Odds and ends

Not everything in the news requires much in the way of comment and analysis. Here are a few items with links to HR that I have found in the last week or so.

• A bulletin from law firm Wake Smith & Tofields saying the government was consulting on “gingerism” as an extension of equality laws generated a lot of interest. Especially on it’s publication day of April 1st.
• Possibly not an April fool was the report that pilots and cabin crew on Easyjet will have to buy their own tea and coffee in the air. Though they can have free hot water in which to dunk their own tea bags. I wonder if they will still get priority seating?
• No need to recount all the details in the Damian McBride smeargate affair. But do not assume it is just a politics issue. Whispered innuendo is just as common in corporate life and is one (of many) reasons for having a robust, and objective, staff appraisal system.
• A recent survey is reported to have found that, while many employees think an untidy desk makes them look busy, most bosses think it makes them look disorganised. However, I am not sure that that means that bosses assume the opposite (ie a desk with just one folder) is a sign of hard work. Overall, I think it just shows how few office jobs have clearly defined output criteria.

Rewarding technical staff

Last week I attended a CIPD forum on the topic of reward, retention and motivation of professionals and technical specialists. My feeling was that not much has changed over the years and that ‘techies’ present many of the same problems that they always have. In particular that many grading structures still value managing people and resources above technical skills with the consequent loss, or demotivation, of seasoned professionals who cannot progress to senior grades. Professional specialists are, apparently, deemed to be too involved in detail to be any good at delegation and management of teams. A cynic might point out that if those who are so good at delegation had paid more attention to detail we might not have had the lost tax disks, the T5 fiasco or the overrunning Liverpool Street closure. So what are the real issues for rewarding professional and technical staff?