A name by any other rose is just as prickly

Human Resources magazine reports that Cable & Wireless has renamed its HR function “People & Brand”; to be lead by their new Director of Brand and Culture.

The news item says that the new man’s responsibilities cover HR, resourcing, talent management, culture change, corporate communications and brand management across the business. So possibly things are not quite as bad as they seem and when an employee (bet they call them colleagues) wants to discuss pay the door they go through may still say HR. If not, pity the poor graduate trainee  having to write ‘People and Brand Officer’ in the ‘what job’ box on the ‘where are they now’ section of the alumni newsletter.

OK, a new label can help to kick-start change but stick to words that work in everyday use and have face-value currency. I for one do not want to be accredited to a Chartered Institute of People.

A verb by any other name

I praised Tesco a couple of posts ago for dropping the “10 item or less” sign but take it all back having heard their CFO on the radio talking about the annual results. He referred to the fact that a particular product range “anniversaried” recently. I was so annoyed I deaccessed the programme immediately.