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.

Le mot juste – now 24/7

I am always keen to promote clear writing, condemn jargon and generally get grumpy-old-manish about the written and spoken word. Contrary to what you might expect in this Internet and web-based world ordinary people (ie, those in ordinary, every-day jobs) are expected to respond to more and more written information expressed in increasingly confusing language. There are a number of web-based sources of spelling and useage but a new one Grammartogo offers subscribers not only guidance to grammer, spelling, writing style and much more but an interactive email service to solve your writing queries (and, often as not, prove your boss wrong).

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.

Grumpy oldies win a small victory

Congratulations to TESCO who are changing their fast queues sign from “10 items or less” to “up to 10 items”. Apart from being linguistically correct (at last) more people” will understand the new sign than the old  “10 items or fewer”. As you go about your business just notice how often organisations and officialdom use pompous language in signage, announcements and public statements rather than the words they would use to their friends. “The next station is … where this train will terminate” rather than “…journey will end”. Much simpler, especially for those whose native tongue is not English (quite apart from the fact that ‘terminate’ is not true -  they use the trains again). A major disaster? We see fire engines going past – the spokesperson will talk of appliances. Going into hospital? Good luck and enjoy your patient journey.

And so on and so on. Now go and read your HR policies and pronouncements and apply the same test. They are all intended to leave employees with a clear understanding of what you want them to do or to know. But do they do so in simple everyday language that will stick in people’s minds?