped down as Chairman after 8 years of leading City HR and has assumed a new role of President, with specific responsibility for Corporate Social Responsibility. Robert Potter, Group HR Director at Jardine Lloyd Thompson has been appointed Chair and thanked Stephen for the enormous contribution that he has made to our Association. The new Vice Chair is Nigel Holmes, EMEA Head of HR at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking, and David Barnett remains as Hon. Treasurer. Old and new committee members have all taken responsibility for either an HR discipline, a sector or an international region, so please visit Meet the Committee section under the About section on our website for full details.
It was a fascinating day. The gallery on our website contains photos of the event so please look at the Events section of the website to get a glimpse of the day.
Catch up soon, Andrea
Welcome to the new look City HR Website!
Published:Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:38:00 +0000
Welcome to the new look City HR Website. I hope that you like it. I am going to use this section to update you on our activities between newsletters and also to tell you what is happening in both amongst City HR friends and in the wider market place. Please email me if you would like to post some information in this area.
Best regards, Andrea
