PEOPLE FOCUS - CIPD

PEOPLE FOCUS 

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in Ireland 

Spring 2009 Volume 7: No 1 

Guidelines for selecting 

external coaches pg 38 

Imaginative approach 

needed as unemployment 

rises pg 6 

Shaping the 

future pg 14 

Doing more with less 

People Focus is 

Sponsored by 

pg 8 

The place to go when you want to go places.


A positive response to the 

economic crisis 

We may be well into recession but 

professional people managers have an 

opportunity to assist with rebuilding our 

economy and its skills base. For months 

many CIPD members have been involved 

in cost containment and guiding and 

informing employees and senior 

management on effective approaches to 

address the downturn we share with 

many western economies. 

But we are also in a position to assist by tapping into the Institute 

members' experience in training, skills acquisition and career 

development. There is scope for the CIPD to use its professional status to 

assist thousands of experienced executives who have lost their jobs over 

the past year as well as many of the new graduates who are leaving our 

universities and third-level institutes. 

At CIPD Ireland we are currently evaluating the feasibility of developing 

a national work experience programme and a special 'jobs-club' 

initiative for those who have been hit hardest by the economic crisis. 

This builds on proposals we made to the Oireachtas joint committee on 

Enterprise, Trade and Employment last November. 

With the assistance of policy-makers there is scope for many organisations 

to invite talented unemployed people to work with them for six-months 

while receiving the job-seekers' allowance and other social supports. 

It should be possible, in association with the 35 county and city 

enterprise boards, to develop local job-seeker networks which CIPD 

members could assist. As an independent professional body, CIPD Ireland 

would be prepared to monitor standards for short-term engagement of 

recent graduates or more experienced professionals to experience sixmonths 

of structured employment in Irish organisations. 

We are asking senior CIPD members to consider how they might assist us 

in developing six-month employment and 'jobs club' initiatives for those 

who have been hit hardest by the economic crisis. 

Michael McDonnell 

Director 

Spring 2009 Contents 

Building and Maintaining A Great Place to 

Work in Difficult Economic Times pg 4 

Work Life Balance is Beneficial 

in a Recession! pg 5 

Imaginative and longterm approach 

needed as unemployment rises pg 6 

Trying to do more with less pg 8 

Employment Compliance Bill pg 12 

Shaping the future pg 14 

In challenging economic conditions - how 

can you keep your employees motivated? pg 16 

New HR survey report launched pg 17 

Natural justice: a refresher pg 18 

How the CIPD website can help 

you find information pg 20 

Directors risk disqualifications pg 22 

A New HR Agenda pg 24 

Performance Management pg 26 

Getting the Measure of People 

In A Downturn pg 28 

Hearts, Minds & the Psychological Contract pg 29 

You won’t forget 2009 too soon pg 30 

Communicating Bad News to Employees pg 31 

The Role of HR in Delivering Rapid and 

Sustained Cost Management pg 32 

Education a Key Element of 

Career Transition pg 33 

Work-Based Learning pg 34 

A time to reflect? pg 35 

Garvey’s SuperValu celebrate pg 36 

Helping managers to deal with grief 

at work pg 37 

Guidelines for selecting external coaches pg 38 

Colleges: Graduation pg 42 

Upgrades pg 47 

CIPD Regions 

Midlands pg 48 

Eastern pg 50 

Mid West pg 52 

Western pg 53 

South East pg 56 

Southern pg 58 

PEOPLE FOCUS is issued by the Chartered Institute of 

Personnel and Development in Ireland. 

Mention of the CIPD in the text refers to the Institute in 

Ireland unless otherwise stated. 

Material printed in People Focus is not necessarily endorsed 

by CIPD Ireland. 

Editorial enquiries to: The Editor, 

Michael McDonnell, CIPD Ireland, 7 - 8 Upper Mount Street, 

Dublin 2. Tel: 676 6655 Fax: 676 7229 e - mail: info@cipd.ie 

Design -Layout- 

Advertising: 

IRN Publishing 121 - 123 Ranelagh, Dublin 6. Tel: 497 2711. 

Printing: Graham & Heslip Ltd. Belfast.

WORKPLACE 


Building and Maintaining A Great Place 

to Work in Difficult Economic Times 

With the news full of announcements of yet more job losses, it's not surprising 

that job security is the number one concern among employees in Ireland today. 

Companies, large and small, have been downsizing, slashing costs and moving 

plants to low-wage countries in response to the slumping economy. 

Layoffs - and even the threat of layoffs - 

have placed considerable stress on work 

environments. This has had a 

considerable effect on morale in 

companies as employees everywhere are 

fearful of losing their jobs. 

The themes underlying this year’s Best 

Workplaces in Ireland 2009 are fittingly 

“Trust, Communication, Openness 

and Transparency”. Research by the 

Great Place To Work Institute reveals 

that it is the relationship of “trust” 

between a company and its employees 

that makes a company a great place 

to work. 

Cathal Divilly, MSc, is the Managing 

Director of The Great Place to Work 

Institute. He maintains that now more 

than ever honesty and trust in the 

workplace are the keys to surviving 

tough economic times. In good times 

and bad, Best Workplaces continue to 

focus on three things: maintaining high 

levels of trust, involving employees in 

decisions and having consistent and 

frequent communication. Companies 

have to take difficult decisions during 

hard times, but is it how they handle 

these decisions that is key to 

maintaining their workplace trust. 

“Management need to be open and 

honest with their employees when 

communicating bad news. By doing so at 

the earliest possible stage and by making 

themselves available throughout the 

communication process, they reduce the 

risk of breaking trust.” 

Recent research shows that the higher the 

workplace trust he higher the revenue 

growth, the more employees are involved 

in decision making the higher the revenue 

growth, the higher the workplace trust, 

the more innovative the organisation. 

This year’s 2009 Best Workplaces will be 

revealed at an Awards Ceremony in the 

Burlington Hotel on Thursday 26th 

February. On Friday 27th February, 

LoadzaJobs.ie will be launching an 

Online Virtual Exhibition of Ireland’s 

Best Workplaces. The exhibition will 

run for three weeks from 27th 

February to 20th March. 

“The Virtual Exhibition will provide video 

profiles and job opportunities from some 

of Ireland’s leading employers and a range 

of features providing an insight into what 

it takes to be a great place to work”, 

explains Michael Wallace, Commercial 

Director of LoadzaJobs.ie. 

“The need to create a Best Workplace 

culture is even more important in 

uncertain times. Through our website, we 

will identify and promote Ireland’s Best 

Workplaces, inspiring other companies to 

become better and pursue Best Practice. 

“A company’s most valuable asset is their 

employees. Now more than ever, 

companies need their employees to be 

more focused, more engaged and to be 

motivated to get results. Creating the 

environment for your employees to grow 

and be creative can only benefit your 

company during challenging times” ■ 

The Best Workplaces Virtual 

Exhibition will run from 27th February 

to 20th March at www.jobsfair.ie 

The place to go when you want to go places. 

are sponsors of People Focus 

4


LIFESTYLE 

Work Life Balance is Beneficial in a Recession! 

Some managers are surprised 

when I start to talk about 

Work Life Balance: ’Are you 

serious? There is a full scale 

recession out there and the 

thing you now want to talk 

about is work life balance!’ 

My simple and honest answer 

is: ‘Yes! Work Life Balance 

options have a proven record 

to help companies and 

national economies to deal 

with severe recessions’. Let me 

explain how this works. 

During the last severe recession in the 

1980’s work life balance initiatives were 

used to help companies and countries to 

deal with the down turn and to help 

them to get back on their feet again. 

Multinational companies are looking at 

Work Life Balance and flexible working 

initiatives to help them through this 

down turn as the cost associated with 

the recruitment and training of new staff 

is great. Even companies who had to 

seriously restructure their organisation in 

good economic times used Work Life 

Balance initiatives. This is now especially 

attractive as advice on Work Life Balance 

can be fully supported for up to five days. 

There are many examples of how Work 

Life Balance can assist an organisation 

during a recession but let me just give 

you a few: 

• Part Time Work arrangements / 

Job Sharing – Giving your existing 

staff members the option to work part 

time is a very effective manner by 

which to boost the efficiency of your 

staff. Part time workers work more 

effectively than full time workers and 

have a higher output per hour then 

full time staff members. Research has 

shown that the most efficient and 

effective employees work 19 hours per 

week. It is a myth that you need to 

work non stop to be efficient! 

Furthermore, establishing part time 

arrangements is a very effective way to 

reduce your staff count. Two staff 

members who start to work part time 

(50%) have reduced your count by 

one full timer. This is possibly the most 

effective and popular manner to 

reduce your head count. 

• Sabbatical Leave – Offering 

sabbatical leave for your staff 

members to go to travel the world or 

use it to improve their education is 

another way to temporarily reduce 

your wage bill. If you are overstaffed 

at the moment, but expect you need 

staff in a year’s time when the 

economy picks up why not offer your 

staff the option of sabbatical leave? 

Look at the recent example of EBS 

who offered their staff members even 

a paid break for a number of years in 

order to reduce the staff members for 

the coming period. Normally 

sabbaticals are unpaid. One of the 

benefits of such an initiative is that 

you keep your staff members who you 

have invested in through training and 

establishing a social network. 

• Flexi-time – In these difficult times 

it can be important to extend your 

organisation’s opening hours without 

increasing cost Flexi time could have 

this effect. Extending the starting 

and finishing times for employees 

has the effect of being longer available 

for your customers and your business 

hours can increase which can be of 

benefit to service industry 

organisations. Most organisations 

are now working in the service 

sector and fixed opening hours 

which were necessary in an 

organisation which was confined 

by the working of the production 

belt are no longer necessary. 

• Term Time – Term time working is 

that employees work more during 

certain periods in order to work less 

during other periods. If these periods 

relate to your business peaks then 

both the organisation and the 

employees are on a winner. If your 

organisation works less during the 

summer months why not let your 

employees work less hours then and let 

them build up extra hours during the 

times when the organisation is busy in 

an employee Working Hours Bank. 

• E – working – In our time of e-mails 

and Internet working from home can 

be of great benefit to the employee 

and organisations, especially during a 

recession. Working from home 

through an internet connection is in 

fact more productive than working 

from the office through factors of less 

distractions and old fashion guilt, 

which makes employees work extra 

hours to get projects finished. There is 

also less time wasted on talking to 

colleagues, traffic congestion and 

other disruptions. 

As you can see Work Life Balance 

provides creative solutions to meet the 

needs of organisations during a recession 

and increase the job satisfaction of your 

workforce. Taking time to reflect on this 

topic can give you solutions which suit 

your organisation ■ 

Kenneth Buchholtz, MBS, Chartered 

FCIPD, Campbell International can 

be contacted at 065 7071933 or 

info@campbellinternational.net 

See website: 

www.campbellinternational.net 

5

ANALYSIS 


Imaginative and longterm approach 

needed as unemployment rises 

Amongst the by now familiar weekly list of jobs losses 

throughout the country, one announcement in early February sent 

a particular chill matched only by the sub-zero conditions 

sweeping the country. 

On the day the social partners walked away from a national 

recovery plan, and with a snow blizzard covering half the 

country, mobile phone manufacturer, Ericsson, announced the 

loss of 300 high value R & D jobs at its plant in Dublin 

The previous month Dell had outsourced 1,900 jobs from its 

manufacturing plant in Limerick to Poland. Devastating as the 

Dell move was to Limerick and beyond, it had been expected 

for some time and while it could not be said publicly there was 

some relief in government circles that the IT giant had kept over 

2,500 jobs in the country - at least for the time being. 

But the Ericsson announcement was a shock as these were 

high value R & D jobs and not manufacturing jobs as was the 

case in Dell. It is these high end jobs that the Government wants 

to attract and retain. The country’s well educated workforce has 

always been touted around the globe to attract foreign investors. 

But the Ericsson decision has cast a shadow over that 

assumption. The mobile phone company announced that it 

was moving the 300 jobs to cheaper labour markets in Poland, 

China and Sweden. Presumably the move to Sweden is based 

on pressure back home to support the domestic economy as it 

is hard to accept that Sweden is a low wage economy. 

But the move to Poland and China shows that not only can 

these emerging economies offer far cheaper manufacturing 

wage rates but it can also supply less expensive high skilled 

workers, most of whom have been educated to third level. 

While there has been almost a tacit acceptance that Ireland has 

priced itself out of the global manufacturing sector, it appears 

that we may also have priced ourselves out of the high-end jobs 

market as well. 

Near Collapse 

While the near collapse of the global financial system and the 

consequential recession has been at the heart of the job losses 

in Ireland over the last 12 months or so, a drop in 

competitiveness which preceded the current recession has 

accelerated the job losses in the Irish economy. 

Efforts to regain lost competitiveness and to up-skill the 

workforce are the key priorities if Ireland is to minimise job 

losses and avoid a return to the bleak days of the 1980s. 

The ‘earn and learn’ approach, first mooted by the CIPD, 

was discussed at Government buildings between the social 

partners under the ‘flexicurity’ banner. 

Essentially, the earn and learn proposal means that instead of 

employers making staff redundant, workers are put on a 

reduced working week of say three days and attend a relevant 

up-skilling/re-skilling course for the remainder of the week 

which will re-orient their skill base and prepare them for the 

different challenges that lie ahead. 

The government will fund the training, the employer will pay 

the individual for the rest of the week and while the employee 

will be on a reduced wage at least he will remain in the market 

while also having an opportunity and the time to readjust. 

It is estimated that every person made redundant costs the 

exchequer around €20,000 including €12,000 for social 

welfare payments and €8,000 in tax foregone. This does not 

6


ANALYSIS 

include the general loss to the economy 

of consumer spending and the 

immeasurable social cost of lengthening 

dole queues. 

But even taking the €20,000 

measurable financial cost to the 

exchequer, investing €10,000 in 

up-skilling makes immediate financial 

sense to the exchequer and comes 

with an even greater social dividend. 

The employer’s role will be crucial in this 

in that he will have to take a more 

imaginative and long term view of a 

downturn in its business rather than 

cutting a swathe through the workforce. 

Employers Rule 

Some employers have already begun the 

process. Permanent TSB introduced an 

incentivised career break scheme just 

before Christmas. Under the voluntary 

scheme, staff who take a 2 year career 

break will receive of 50% of their salary 

capped at €20,000 which gives them 

€10,000 a year. Those opting to take a 

three year break will get 75% of their 

salary capped at €35,000 which is 

almost €12,000 a year. While the 

payments will be taxed, this is likely to 

be minimal. 

Initial indications are that the scheme 

has proved successful. 

"We see it as a better solution to 

trimming our cost base than offering a 

redundancy deal and a good example of 

a partnership approach to an issue," said 

Permanent TSB’s HR manager, Laura 

Phelan before Christmas. "The reaction 

we have got internally is that it is a novel 

approach and the voluntary nature is 

seen as a very positive aspect." 

Restrictions in the scheme include not 

working for competitor financial 

institutions during the duration of the 

career break while staff are promised a 

similar role when they return. 

The agreed ‘Framework for a Pact 

for Stabilisation, Social Solidarity 

and Economic Renewal’ which was 

reached between the social partners 

before they sat down to negotiate the 

specifics of the €2 billion cut in public 

spending, included a section on 

maximising employment. 

It stated; 

“Recognising that unemployment will rise 

significantly in the period ahead, the 

Government and Social Partners will work 

together to maximise employment and 

help those who lose their jobs by: 

• designing a flexicurity approach 

appropriate to Irish conditions 

which keeps people working where 

feasible and equips people to return 

to employment as quickly as possible 

by maximising the availability and 

impact of education, up-skilling and 

training supports. 

• redeploying resources to ensure 

efficient and timely delivery of direct 

State supports to those who lose 

their jobs including social welfare 

payments, redundancy payments 

and payments to workers in cases 

of insolvent companies.” 

The fact that the public service pension 

levy prevented an overall deal on the 

recovery plan does not mean the 

proposed pact is dead, as all sides have 

repeatedly stressed since the breakdown. 

But when Taoiseach Brian Cowen 

outlined his expenditure adjustment 

measures in the Dail in early February, 

there were plenty of specifics on cutbacks 

and little on stimulation measures. 

But Cowen did say that he will 

continue to utilise social partnership 

to act upon the measures agreed in 

the Framework document. 

“The Government will continue to 

deploy every means at our disposal to 

help minimise the impact of the credit 

crisis and the severe downturn in global 

markets on employment prospects in 

this country. 

The Government is also working to 

significantly improve access for 

unemployed persons to job search, 

training and education, and employment 

programmes. Relevant ministers and 

their Departments are working together 

to maximise opportunities for up-skilling 

and re-skilling so that people will be 

better placed to avail of new job 

opportunities where they become 

available” said Cowen. 

Urgent Action 

But nobody can afford to hang around. 

Over 36,000 people signed on the live 

register in January 2009 or almost 1,500 

every working day bringing the total 

signing on to almost 328,000, according 

the CSO’s live register figures for the first 

month of the year. 

While the live register includes seasonal 

and casual workers and those working 

part-time and therefore is not strictly a 

measure of unemployment, it is an 

indication of the economic trough we are 

in. In the 12 months to January 2009 an 

extra 146,000 signed on with the steepest 

increase coming in the last few months. 

Even Taoiseach Brain Cowen admitted 

that the number on the live register will 

probably exceed 400,000 this year while 

others say it could reach 500,000. 

With actual unemployed hovering around 

the 9% mark it too is expected to exceed 

10% this year which will prompt direct 

comparison with the 1980s. 

But bleak as the 1980s were, the safety 

valve of emigration was always there. 

Because this recession is global, it is not 

a realistic option this time which could 

deepen the financial and social impact of 

rising unemployment. 

Fas has kick started the ‘earn and learn’ 

scheme with the Employer Based 

Redundant Apprentice Rotation Scheme 

to try and address the number of 

apprentices who have been made 

redundant because of the downturn in 

the construction sector. 

Under the scheme apprentices made 

redundant are placed by Fas with an 

eligible employer to replace an apprentice 

who has been released for the off-the-job 

phase of his apprenticeship which is 

usually 6 months. Employers must pay 

the replacement apprentice the agreed 

industry rates and Fas will contribute 

€340 per week towards those 

employment costs. 

But more than apprentices that are 

losing their jobs today and there is an 

urgent need for action now before we 

find ourselves back in the jobless 1980s 

which everyone though would never 

be repeated ■ 

7

PUBLIC SERVICE 


TRYING TO 

DO MORE 

WITH LESS 

The Report of the Task Force on the Public Service, the second 

of the three major reports on public service reform 

commissioned in the last 12 months, laid out in stark detail 

the limits of the many efforts to reform the public service. 

“The public expects improved and 

expanded services while the current 

budgetary situation severely constrains 

the resources available to maintain and 

enhance such services”, according to the 

Report which was chaired by the 

secretary general in the Department of 

the Taoiseach, Dermot McCarthy. 

Therein lies the public sector reform 

conundrum; the public want more but 

don’t want to pay for it! 

The first in the latest series of public 

sector reform initiatives was in April 2008 

when the Paris based think-tank, the 

OECD, produced 'The Irish Public 

Service - Towards an Integrated Public 

Service', commissioned by the former 

Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. 

8 

To the surprise of many, the OECD said that 

the Irish public service was not overstaffed 

in comparison to other European countries 

and had served the country well with the 

resources at its disposal. 

Greater Flexibility 

The OECD report did, however, 

recommend that there be greater 

connectivity between the different sections 

of the public service, a focus on 

performance, a more integrated public 

service with greater flexibility for employees 

and it recommended the establishment of 

a cadre of senior civil servants who would 

provide a leadership role at the centre. 

The report was left on the desk of the 

incoming Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, who 

said that there were some elements of 

the report’s recommendations that fitted 

the Irish public and some that did not. 

With the economic storm clouds 

gathering, Cowen asked the Task Force 

to look at ways and means to 

implement the OECD report. 

“The immediate context in which the 

Task Force is reporting is one of scarcer 

resources but the challenge over the 

medium term is not only to maintain 

but to improve upon existing levels of 

public service; in short, this means doing 

more for less” said Cowen unleashing 

what has become the Government’s 

motto for the recession. 

Now the Task Forces report has in turn 

begat the pending report of 'An Bord



Snip Nua' under the chair of economist, 

Colm McCarthy. 

But unlike the OECD or the Task Force, 

Colm McCarthy will effectively be looking 

at where exactly the axe will fall. 

Whatever merits there may be in 

employing the OECD and others to 

reform the public service, in a 

recession of the depth we are 

currently experiencing, reform is 

replaced by cutbacks. 

As the Task force pointed out, it really 

comes down to what level of public 

service the citizens demand and then, 

more pointedly, how much they are 

prepared to pay for it. 

With an estimated deficit this year of €15 

billion and upwards and a public service 

paybill inching past €20 billion, budget 

arithmetic means it is inevitable that 

there will be some cutbacks in public 

service pay and numbers which means a 

cut in services. 

McCarthy’s An Bord Snip Nua is due to 

report in June but an interim report 

detailing with specific cuts in numbers 

will be made before then. 

The idea is that Colm McCarthy will work 

off his namesake, Dermot McCarthy’s 

Task force report, the idea being that the 

one will balance off the other. 

More with Less 

Based on Taoiseach Brain Cowen’s 

motto ‘more with less’, An Bord snip 

will identify the less while implementation 

of the Task Force’s recommendations 

will maintain and even enhance 

services of the post 'An Bord Snip Nua' 

public service 

A key challenge for the Task Force and 

indeed any public sector reform initiative 

is communication with an increasingly 

demanding and cynical public. As we slip 

deeper into recession it is the public 

service and the government itself which 

is coming under attack. Remarks like 

the ‘bloated public service‘, ‘feather 

nesting’ and ‘comfortable, 

pensionable jobs have been thrown 

around with abandon suggesting that 

it is the public service that dragged us 

into the recession. 

Of course with so many failed or ignored 

public sector reform initiatives in the past 

on top of countless reports gathering 

dust on various shelves, it is easy to see 

where the cynicism comes from. 

The Task Force identified this trust 

between the Government, the public 

service and its citizens as central to its 

reform proposals. 

“Delivering outcomes valued by the public 

and providing quality public services are 

central to the well-being of society, the 

health of the economy and the legitimacy 

of government. The task of prioritising 

outcomes and services is essentially a 

high-level activity that is political in nature. 

It requires clearly articulated targets, in 

terms of service outputs and outcomes 

that take account of available resources.



In a climate of resource constraints, a 

clear political direction focussed on what 

is to be achieved in the short, medium 

and long term is imperative” says the 

Task force report. 

People First 

But of even greater importance, the 

report suggests, is to communicate those 

aspirations to the public in such a way 

that it puts the citizen at the centre of 

the public service and engender a trust 

between the government, via the public 

service to its citizens - a trust that seems 

to have all but disappeared today. 

“The Task Force is convinced that the 

communication of these targets to the 

public is crucially important both in 

managing realistic expectations and in 

holding the Public Service to account in 

terms of actual delivery” says the report. 

In terms of how this will be achieved, 

the Task Force follows the OECD report 

in stressing the performance of 

individual public servants. “We agree 

with the OECD recommendation that 

the route to better services and 

outcomes lies in the enhanced 

performance of individual public 

servants, of individual organisations and 

of the Public Service as a system, against 

clear targets.” says the report. 

Targets 

“We recommend the development of 

output targets that allow the individual 

performance of individual organisations 

to be measured. We recommend that 

individualised systems of performance 

management should be extended 

throughout all sectors of the Public 

Service and that existing systems be 

significantly strengthened in order to 

demonstrate a real connection between 

performance rating and actual 

performance in terms of outputs. We 

believe that a major cultural change is 

needed to tackle underperformance, 

both at the level of the organisation 

and the individual, to provide value 

for money to the citizen and taxpayer, 

and in the interests of equity and 

morale” the report says. 

While the Task Force adds that what it 

admits is a 'major cultural change' should 

be agreed through partnership, to date, 

the public sector unions have been less 

than enthusiastic about performance 

management - even at senior level. 

The application of a performance based 

system for assistant secretaries 

introduced by the Review Body on 

Higher Remuneration in the Public 

Sector, for example, has been roundly 

criticised by the Review Body itself. The 

Review Body noted that the virtually all 

assistant secretaries received the average 

award from their immediate superiors - 

the secretary generals. Fear of 

upsetting senior staff was the 

problem but as the Review Body 

pointed out this completely 

undermines the whole idea of such a 

performance based pay system. 

The gradual introduction of a 

Performance Management 

Development System (PMDS) through 

all levels of the public service has also 

been beset by public sector union 

resistance. The PMDS links the payment 

of increments to performance with the 

top performers getting a double 

increment while the worst performers 

are denied the increment. But like the 

assistant secretaries scheme, the vast 

majority of public servants were given 

their increments with only a handful 

deemed to be under performing. 

While the civil service unions have 

reluctantly accepted PMDS, they are 

watching very closely for fear that 

PMDS will in the future be applied 

to pay. 

It will indeed require a “major cultural 

change” as the Task Force report admits. 

Another key point of the OECD report 

adopted by the Task Force is the need 

for mobility across the public service, an 

area of increasing relevance in the 

current economic climate if the public 

service, as Taoiseach, Brian Cowen says 

has ‘to do more with less’. 

Barriers 

“The collaboration required for better 

policy making and service delivery can 

be promoted, in the human resources 

area, by moving to a unified labour 

market across the public service and by 

heightening the service-wide identity of 

public servants. Removing barriers 

(sectoral, professional, industrial 

relations and geographical, for example) 

to movement between different sectors 

and organisations in the Public Service is 

essential in promoting deeper 

collaboration.” the report says. 

But again the Task Force reports the 

difficulties in achieving this. “Putting in 

place the means to redeploy employees 

across existing boundaries to areas of 

greatest priority, and adjusting employee 

numbers in line with available resources 

and skills demands through targeted 

redundancy and retirement programmes 

is another very challenging step” warns 

the report. 

The problems that beset decentralisation, 

where public servants could not cross the 

semi-state/civil service boundary, show 

how difficult this will be. 

The Task Force places great emphasis on 

the political leadership required to effect 

the changes recommended. “The 

Department of the Taoiseach and the 

Department of Finance must play a 

stronger role in overtly linking (a) 

Government’s policy objectives, (b) 

resource allocation decisions and (c) the 

public service change agenda through 

the cabinet process” says the report. 

It also backs the OECD’s 

recommendation for the creation of a 

public service leadership cadre. “The 

Public Service must empower leaders at 

all levels” it says. 

“We have recommended specific, 

politically-led, leadership and oversight 

arrangements through the creation of a 

Cabinet Committee chaired by the 

Taoiseach and centres to drive 

implementation with each sector - 

Education, Health, Local Government, 

Civil Service, Defence and Justice. We 

recommend the creation of a central 

Programme Office to support local 

offices, to support political 

championship, to co-ordinate the 

transformation efforts across sectors and 

to provide accountability mechanisms”, 

the report concludes. 

But all this will all have to wait the 

recommendations of 'An Bord Snip 

Nua' so the Government can see 

exactly what public service it has left 

to reform ■ 

10

LEGISLATION 


Employment Compliance Bill 

Published in March 2008 following a commitment given in the 2006 

national pay agreement, the Employment Compliance Bill will get its 

second stage reading in February 2009 with enactment unlikely until well 

into 2009 – if at all. 

“The Bill, which is on the order paper, is 

being finalised in consultation with 

stakeholders. I have requested the 

Department to ensure Second Stage will 

be taken early in the next parliamentary 

session”, Billy Kelleher, Minister of 

State at the department of Enterprise, 

Trade and Employment said before the 

Dail broke up for Christmas. 

Problems Ahead 

But there are problems. While unions 

have been pressing hard for the Bill and 

were promised enactment under last 

September’s national pay agreement 

before the end of 2008, employers have 

voiced concerns over the excessive 

reliance in the bill on criminal 

prosecutions against employers who may 

only be involved in a minor or 

administrative breach of the regulations. 

The employers also claim that the Bill 

places an onerous administrative burden 

on employers, particularly small employers. 

But the unions are strongly resisting 

any dilution of the compliance bill 

arguing that it is needed now 

more than ever. 

It is understood discussions are ongoing 

between unions and employers on the 

Bill and this is what Kelleher 

euphemistically refers to as the Bill being 

“finalised in consultation with 

stakeholders”. 

The argument that employers are being 

hounded for the most minor breaches of 

employment rights regulations surfaced 

just around the same time that concerns 

were voiced that the Bill could be seen as 

a sledgehammer trying to crack a nut. 

Just before Christmas, Senator Shane 

Ross, questioned whether the National 

Employment Rights Authority (NERA), 

which will be put on a statutory footing 

in the Compliance Bill, was exercising its 

powers in a manner which is damaging 

small businesses. 

Ross focussed on complaints from 

O’Brien’s Sandwich bars that what it 

regarded as an anomaly between 

the JLC for the catering 

industry in 

Dublin and outside Dublin was 

placing its business under threat. 

Under the JLC for Dublin, a Sunday 

premium of time plus a third applies but 

in the separate JLC covering 

employments outside Dublin the Sunday 

rate is set at double time. 

Ross said that an audit by NERA of 

employers outside Dublin found that a 

large number of them were not paying 

double time on Sunday. Orders were 

subsequently made to pay the correct 

rate and Ross claimed that this was now 

threatening catering businesses, 

particularly those who relied on the 

Sunday lunch trade. 

Senator Ross also claimed that many 

employees, particularly those who 

worked on week-ends only, were happy 

with the rate being paid and would 

prefer to have kept the lower rate than 

lose their job. 

12


LEGISLATION 

NERA was set up to protect the rights of 

employees, said Ross. “While this is a 

laudable objective, the authority has 

taken unto itself certain powers, which it 

is entitled to do, and is exercising them 

in a manner which is suppressing and 

damaging small businesses, one of the 

most obvious examples being O’Brien’s 

sandwich bars” said the senator. 

In response, Minister of State Kelleher, 

while sharing the Senator’s concerns over 

the fate of the Sunday lunch, pointed 

out that the problem has nothing to do 

with NERA which is simply doing its duty. 

“While NERA was established to enforce 

minimum statutory employment rights, 

it is obligated under its charter to ensure 

it enforces employment rights” said 

the Minister 

“NERA is not the issue. The issue is the 

rates of pay being struck by the joint 

labour committees”, said the Minister. 

“NERA is only doing its job. It is 

obligated to enforce the laws of the land. 

These are only minimum statutory 

entitlements. Nobody would encourage 

abuse of workers, and that is primarily 

the reason why NERA was set up in the 

first place, “added Kelleher. 

“Some people are now saying that the 

labour inspectors are too enthusiastic in 

enforcing the law, but the Senator would 

not stand over a situation whereby 

people were being exploited. The 

fundamental purpose is to enforce 

statutory minimum entitlements of pay 

and conditions” said Kelleher. 

“I assure the Senator that I have 

received many representations, not 

only from employers but also from 

employees in small towns and villages 

who have been let go and who have 

no possibility of obtaining any form 

of work on Sundays” said the 

Minister of State. 

Instead Kelleher said efforts should 

turn towards a rationalisation of the 

JLC system, something which has 

been on the agenda for some time 

now. This is particularly so given the 

fact that some of the JLCs date back to 

before the second world war and to 

some extent have been superseded by 

the national minimum wage. 

In fact, since the O’Brien’s complaint, 

some movement has been made to 

address the anomaly between the 

Sunday rates in the Dublin and rural JLC 

and agreement is likely on this in the 

short term. 

Certainly, it is likely to be agreed well 

before compliance bill itself becomes law. 

The problem now for the Government, 

which has promised the unions the 

legislation, is that the employment 

scenario has totally changed. Employers, 

big and small, are under pressure to 

keep the doors open and more top 

heavy employment rights legislation 

may not be the most apt of medicines 

in today’s economic environment. 

Increased Fines 

The Compliance Bill does provide for 

increased fines for employers who 

breach employment protection legislation 

as well as giving the now 81 labour 

inspectors in NERA greater investigative 

powers including critical link ups with 

Revenue, Social and Family Affairs and 

the Department of Enterprise, Trade 

and Employment. 

But while ‘some people’ , as Minister 

Kelleher puts it, are complaining that 

NERA inspectors are ‘too enthusiastic’, it 

appears Kelleher, notwithstanding the 

employers concerns over criminal 

offences, has no intention of allowing 

that to upend the compliance bill. 

“I get representations from all sides of 

the House in the context of NERA being 

over vigilant. We have 81 labour 

inspectors on the ground ensuring that 

employment law is complied with. I will 

not stand for employers using the 

downturn in the economy to potentially 

exploit Irish workers or people here on 

work permits” warned Kelleher. 

The Government will not stand aside while 

employers try to gain unfair competitive 

advantage by short-changing workers on 

their entitlements, added the Minister. 

That point about unfair advantage has 

been made before and would seem even 

more relevant in advance of the 

enactment of the compliance bill. 

In short, for the vast majority of good 

and fair employers, not only do they 

have nothing to fear from strengthened 

employment rights legislation but they 

should actively support its passing in 

that it will weed out the few 

unscrupulous employers who are gaining 

an unfair advantage over their rivals by 

paying their workers below their 

statutory entitlements. 

This point was also highlighted by the 

NERA director, Ger Deering. 

“The law is the law and NERA enforces 

those laws” said Deering. 

“But it is important to point out that 

there are employers who do abide by the 

law and a large portion of the calls we 

get into our office every day comes from 

employers who are concerned that the 

business down the road is gaining an 

unfair advantage by ignoring the laws he 

or she is honouring” said Deering. 

The NERA director general added that 

up to 40% of the queries it gets come 

from employers. 

NERA does do targeted campaigns in 

particular sectors where it might have 

reason to believe there may be 

exploitation and catering was one such 

sector targeted last year. 

Overall, there were over 25,000 

inspections/calls/visits in the ten 

months to October, well over twice 

the 11,000 inspections carried out in 

the whole of 2007. 

Of the 25,000 inspections carried out in 

2008, breaches were detected in 4,200 

cases with just over €2.5m in arrears of 

wages recovered by NERA inspectors. At 

almost 1 in 5 this may appear high but it 

is understood that many of these breaches 

were technical or administrative in nature. 

While over 4,200 breaches were detected 

in 2008, 72 cases or under 2% have 

been referred to the chief state solicitors 

office for prosecution. 

A Department spokesman confirmed that 

it is expected that the second stage will 

take place in early February 2009. 

“Seanad consideration of the Bill is 

anticipated immediately after Easter 

with enactment by summer 2009 

the target,” added the 

Department’s spokesman ■ 

13

RESEARCH 


Shaping the future 

A major new CIPD research project, with two leading Irish-based 

manufacturing firms participating, is exploring how organisations 

can achieve sustainable high performance 

Given the current economic climate, 

launching a research programme on 

sustainable high performance 

organisations may not seem best timed 

but it is part of the foundation for 

success post-2010. 

However, it is precisely because of the 

challenges organisations are facing that 

the CIPD research team has initiated this 

new strategic research and engagement 

programme, ‘Shaping the Future’, 

investigating sustainable high 

performance in fast-changing contexts, 

received such an enthusiastic response 

from business leaders when it was 

launched at the CIPD annual conference 

in Yorkshire, last October. 

It is being led by the CIPD’s director of 

research, Linda Holbeche and by 

Christina Evans, a specialist on 

organisational performance, with the 

participation of the CIPD office in Dublin. 

“Until recently financial performance, 

measured in terms of outperforming one’s 

peer group, has been used as the key 

indicator of high performance. But this 

one dimensional view of high 

performance is one that is being 

questioned, as more and more 

stakeholders expect organisations to adopt 

a much broader perspective on high 

performance,” Christina Evans explained. 

Pursuing short-term financial gains at the 

expense of developing organisational 

capabilities to thrive in the future, or 

overlooking employee well-being, is not 

consistent with current thinking on 

sustainable high performance. 

How does Shaping the 

Future work? 

1. Shaping the Future will take our 

understanding of sustainable high 

performance forward using a three 

dimensional strategy. 

2. In-depth research into leading edge 

case study organisations. 

3. Think-tanks studying high 

performance through action research. 

4. A mass movement of engaged 

practitioners debating the issues and 

sharing insights. 

The CIPD working model of sustainable 

high performance is based around a 

number of key elements drawn from 

existing research on high performance, 

including the CIPD’s earlier research on 

people and performance 1 . 

These elements include: 

• agile team and project structures; 

• effective systems and practices; 

• enabling workplace culture where 

employees are treated as individuals 

Understandably many business leaders 

are currently preoccupied with the 

question of ‘What do we need to do to 

remain in business?’ Yet the decisions 

that organisations take during these 

uncertain times, together with the way 

those decisions are implemented and 

communicated to different stakeholders, 

will have a significant impact on future 

performance. Organisational reputation 

has emerged as a key aspect of 

sustainability in the conversations that we 

have already had with leaders about our 

research: many are mindful of the 

importance of considering reputational 

capital when making difficult decisions. 

Our working assumptions about 

sustainable high performance 

One of the difficulties with the term 

‘sustainable high performance’ is that 

different stakeholders will undoubtedly 

have different views on what this means 

in practice. 

14 

Driving practice – wider engagement 

Action 

In-Company action research 

learning 

sector/theme 

sets 

Research 

© Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2008 

into high performance 

themes and topics 

References: 

1. PURCELL, J., KINNIE, N. and HUTCHINSON, S. (2003) Understanding the people and 

performance link: unlocking the black box. London: CIPD.


RESEARCH 

whose well-being is integral to the 

financial health of the organisation. 

The research will also cover the 

importance of effective leadership at all 

levels and the extent to which there are 

processes to ensure that innovation 

occurs in all parts of the organisation, 

not just in research and development 

teams. Two Irish-based organisations, 

both at the leading edge of 

knowledge-based production and 

product development, are 

participating in the ‘Shaping the 

Future’ programme. 

But what is it that binds all these different 

elements together? At the heart of our 

working model we have included the 

concept of shared core purpose: an area 

that we want to explore in more depth in 

the research. We know that in knowledge 

- and service-intensive businesses, having 

a strong line of sight to customer needs 

and expectations is crucial to future 

business success. But what is less clear is 

how organisations ensure that all 

employees feel a sense of connection to 

the organisation’s core purpose. 

A recent feature in People 

Management 2 , suggests that employee 

contribution, which he defines as 

individuals having meaning and purpose in 

their work, is an overlooked aspect of the 

current debate on talent management. 

This is an area that we will want to explore 

further in the research through the 

question of how organisations build 

sustainable talent pipelines. 

To build a sustainable high-performance 

organisation, leaders – and this includes 

HR leaders – will need to question old 

ways of working, as well as take some 

brave decisions if they are to create an 

organisational culture that delivers on its 

employee promise. After all, employers 

can’t expect employees to continue going 

that extra mile to ‘delight customers’ if 

they aren’t responsive to the changing 

needs of their staff too. 

Over the next three years we will be 

conducting in-depth case study research, 

developing learning communities, as well 

as hosting larger engagement events. 

Each of these activities is designed to 

bring business leaders and HR 

practitioners together with the explicit 

aim of improving practice ■ 

Christina Evans 

For more details 

on the CIPD 

research project 

Shaping the 

Future, log on to 

the research 

webpage 

www.cipd.co.uk/ 

shapingthefuture 

References: 

2. ULRICH, D. (2008) Not-so-standard deviation. People Management. 7 August, 2008.

MOTIVATION 


In challenging economic conditions - how can 

you keep your employees motivated? 

As organisations operate in more difficult business conditions and in an 

environment of pay restraints, it may be an opportune time to communicate the 

value of existing benefits to employees. 

by Kevin Kinsella 

• Are your employees aware of 

the value of their total 

compensation package? 

• Are your employees aware of 

escalating retirement costs? 

• Do your employees focus on base 

salary alone? 

• Do you have retention and/or 

recruitment issues? 

If any of the above issues concern you, 

then the introduction of total 

compensation statements may help 

address these issues: 

• Enhance evaluation: by increasing 

employee awareness and appreciation 

of their total compensation package 

• Recruitment & retention: by 

quantifying the cost of all 

compensation and benefit items 

• Employee communication: by 

providing a personalised summary of 

each employee's total remuneration 

Background 

Effective communication can help to 

ensure that employees understand 

and value their total remuneration 

thereby making the most of your 

reward programme. 

Communication is more than getting the 

word out. It is the art and science of 

engaging employees. Often, that means 

creating personalised communication that 

really grabs employees’ attention, 

promotes understanding and motivates 

them to take action. 

Effectively communicating total rewards 

leads to improved motivation and 

performance by raising the perceived 

value of the reward package. 

Total Compensation Statements are one 

many communication tools offered by 

organisations to raise the level of 

awareness and knowledge among 

employees of their reward package. 

16 

Total Compensation Statements enable 

organisations to consolidate a summary of 

each employee’s remuneration providing 

employees with a comprehensive report of 

their pay and benefit details while also 

reducing the burden on HR staff. 

The use of Total Compensation 

Statements can: 

• define and quantify employees’ total 

remuneration and the investment 

made by the company, 

• increase the visibility and reinforce the 

value of programmes and benefits, 

• eliminate the need for numerous 

employee statements (from various 

benefit sources) by using a ‘one-stopshop’ 

approach, 

• aid in retention of employees, and 

• relieve the burden on HR staff to 

consolidate and distribute data, and 

deal with multiple employee queries. 

What’s involved in the 

production of a Total 

Compensation Statement? 

• Project management - the delivery of 

statements will very much depend on 

the strength of the project 

management. By developing and 

maintaining a robust project delivery 

plan, liaising with all data providers and 

printers it will ensure that the statement 

is delivered on time and within budget. 

• Draft and design – It is critical that 

the statement layout meets your 

reward programme rules and 

branding specifications and is tailored 

to deliver maximum employee impact. 

Statements can range from as small 

as a four page summarised document 

to a comprehensive more detailed 

document which can be fully 

pension compliant. 

• Creation, testing and production 

of statements – One way of doing 

this is to consolidate your data files so 

that a unique data record is created 

for each employee, and merged to the 

appropriate statement text. Population 

can be segmented to receive different 

versions of the statement depending 

on their benefit eligibility or location 

or other relevant differentiator ■ 

For further 

information Kevin 

Kinsella may be 

contacted by email, 

Kevin.kinsella@ 

mercer.com or at (01) 

411 8180. 

PLATINUM SPONSOR OF CIPD


RESEARCH AND POLICY 

New HR survey report 

launched with Deloitte 

The Institute has launched a new 

seasonal report on employment 

and economic trends, combined 

with a survey of more 

experienced CIPD members in 

Ireland, in association with the 

Deloitte business services firm. 

Over 1,500 chartered members were invited to participate in 

the post-Budget survey with 216 responses to the Deloitte 

survey site. We would hope for a greater level of participation in 

future surveys if the CIPD is to develop a meaningful voice in 

Irish management. 

For many years HR executives have been concerned that they 

may not be regarded as first-division managers and policy 

influencers. This can only be achieved by chartered CIPD 

members playing an active role within their own 

management teams and also in the wider business and 

policy-making community. 

Committee on 

Employment and to the 

Minister for Enterprise, 

Trade and Employment, 

Mary Coughlan, TD.” 

The survey and trends 

reports are produced in Mark O'Donnell and Gerry Flynn 

partnership with Deloitte 

which provides one of the largest HR management and 

recruitment advisory services in the state. Its director of human 

capital, Mark O’Donnell has been a strong supporter of the 

development of the Institute in Ireland as an active participant in 

shaping business and management practices. 

The next survey of chartered members will be undertaken 

in late spring and we hope that hundreds more of those 

invited will participate to give a voice to the Institute and 

enhance the professional standing of the 6,000+ HR 

practitioners in CIPD Ireland ■ 

The recently published Employment and Economic Trends 

shows how experienced HR managers feel the proposed 

legislation should implement the EU’s agency workers directive. 

The default position is that an employee indirectly recruited by 

an employer, via an employment agency, would have to be 

granted the same pay and working conditions as permanent or 

directly employed staff. 

A majority of CIPD Ireland respondents felt that the provisions 

should become operative after an agency worker has been with 

an organisation for longer than six month. 

CIPD Ireland research 

and policy adviser, 

Gerald Flynn said: 

“Based on the 

feedback from the 

recent survey the 

Institute will be 

liaising with the 

CIPD’s director of 

policy, John 

Philpott and 

conveying the 

Irish members’ 

views to the 

Joint Oireachtas

LEGAL 


NATURAL JUSTICE: A REFRESHER 

Despite its importance, the concept of natural justice continues to be either 

ignored or misunderstood by some employers, leading to adverse decisions at the 

Employment Appeals Tribunal and in the High Court. In those circumstances, it is 

hoped that this short summary of the notion of natural justice will prove to be of 

assistance to those considering the issue for the first time. 

What are the Principles of 

Natural Justice? 

The British Courts have traditionally taken 

the view that certain decision-makers who 

are acting in a quasi-judicial capacity are 

required by the law to comply with what 

are known as the principles of “natural 

justice”. Since Ireland attained its 

independence, our courts have continued 

to cleave to this idea. In fact, since the 

adoption of the constitution by the people 

in 1937, the courts have acknowledged 

these principles of natural justice as being 

constitutionally reinforced. For that 

reason, the same principles are often 

referred to as the principles of 

“constitutional justice” in Ireland. 

There are effectively two core principles 

of natural justice: 

1. That a decision-maker must give the 

subject of their decision a fair hearing 

in advance of the decision being 

made (audi alteram partem); and 

2. That the decision-maker may not be 

biased or prejudiced (nemo iudex in 

causa sua) by, for example, earlier 

involvement in the matter. 

Each of these ideas is discussed in more 

detail below. 

When do the Principles of 

Natural Justice Apply? 

In very simple terms, the principles of 

natural justice apply when a decisionmaker 

is acting in a judicial or quasijudicial 

capacity and making a decision 

that may have a major impact on the life 

of the person to whom the decision 

relates. Obviously, the principles apply, 

18 

for that reason, to judges making 

decisions in courts or tribunals. They 

have also, however, been deemed to 

apply to others. Examples include: 

• social welfare appeals officers 

deciding on appeals against the 

refusal of social welfare payments; 

• school principals or others deciding 

on whether or not a pupil should 

be expelled; 

• employers deciding whether or not to 

dismiss employees; and 

• investigators conducting 

investigations into bullying or 

harassment allegations. 

Rule Against Bias 

The rule against bias (nemo iudex in 

causa sua) requires that the decisionmaker 

must not be biased or prejudiced 

against the subject of the decision 

or against an outcome in favour 

of that person. For that reason, it 

is important to ensure that the 

decision-maker: 

• has not had any prior involvement 

in the matter before being 

assigned to investigate or make 

a decision; 

• has not been the subject 

of any previous allegations 

made by the person whose 

case is being investigated 

or heard; 

• has had no prior knowledge 

of the issue before being 

charged with responsibility 

to investigate or 

determine the matter; 

• has no family or other 

close relationship with 

any of the parties 

involved. 

The Employment Appeals 

Tribunal has even gone so 

far as to suggest that the decision-maker 

is biased if they witnessed the incident 

giving rise to the complaint so care 

should also be taken in that regard. 

Fair Hearing 

The requirement that the individual about 

whom allegations have been made be 

given a fair hearing (audi alteram partem) 

is of critical importance and will arise as 

an issue or concern in every case to 

which the principles of natural justice 

apply. This requirement has a number 

of applications: 

1. The hearing itself should usually be 

an oral hearing. In very limited 

circumstances the hearing may be 

based on written submissions only.


LEGAL 

2. The person against whom allegations 

have been made should be given 

reasonable prior notice of any hearing 

or investigatory meeting taking place. 

While the period of such notice may 

vary from case to case, it is normally 

expected that anything between 

three and seven days notice will be 

the minimum. 

3. The allegations should be 

particularised in writing in the letter 

of notification in order that the 

person against whom they have been 

made will have time to consider them 

in advance of the meeting. 

4. Any relevant documentary evidence 

will be copied to the person against 

whom the allegations have been 

made some reasonable period of time 

before the meeting in order that they 

can consider those papers and 

comment upon them at the 

relevant juncture. 

5. The person against whom the 

allegations have been made should 

be given the opportunity to call 

witnesses in their own defence and to 

cross-examine those witnesses who 

give evidence against them if they 

wish to do so. This particular aspect 

of natural justice can cause practical 

problems but relatively rarely arises. 

Where it does arise as an issue legal 

advice should be taken before any 

effort is made to deny requests to 

question witnesses. 

6. The person under investigation is 

entitled to be represented (rather 

than simply accompanied) by a 

person of their choice at any 

hearing/meeting. That person might 

be a colleague, a friend, a relation, a 

trade union official or even, in some 

cases, their solicitor. The issue as to 

when one can be represented by a 

solicitor is somewhat unclear, but the 

best advice is to permit such 

representation in circumstances 

where the matter is very 

complicated or involves questions 

as to legal rights. 

7. The decision-maker should usually give 

reasons for their decision. Those 

reasons need not be overly detailed. It 

is usually sufficient to give the relevant 

reasons “in general and broad terms”. 

Consequences of Failing to 

Respect Natural Justice 

Failure to respect the principles of natural 

justice can lead to a decision being 

overturned by any court or tribunal that 

subsequently considers the matter. It can 

also lead to awards of damages or 

compensation. In an employment 

context it can result in claims of unfair, 

wrongful or even constructive dismissal. 

Where such cases end up before the High 

Court (which is not uncommon) legal 

costs can be substantial ■ 

Adrian Twomey is Director of 

Employment Law Services at Advokat. 

Adrian is a regular speaker at CIPD 

events. He can be contacted at 

atwomey@advokat.ie.

INTERNET 


How the CIPD 

website can help 

you find 

information 

Did you know that there are 

a wide range of resources 

available on the CIPD 

website at www.cipd.ie 

which can help you in your 

job? What follows is a brief 

tour of some of these. 

Keeping up to date with 

current affairs 

No time to trawl through the news? Let 

us do the work for you. 

• Latest news www.cipd.co.uk/branch/ 

ireland/resources/latestnews.htm 

We summarise the latest HR, 

employment and business news each 

morning to save you having to read 

all the newspapers yourself. 

• Business data www.cipd.co.uk/ 

branch/ireland/resources/ 

businessdata.htm 

We round up the latest economic 

indicators to enable you to make 

informed business decisions quickly. 

• News from government 

www.cipd.co.uk/branch/ireland/ 

resources/newsfromgov.htm 

We monitor the main government 

departments and agencies of interest 

to HR practitioners and summarise 

the issues. We also cover major 

events such as the recent national pay 

talks and Budget 2009. 

Staying within the law 

Unsure about how the law affects you 

and your colleagues? Our Employment 

law in Ireland section at www.cipd.ie/law 

addresses the main legislation relating 

to HR. 

• New legislation and Recent cases 

We monitor new and forthcoming 

legislation and summarise the most 

important employment-related 

court cases. 

20 

• Employment law newsletter 

Our employment law newsletter 

provides a regular analysis of the 

legal developments over the last 

few months. 

• Employment law factsheets 

Our employment law factsheets, 

written by A&L Goodbodys, provide 

an introduction to current and future 

law relating to the main aspects of 

the employment relationship and the 

most important codes of practice. 

Helping you with your work 

Been asked to deal with a new area? 

Find out how to go about it with 

our resources. 

• Factsheets www.cipd.co.uk/ 

onlineinfodocuments/factsheets.htm 

Our extensive library of factsheets 

give introductory guidance on a wide 

variety of HR topics. 

• Practical tools and activities www. 

cipd.co.uk/onlineinfodocuments/ 

toolacts 

Our range of ‘starter for ten’ tools 

and practical exercises are designed 

to help you tackle current and 

emerging issues. 

• CIPD professional Communities 

http://www.cipd.ie/networking 

If we haven’t answered your question 

on the website, you can discuss it 

with other CIPD members in Ireland in 

our communities. 

Finding out more about 

an issue 

Want to learn more about a subject? 

Research it using our tools. 

• Podcasts www.cipd.co.uk/podcasts/ 

Our podcasts give you the 

opportunity to hear the views of the 

top HR speakers on the major issues 

facing the profession 

• Useful publications 

www.cipd.co.uk/branch/ireland/ 

resources/usefulpubs.htm 

We have compiled a directory of 

business, governmental, HR and 

employment, and health and 

safety publications. 

• Useful links www.cipd.co.uk/branch/ 

ireland/resources/links.htm 

We have collected together links to 

the main government bodies, 

organisations, employment law 

sources and academic institutions of 

relevance to the HR profession. 

• Online journals www.cipd.co.uk/ 

onlineinfodocuments/journals/ 

You can search more than 350 online 

full text journals covering HR, 

training, pay and benefits, employee 

relations, employment law, corporate 

governance, management and 

business issues. 

• Company profiles www.cipd.co.uk/ 

onlineinfodocuments/companies 

We offer access to a wealth of online 

information on companies in Ireland 

and abroad produced by Datamonitor. 

• Country reports 

You will soon be able to research 

countries online via our website ■ 

If you would like to know more about 

these or the other resources available on 

the CIPD website or would like someone 

to come and give a presentation on them, 

please contact Catherine Rochester on +44 

208 612 6646 or C.Rochester@cipd.co.uk 

or CIPD Ireland: 01-6530400

EMPLOYMENT 


Directors risk disqualifications 

by Maria Gleeson, A&L Goodbody 

ODCE Focus on 

Disqualification for Offences 

relating to a Company 

At the recent conference of the Health 

and Safety Lawyers Association of 

Ireland, the Legal Adviser to the ODCE 

spoke about their focus on enforcement 

of the automatic disqualification 

provisions in Section 160 of The 

Companies Act, 1990, of persons 

convicted of an indictable offence 

relating to a company. He cautioned that 

such disqualification does not require a 

Court Order and that directors, officers 

or managers who have been convicted 

on indictment for offences relating to a 

company, such as health and safety 

offences or offences under The 

Competition Act, 2002, and who were 

continuing to act in any way in the 

promotion, formation or management of 

any company were in breach of the 

automatic disqualification provisions. 

The Employment Law 

Compliance Bill, 2008 

The Employment Law Compliance 

Bill, 2008, provides for 23 new 

offences for breaches of employment 

law, which may be prosecuted on 

indictment. Similarly to our Health and 

Safety legislation, the Bill provides for 

personal liability of directors, managers 

and officers. If the Bill is enacted in its 

current format, the automatic 

disqualification provisions in The 

Companies Act, 1990, would also apply 

to individuals convicted on indictment 

for these new offences. 

Register of Disqualified Directors. The 

ODCE have made the point, however, 

that convicted individuals are deemed 

disqualified and that this disqualification 

is effective, regardless of whether or 

not it has been registered in the 

Companies Office. 

Comment 

On an asset transfer or share purchase, it 

is important for the Transferee/Purchaser 

to establish whether the transferor/ 

vendor company and/or any individual 

directors/employees have been 

prosecuted on indictment for any 

offences relating to a company, including 

offences under competition, health and 

safety and employment legislation, and 

to ensure that any such individuals do 

not continue to act in the promotion or 

management of the company following 

the completion of the transaction. 

Such action will ensure that the 

transferee/purchaser will not 

fall foul of the prohibition 

against directors, officers 

and management of 

any company acting in 

accordance with the 

directions or 

instructions of any 

disqualified person ■ 

Maria Gleeson, 

Associate Solicitor, 

A&L Goodbody, 

IFSC, Dublin 1. 

www.algoodbody.ie 

Register of Disqualified 

Directors 

The HSA has reported that of twenty 

eight prosecutions taken by the 

Authority in 2007, seven individuals 

were prosecuted for health and safety 

offences on indictment. The Courts 

Registrar is required to submit details of 

any individuals convicted of an 

indictable offence in relation to a 

company to the Companies Office 

where they will be recorded in the 

22

RECESSION 


A New HR Agenda 

Ten Suggestions for managing through the downturn 

Since the onset of the downturn Watson Wyatt have been undertaking extensive 

research, both in Ireland and globally, to monitor how organisations are 

approaching their HR and Reward priorities for 2009. 

According to Kevin Empey, Watson 

Wyatt’s Head of HR & Reward 

consulting in Ireland, it is clear that 

organisations are trying to balance the 

need to reduce people and other costs 

with the equally critical business need to 

reorganise, engage and retain the key 

talent who will lead them out of the 

current crisis and into the upturn. Many 

of the current business and financial 

challenges are unprecedented but lessons 

can also be learned from the past. 

Whilst the changes we are going through 

are very painful, for some it is the time to 

re-engage the workforce, make changes 

which may be long overdue and 

ultimately regain competiveness. This will 

help the company not only to survive in 

the short term but also to prosper again 

as opportunities for growth emerge into 

the future. 

More than ever before, traditional 

“sacred cows” such as pay cuts and 

pension reform are on the table. 

Employers are also looking at individually 

tailored and innovative solutions for work 

force organisation, reward and benefits 

reform rather than being restricted by the 

traditional design approaches and norms 

of the past. 

While the urgency, issues and 

opportunities are different for each 

company, below are 10 clear messages 

and lessons coming from the most 

successful organisations when managing 

through the downturn: 

1 

Tackle costs but be 

careful about where 

you cut and how 

Cost structures must be 

confronted but the question is where, 

how much and how should it be done. 

Beware of making harmful, short-term 

cuts or salary reductions that might create 

more damage than savings. Salary freezes, 

cuts and headcount reductions may well 

24 

be part of the answer. However such 

actions must be considered in the context 

of effective workforce planning for the 

future as well as cost analysis which will 

help to establish your optimum talent and 

resourcing model for now and the future. 

It will also ensure that your business has 

the necessary work practices, resources 

and skills for the upturn. For example, 

such analysis could identify that flexible, 

part time highly skilled talent is needed 

more than full time salaried roles. Rather 

than lose critical talent, re-deploy skills 

and introduce flexible work practices 

that will help deal with the current 

business priorities and also embed a 

flexible working culture and 

resourcing approach for when 

conditions change again. 

2 

Focus on key talent 

Focus limited reward resources 

on keeping and rewarding 

your key talent. These are the 

people you need most now to stay 

focused on what is required to get you 

through the difficult times and later when 

the economy recovers. Others take their 

lead from them, so having them on 

board, taking ownership of challenges 

and performing is more critical than ever. 

If financial rewards are simply not an 

option, use non financial “rewards” to 

recognise and engage e.g. give them 

leading roles in helping to manage the 

crisis or stretch assignments that give 

them new skills and heightened profile. 

Perhaps compliment this extra 

contribution with creative incentives 

(financial or non financial) to stay and 

perform. Avoid drowning in harsh 

messages; organisations should not be 

afraid to make top contributors feel 

important and valued right now. 

3 

Ensure performance 

management is 

understood 

Ensure your performance 

management process is simple, valued by 

employees and delivered well by line 

management. More than ever, it should 

be used as a major communications and 

planning tool to drive home the key 

business priorities and enhance 

performance and clarity throughout the 

organisation. There has never been a 

better time to tackle the shortcomings 

in the performance management 

process and to clearly make the link to 

both organisational success and individual 

performance and reward. 

4 

Do not abandon 

variable pay 

Don’t abandon performance 

pay and bonuses but instead 

target, what may be more limited funds, 

to your top performers. Use reward to 

refocus them on realistic but stretching 

targets that will promote the right 

behaviours and results in this new 

environment. Funding rules and 

performance metrics will all need review 

and alignment with what good 

performance now looks like. Explore 

cuts to base pay rather than 

variable pay. 

5 

Realign sales 

performance & 

reward plans 

Review sales targets and 

territory strategies to focus your sales 

force on the most impactful opportunities 

and most critical business retention 

measures. The definition of sales force 

performance and how this is to be 

rewarded most likely needs significant 

change. Relative performance (versus 

internal and external norms) may be 

required as well as, or instead of, absolute 

measures. For many businesses, now is 

not the time to reduce investment in sales 

– a recent Watson Wyatt survey found 

that 85 per cent of companies are 

looking to maintain or increase their 

total sales compensation investment in 

2009 to help drive the right behaviours 

and maximise performance.


RECESSION 

6 

Look for cost savings and process 

change 

A review of business processes, supplier costs, HR 

policies and practices could reveal untapped 

efficiencies. Examples include shorter working weeks, extended 

leave, changes to travel polices, healthcare and benefits 

re-broking and salary sacrifice for pensions contributions. Such 

savings can come through within a few months of 

implementation and may prevent the need for more damaging 

cost savings elsewhere. 

7 

Integrate all total reward elements 

for maximum impact 

This is the time to maximise your total reward 

offering and brand for the segments of the 

workforce you need to stay with you and perform. If you 

haven’t done so already integrate your financial and non 

financial reward elements and keep communicating the nature 

and value of your total rewards offering, maximising your 

specific strengths as an employer. We know that employees 

look at the total package differently as they and the economy 

change. While security and base pay are currently the big items 

for employees, that will not always be the case. Ensure 

employees know just how valuable their total reward package is 

and what they can do to optimise their package for themselves 

and their dependants. 

10 

the change process well 

Staff know you don’t have all the answers and that 

you can’t offer cast iron guarantees about the future. 

Silence breeds fear and reduces employees’ 

engagement with the business. Be as open as you can and 

engage with them about your current performance priorities and 

the related changes to your business, HR and reward strategies. 

Involve them in developing solutions and implementing the work 

and process changes needed for success. Employees will have a 

wealth of ideas about improving their own work and how the 

organisation can function better. They have a stake in making it 

work. 

Recent Watson Wyatt Research on reward and talent 

management during the downturn: 

• Watson Wyatt Strategic Rewards Report 2008 / 2009 

• Continuous engagement during tough times 2008 /2009 

• Managing Reward in the downturn – A flash survey of 60 

Irish companies, November 2008 ■ 

If you are interested in obtaining copies of these reports, 

please talk to your 

Watson Wyatt contact or 

Kevin Empey 

(Ph: 01-661 6448; 

Email: Kevin.empey@ 

Main sponsor of the 

watsonwyatt.com) 

CIPD Excellence in HR Awards 

8 

Review executive reward 

This is a controversial area, particularly in recent 

times. However, similar to employees, reward and 

performance alignment is critical for this group, 

particularly for the executive talent you need to lead and 

manage others through the recession and towards the upturn. 

As with talent at all levels of the organisation those with 

the most relevant skills in the current environment are still 

valued in the market place. The reward system must “do its 

job” to retain and motivate them. Review your executive 

compensation design and ensure the new package is aligned to 

shareholder requirements and the new indicators of business 

success. 

Don’t damage your employer brand 

Don’t harm your employer brand by poor delivery 

9 

and management of change the moment things get 

tough. For example, staff cuts badly managed or 

knee jerk reactions will damage your reputation in the eyes of 

remaining and prospective employees. Live your employer 

brand and values through tough times and you will 

maintain trust and respect from employees, maximising the 

likelihood of an engaged and productive workforce. HR 

needs to work with decision makers in other parts of the 

organisation, e.g. with Finance to undertake the cost/risk/ 

benefit analysis of proposed cuts. Sometimes employee related 

cuts represent an easy target, however organisations should not 

shy away from tackling more endemic waste in other parts of 

the organisation’s cost base. 

Engage your employees and communicate

HR MANAGEMENT 


Performance Management: 

Wasteful or Wonderful? by Gerry McMahon 

Eamonn Dunphy, George Hook, Sue Barker and Pat Spillane make a tidy living from it 

most weeks. Sky Sports also love to dissect the performance of key players. Goals 

scored, shots on target, shots saved, successful passes completed and so on are all part 

of the evaluation. It’s tough stuff either to undertake or be subjected to. 

It’s especially tough when the assessor’s 

job is under threat and they’re trying to 

get more from less in a hostile economic 

climate. This is exactly the predicament of 

many workplace managers around the 

world today. Hence the queries: why do it 

and why do so many avoid it when they 

should be doing it? 

Why Do It? 

It is an accepted part of management 

orthodoxy that there ought be some 

means by which performance can be 

predetermined, measured, encouraged 

and rewarded. The reality is that the 

management of performance is a crucial 

determinant of the effectiveness and 

growth of all organisations. 

A formal system of Performance 

Management or appraisal is central to the 

process, involving the regular sharing of 

information between management and 

other employees about their work 

performance and potential. Indeed the 

wide scale application of formal appraisal 

systems throughout the world serves to 

underline its central role in the 

attainment of both organisational and 

staff objectives. 

allowed to become more than a narrow 

vehicle for the delivery of reward. 

Beyond their scope for giving and 

receiving feedback, they allow past 

performance to be reviewed, future 

performance targets to be agreed and 

appropriate training and development 

plans to be identified. 

Turning to the ‘bottom line’, American 

research has found that organisations 

with strong systems are 51 per cent 

more likely to outperform their 

competitors on financial measures and 

41 per cent more likely to outperform 

them on other measures such as 

customer satisfaction and product\ 

service quality. 

Win: Win Experience 

The value of Performance Management 

systems was also reflected in a recent 

survey undertaken by the Chartered 

Institute of Personnel and 

Development (CIPD), which concluded 

that sizeable majorities of managers find 

the process good for staff motivation, 

For example, according to both the 

National Centre for Partnership and 

Performance and Mercer Consulting 

about 70% of large firms in Ireland 

avail of a formal performance review 

system, whilst in the U.K., Germany, 

Sweden and Greece more than 4 out 

of 5 of organisations assess their 

managers via such a system. 

Performance review or appraisal 

systems aren’t all about pay rises. In 

fact the British evidence reveals that they 

only begin to have real effects on 

organisational effectiveness when 

26


HR MANAGEMENT 

training and development, reviewing and improving performance, 

setting objectives and determining bonuses. 

And somewhat surprisingly the same source found that most 

employees had a positive attitude to the process, due to its 

inherent capacity to give them ‘quality time’. That is, it’s good 

for reflecting on important matters such as: Where have I 

come from? Where am I now? and Where Do I Want To 

Go? When the latter query enables employees and managers to 

dovetail their aspirations the process can serve as a win: win 

experience for all. 

This approach will have contributed to Henley Management 

College and Hay Consultants’ U.K. survey of employees in 

2005 which found that: ‘it’s a key force for staff motivation … 

over 90% were motivated in some way by their last review’. 

Furthermore a large body of concrete evidence confirms that 

these joint target-setting meetings are a powerful way of 

increasing motivation and productivity. When properly conducted 

– in a participative manner - they give staff a much greater say in 

what they do and how they do it, thus facilitating 

commitment and a more positive attitude on their part. 

Indeed so valuable is the practice adjudged to be that 

the overwhelming majority of the Fortune Top 500 

companies in the United States use 360 degree feedback. 

That is, the review of staff performance incorporates the 

views of peers, subordinates and even internal and external 

customers - in addition to those of their managers! 

adjudge their systems to be effective place a major emphasis on 

training. The conduct of a professional training programme is 

recognised as central to the attainment of successful 

performance management systems. 

By providing managers with skills in giving both the good 

and the bad news their value has been enhanced. The 

reviewers’ preparedness to use (or if required, develop) their 

interpersonal skills is the real key to successful performance 

reviews. The failure to develop these skills has – and will 

continue to - contribute to numerous management-staff 

disagreements. For example, from an Irish perspective, one 

can only speculate as to their absence from the now 

infamous Cork hurlers dispute or the Keane-McCarthy 

fracas (i.e. the ‘Saipan affair)’ at the 2002 World Cup. 

When properly applied, huge benefits can be reaped from 

techniques designed to manage performance effectively. 

However it’s scary that even Keane himself should conclude 

that: ‘most managers don’t really manage at all’. Is he in that 

category now? ■ 

Dr. Gerard McMahon is a lecturer and 

consultant in H.R.M. at the Faculty of 

Business, D.I.T. and author of the 

forthcoming text ‘Successful Performance 

Management’, Liffey Press. 

E-Mail: ppl1@eircom.net 

Why Avoid It? 

The absence or faulty application of Performance Management 

systems has been central to many team failures and corporate 

downturns. For example, according to ‘Rogue Trader’ Nick 

Leeson’s assessment of his single handed destruction of 

Barings Bank, had his manager done ‘some simple 

checking he’d have seen some figures which would have 

given him a heart attack’! Thus prompting the Bank of 

England’s conclusion that Barings sudden demise was 

attributable to ‘a serious failure of controls and managerial 

confusion’, including ‘hazy’ reporting lines. 

However the start reality for many is that the process is painful 

and should be avoided at all costs. As researchers at Bath 

University discovered in 2003, it may be the least favourite 

Human Resources type activity of all. Undoubtedly from the 

manager’s perspective it’s very time consuming. It’s also 

hard to tell someone they’re not getting the bonus 

they’re convinced they deserve! 

It’s particularly hard if in the manager’s ‘heart of hearts’ they’re 

also convinced that the employee deserves it, but due to market 

or corporate turmoil the hierarchy have determined otherwise. 

Whilst from the employee’s perspective the fear of being 

told you’re not up to speed - when they’re already at wits 

end meeting job requirements – may do more than just keep 

them awake at night. 

Effective Systems 

Of course like any organisational practice, the preparedness 

of top management to support performance management 

is a key determinant of its success. Those organisations that

HR MANAGEMENT 


Getting the Measure of People 

In A Downturn by Mark Carter and Sean MacHale 

“There is now a great deal of evidence that the contribution of people is the largest 

driver of organisational performance. Systematically collecting, analysing and 

communicating information on the value of this contribution is vital…” 

Evaluating Human Capital - CIPD Nov 2008 

CEOs across all organisations need to 

make rapid and effective decisions in 

today’s extreme operating conditions. 

But many feel that they are trying to 

conduct surgery by candlelight. They do 

not have a complete picture of the 

workforce, the money invested in 

employees and the skills needed for the 

business. It is therefore difficult to 

predict the full impact of cost cutting. 

Research shows that spending on payroll 

workers typically accounts for 40-70% 

of the total, with the remainder split 

between contingent workers and 

outsourced services. Such costs vary 

widely, however, even within the same 

industry, and in many cases, employers 

can reduce them by as much as 5-10% 

without reducing headcount (1) . 

Of course in the current environment 

many employers feel they have no 

option but to lay off employees to cut 

costs even if they don’t have an exact 

handle on those costs. However, the 

question should be asked if in the 

long term redundancies cost more 

than they save. Taking into account 

potentially substantial redundancy 

payment costs, the potential loss of 

productivity given the loss of workforce 

numbers, and the long term cost of hiring 

replacements when the economy 

improves, the overall cost can be more 

than actually retaining staff and examining 

other ways to reduce costs while 

maintaining workforce productivity. 

Additionally, in a redundancy programme 

organisations run the risk that the most 

talented people – those that can more 

easily secure alternative employment – 

may be the first to leave. Those remaining 

can be psychologically damaged by seeing 

their colleagues leave, often leading to 

poor morale and a consequent loss of 

productivity effecting the bottom line. 

Enhancing productivity 

during testing times 

Research suggests that employers with 

more highly engaged employees report 

higher productivity per employee (1) so 

organisations should consider ways in 

which they can best measure 

engagement even during a downturn. 

Prudent employers realise that cash isn’t 

the key to motivating many employees, 

particularly amongst the younger 

generation who constitute a large part of 

the Irish workforce. A new study (2) 

finds that the most valued benefits 

favoured by younger Irish 

professionals from a list of 15, 

including cash bonuses are: 

• Flexible working hours 

• Greater holiday allowances 

• Training and development 

opportunities 

Employers should think about the 

consequences for each segment of their 

workforce before indiscriminately cutting 

training spend in a downturn. 

Balancing cost reduction 

and talent retention 

In the short term, many CEOs are 

understandably less worried about a skills 

shortage because their attention has 

turned to survival. Globally, the 

percentage of CEOs concerned about the 

availability of key skills fell from 61% in 

2008 to 46% in 2009 (3) . But even while 

laying off part of the workforce, ambitious 

employers will continue to focus on talent 

attraction and retention, and may even 

treat this period an opportunity to attract 

people who would have been harder to 

recruit during the Tiger years. 

The Challenge for HR 

In the current climate there is even more 

onus on HR to demonstrate, through a 

range of quantitative and qualitative 

metrics, the cost effectiveness, efficiency 

and productivity of the workforce. To 

present a viable case to the CEO they 

need evidenced based solutions on a 

range of people issues, including HR 

effectiveness, pay and productivity, 

leadership, talent, engagement, 

innovation and HR transformation. 

If business is to maximise its return on its 

‘most important asset’, and to retain the 

key talent needed to ensure short term 

survival and long term prosperity, then 

the insights provided by appropriate 

human capital measurement will be a 

crucial business resource in these most 

testing of times ■ 

Mark Carter & Sean MacHale are with 

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ HR Services 

group (www.pwc.com/ie/hrs) 

PricewaterhouseCoopers 

will host and present a CIPD 

members evening meeting 

on Wednesday 11th March 

@ 6:30pm. Full details are 

available from www.cipd.ie 

(1) Managing People In A Changing World - Key Trends in Human Capital: A Global Perspective 2008 (PwC Saratoga) 

(2) Millennials at Work – Perspectives of a New Generation’ (PwC) 

(3) PricewaterhouseCoopers 12th Annual Global CEO Survey 

28


HR MANAGEMENT 

Hearts, Minds & the Psychological Contract 

In this article, Garry Goldsmith makes the case that employers ignore 

the psychological contract at their peril. Garry is the practice lead of 

Hudson’s Talent Management Consultancy in Ireland. 

“The psychological contract has been 

defined as the perceptions of the two 

parties, employee and employer, of 

what their mutual obligations are 

towards each other. These obligations 

will often be informal and imprecise: they 

may be inferred from actions or what has 

happened in the past, as well as from 

statements made by the employer during 

the recruitment process or in 

performance appraisals” (CIPD, 2008). 

Drawing on the concept of the 

Psychological Contract provides new 

insight and supports a more symbiotic and 

sustainable relationship between employer 

and employee based on mutual trust and 

benefits. It is our firm belief, backed up 

by initial studies, that using the 

psychological contract as a diagnostic 

tool supports increased employee 

engagement and positively impacts 

business performance. This approach 

contrasts with traditional employee 

surveys, which focus exclusively on either 

the satisfaction or engagement of the 

employee, with no reference to the needs 

of the employer. 

Those who believe the current downturn 

in the economic cycle means a relief from 

talent related issues may be in for a rude 

awakening. Current trends suggest that 

the overhang in demand for talent from 

several years of strong growth may 

weaken the traditional link between 

labour availability and economic activity. 

If true, this new reality would reinforce a 

growing belief that demographic factors, 

combined with long-term economic 

growth, are fuelling permanent talent 

supply shortages across most professional 

roles, and most acutely in mid-level 

managerial positions. 

Much like global oil reserves are thought 

to be at or near their likely peak, the 

supply of professional talent in most 

western countries is also stabilising before 

an impending retraction. The obvious 

outcome of increased demand combined 

with limited capacity to increase supply is 

higher prices, which has clearly occurred 

over the least decade with the labour 

market re-pricing talent. And when prices 

of any resource rise, users need to do 

more to conserve and protect what 

they’ve already got. 

Increasing commitment among employees 

has been shown to increase productivity 

(Meyer & Allen, 2001). Engaged and 

motivated employees demonstrate higher 

commitment to their employers and are 

higher performing in their roles. In 

addition, recent research (CIPD, 2008) 

found that over 70% of employers believe 

voluntary employee turnover has a 

negative effect on business performance. 

The same research by Meyer & Allen also 

shows committed employees are more 

likely to remain with the organisation for 

a considerable period of time. This is 

especially important given the sizeable 

costs associated with employee turnover 

and the opportunity cost of line managers 

spending a disproportionate amount of 

time with new hires. 

Lets highlight this with an interesting 

example at the IT department of a large 

fixed-line phone company, who were 

experiencing high turnover and low 

performance among their programmers. 

To stem the significant costs associated 

with replacing these specialists, 

management made several significant 

investments in basic salary on the back 

of information from both their employee 

survey and exit interview process. To 

their surprise, attrition remained 

stubbornly high. Following our analysis, 

we identified that for this particular 

employee group, employability and using 

the latest technology were more 

important than salary increases over a 

certain threshold level. By rolling back 

some of the salary increases and 

replacing them with a personal 

training budget and 5 days paid 

training leave per annum, turnover 

fell and performance improved. 

Furthermore, the organisation was able 

to leverage new cutting-edge web 

development skills, which would never 

have been a development priority for IT 

managers focused on maintaining legacy 

mainframe systems 

Of critical importance when formulating 

people policies and deciding on the right 

course of action, is an understanding 

that the factors which trigger the 

decision to leave an organisation are not 

the inverse of those factors that drive 

engagement. Herzberg (2003) brought 

much attention to this fact in his seminal 

research on motivation, while a recent 

study in Australia & New Zealand by 

Hudson (2008) suggests that while 

people ultimately leave for money, their 

relationship with their manager and the 

company culture are far more important 

than pay in determining job satisfaction 

and therefore high performance. 

So while there is no magic wand or silver 

bullet, we have seen several recurring 

themes behind the most successful 

initiatives, regardless of the organisation 

or industry. Talent is a scarce resource, 

and is only going to become more so. A 

new workforce of highly educated and 

mobile people bring with them increased 

and vastly different expectations of what 

personal needs their job should satisfy. 

Rather than seeing this as a negative, the 

leading organisations of tomorrow will be 

fully in tune with this new paradigm, and 

are already taking strenuous and 

innovative steps to harness the incredible 

potential of a fully engaged workforce ■ 

This article is based 

on a full research 

article by Paul Dinan, 

Hudson Europe. A 

copy can be 

obtained from garry. 

goldsmith@hudson. 

com. A web cast is 

also available on this topic at 

www.hudson.com/engage. 

29

HR MANAGEMENT 


You won’t forget 2009 too soon 

Effective workplace communication now essential 

It looks as if 2009 will be one 

of those years to remember 

like 1987 with the overdue 

moves to address the public 

finances; or 1973 for joining 

the EEC; or the start of WWII 

in 1939; and 1929 for the 

Wall Street crash. All years 

that had big influences on 

the subsequent decades in 

Ireland or globally. 

We will come through it and some will 

look back in a decade at 2009 as the 

year in which they got to grips with 

organisational reality and shifted their 

management styles. An economic crisis 

and a downturn provide opportunities to 

address issues which many of us were 

too busy to get a tackle during the 1998 

2006 boom years. 

A key issue will be to either maintain or 

build trust which will have been dented 

or perhaps seriously damaged by the 

approach of recession. Contradictions 

will have to faced up to whether that is 

in costs which have run out of control 

or some sections of an organisation 

under-performing and allowed continue 

without improvement. 

Employee confidence is the key 

ingredient in building for the recovery 

and in exploiting potential 

opportunities which may lie around 

the corner. Key to that is effective and 

honest workplace communication. 

Ask yourself two quick questions: Do 

your employees feel empowered and 

engaged? Do they use their initiative and 

believe in themselves? You know the 

answers. 

Wage freezes, underperforming 

pension schemes and redundancies 

have all taken their toll on employees. 

Some companies’ employees have had 

their confidence and trust further 

shattered such as one high profile case 

when senior management were found to 

have been arranging up to €5m in 

golden parachutes for themselves while 

at the same time forcing through labour 

costs cuts and redundancies. 

30 

Objective assessment 

Imagine how staff in some financial 

institutions must feel when their 

senior management had been 

concealing large and questionable 

borrowings or failing to give accurate 

assessments of the institution’s 

viability and exposure to high-risk 

asset-backed loans. 

The first step is to objectively look at the 

state of your workplace communications 

and its effectiveness in securing buy-in to 

ride-out the recession. That is not very 

easy as is obvious with the great 

reluctance of the one-in-six employees 

who are in the pubic sector to face up to 

pay cuts or ‘reverse benchmarking’ 

adjustments despite a government 

budget deficit of nearly €20bn this year 

out of a total state spend of €60bn. 

“effective 

HR is a lot 

more than 

just PR” 

Effective two-way communications 

enhances trust which reinforces the 

psychological contract and usually leads 

on to enhanced performance. Now is 

the time to assess your organisation’s 

internal communications as opposed 

to marketing-style public relations 

initiatives. HR is a lot more than 

just PR. 

If you have doubts about the 

effectiveness of internal employee 

communications then set one task for the 

next few months – convince the most 

senior management of the importance of 

communication. They usually do not take 

much convincing; it’s just they often 

don’t know how to do it effectively. 

After that secure an independent 

assessment of organisational 

communications especially if you have 

not had such a review since before 2007 

when the business climate was so 

different. CIPD members probably have 

a better understanding of the role of 

effective communications in enhancing 

employee performance and reducing 

potential conflict than general 

managers. The problem is getting line 

managers and specialists to participate 

and avoid adopting a narrow focus 

often blurred by ‘management speak’ 

and confused thinking. 

Enhanced HR role 

CIPD Ireland members who need 

advice on effective workplace 

communications may contact the 

institute’s research and policy adviser, 

Gerald Flynn who has decades of 

effective communication experience. 

He will provide you with initial pointers 

to help you assess and implement 

improved employee communication by 

identifying, adapting for and working 

with, key audiences. 

Managing effective communications 

helps make HR managers play a key 

strategic role in their organisations as 

both business partners and key players in 

aligning objectives and developing an 

open culture. Usually it is a low-cost 

activity but when undertaken 

professionally and sustained by 

organisational analysis, two-way effective 

communication becomes a major driver 

of success. 

2009 could be a year to remember as the 

one when the human resource 

department at last got to grips with 

employee engagement rather than the 

year of losses, bankruptcies, redundancies 

and bank nationalisation ■ 

Contact Gerald Flynn 

at gerald.flynn@ 

cipd.ie. Have a look 

at TURNER, P. (2003) 

Organisational 

communication: the 

role of the HR 

professional. 

London: Chartered Institute of 

Personnel and Development. 

Available from 

http://www.cipd.co.uk/bookstore


COMMUNICATION 

Communicating Bad News to Employees 

Adopting the right attitude towards communicating bad news can help 

management effectively engage employees. As consultants, we use 8 key principles 

to assist businesses to communicate with employees - in good times and in bad. 

by Padriag McKeon, M.D., Drury Communications 

1 

Take control 

When businesses fail 

to control 

dissemination of news 

to employees the 

rumour mill will fill the information gaps - 

poorly. Employees might be aware that 

something bad is about to happen but 

often the rumour mill has a way of 

embelleshing the truth and making a bad 

situation appear much worse. 

2 

Be strategic 

Develop a well crafted 

internal communications 

strategy. Good 

communicaters are not 

born overnight. If open and honest 

communication is not part of the 

organization's culture, personality, and 

history, then communicating bad news will 

always be painful. 

3 

Lead from the 

top 

CEO’s must keep 

re-emphasising the 

importance of 

communications within their organisation 

if it is to be seen as more than ‘window 

dressing’ by management. 

During a crisis, we recommend that 

in order to prevent rumours and panic, 

senior management must be supported 

to provide distressed employees with 

as much information and guidance 

as possible. 

4 

Don’t use spin 

Communicate the 

good with the bad. 

Don’t be afraid to 

communicate about 

negative issues. Leaders who misuse 

communications to purely beat their own 

drums during good times, will be viewed 

with scepticism when it comes to 

communicating during bad times. 

5 

Provide the 

training 

The saying goes, 

"people don't leave 

companies, they leave their manager." 

With bad news being delivered more 

regularly to employees, companies need 

to ensure that they have both strategy 

and competency to promote better 

internal communication through middle 

and front-line managers. 

6 

Provide the 

right tools and 

use them at 

the right time 

Email might be a 

suitable tool to share an interesting 

online article with your team but will win 

you no fans if it is used to deliver emotive 

news such as notification about pay 

freezes or job losses. 

Remember, a ‘face to face’ meeting is 

often the most effective method of 

communicating bad news to employees 

where possible. 

Padraig was a speaker at the CIPD Annual Employment Law Conference and 

delivered a presentation on this topic 

7 

Be proactive 

not reactive 

In good times, allow for 

timely communication 

with your workforce 

across all business issues. In bad times, 

refer back to your communications 

strategy, which needs to include an 

approach on crisis communications. Be 

clear about who your internal stakeholder 

are and how best to communicate with 

them. Ensure all communications channels 

are open in order to provide clarity and 

tackle rumours head on. 

8 

Consider 

External 

Assistance 

Organisations with little 

experience in terms of 

managing crisis communications should 

consider engaging a third party better 

equipped to help design effective 

communications strategies. That 

engagement should take place at the 

earliest opportunity rather than waiting 

until a crisis looms. Remember, it’s far 

easier to take advice on sensitive issues 

from those service providers with whom 

you are familiar with and trust. 

Finally, it’s worth remembering at all 

times that employees also live in the 

world in which you do business – they 

may have friends and relatives who are 

your customers or may even be 

shareholders of the company they work 

for. Poor communication internally will 

have knock-on consequences externally. 

However, employees who are kept well 

informed and who feel engaged and 

valued within the business will usually 

work harder for that business and may be 

your saving grace in these harsher 

economic times ■ 

31

HR MANAGEMENT 


The Role of HR in Delivering Rapid 

and Sustained Cost Management 

In the current business environment, reducing costs 

quickly without negatively impacting growth is the 

key challenge facing organisations. While rapid and 

sustained cost management is a critical strategy. High 

performing companies realise that there is a right and 

a wrong way to go about reducing costs. Accenture’s 

ongoing research into High Performing Business 

demonstrates that those who get it right achieve 

higher revenue growth, profitability, cash flow and 

total return to shareholders. At times of crisis, many 

companies make the wrong decisions around where to 

cut costs. This has in many cases damaged company 

brands and led to an inability to attract the required 

talent, when the market changes for the better. 

The Role of HR in Driving Rapid and 

Sustained Cost Management 

HR has a key role to play in assisting their CEO’s in delivering cost 

savings, whilst ensuring that operational advantage is sustained. 

The current economic crisis presents an opportunity for HR 

to play an even greater strategic role at boardroom level. 

Now more than ever there is opportunity to agree changes with 

employees and trade unions, in order to preserve employee 

headcount. A strategic HR function should now be asking if their 

company’s operating model and culture is appropriate and responsive 

to the current business environment and what actions might they 

take to plan and manage inevitable changes over the coming year. If 

costs are to be reduced, companies must consider what payroll and 

administrative cuts can be made, to achieve the required level of 

savings and thus ensure long term business sustainability. 

The following table provides some examples of activities that HR can consider to achieve rapid and sustained cost management: 

Lever 

Take advantage of 

Talent Management 

Efficiencies 

Renew Human 

Capital Strategy 

Streamline HR 

Operations & Processes 

Key Activities 

• Evaluate lower cost payroll options through lower cost workforces, lower cost locations and geographies 

(outsourcing), changes in organisational pyramids or overall workforce optimisation. 

• Cut quickly, but cut the right people. Cut “fat” rather than “muscle.” For e.g., counselling out the bottom 

10% and reinforce the top 10% so they don’t leave. 

• Leverage cost effective recruiting techniques; keeping the talent flow moving – bringing in 5% new talent 

(aligning for the future). Capitalise on surplus of skilled workers who in good times might have been 

too difficult or expensive to attract. 

• Follow rigorous workforce planning processes to align hiring to the new business strategy and anatomy 

of the workforce. 

• Review compensation policies for current workforce to identify opportunities for cost savings 

• Use opportunity to create a structural change in the cost base of the company by looking at where your 

talent supply should be coming from (e.g., get out of high cost locations) 

• Ensure cost management is a key competency requirement in all HR processes. 

• Instil strong business operator values into the current leadership team and into future leaders. Leadership 

competencies should include elements of cost management and control. 

• Take a look at 3rd party vendors and identify opportunities to streamline. 

• Look at changing the overall service delivery model to maximize the use of technology or outsourcing. 

Shared services models may be a key consideration. 

• Maximise use of existing delivery models and drive down total HR cost. 

• Review and optimise current HR processes, using Lean Six Sigma techniques 

Payroll is an example of an area where specific cost savings can be 

delivered, whilst also driving future growth. 

Compensation Management and Strategic 

Role Assessment 

Organisations can often waste payroll budget by paying too much 

money to the wrong people or jobs. They do this by adopting 

universal pay policies that do not take into account their unique 

needs. In reality only 10-15% of jobs need to be paid at the 

median or above. 

Using a strategic role assessment approach organisations can 

scientifically assess the importance of all jobs quickly, to identify 

where best to invest their compensation to increase ROI. High 

performing organisations can make savings through not slavishly 

following the market rates for roles that are not integral to their 

strategy. This can add up to a 10% saving over a 2 year period, or 

even quicker with firm management intervention. 

The future 

Current economic times challenge even the best performing 

companies, but also create opportunities. HR can be at the core of 

the Strategic Cost Reduction agenda by taking a number of steps to 

reduce costs, whilst sustaining growth potential. The challenges of 

operating a business today are great but many companies have 

proven the ability to outperform their peers in turbulent conditions. 

The HR function must now play a central role in assisting their 

businesses to make the ‘right decisions’ around how to approach the 

economic downturn and to position themselves to capitalise on any 

future economic recovery. 

Lisa Manselli is a Senior Executive within 

Accenture’s local Talent & Organisational 

Performance (T&OP) practice. 

Lisa.Manselli@accenture.com 

32


DEVELOPMENT 

Education a Key Element of Career Transition & 

Outplacement Services in Today’s Business Environment 

Every day redundancies are being announced on the 

national airwaves and in the national press. From the 

devastation to Limerick and the wider economy of the job 

losses in Dell to the obliteration of the construction 

industry to the expected imminent job losses in the 

financial services sector, job losses are unfortunately 

becoming part of our day to day lives. Organisations 

across all sectors, private and public, have identified a 

need to reduce staff numbers through voluntary and 

compulsory redundancies. 

This reaction to the current economic 

climate represents a pragmatic attempt to 

secure the core business in a very difficult 

trading environment. However, 

unsophisticated or indiscriminate job cuts 

put both the employer brand and 

employee loyalty at risk. In contrast, well 

managed responses e.g. Irish Life & 

Permanent’s innovative three year 

sabbatical for employees can receive 

widespread support, internally and 

externally, they represent a measured 

response to the downturn, and the need 

to find an effective solution. 

The Problem 

For Companies: Many companies 

spent the Celtic Tiger era focusing 

Human Resource efforts on building a 

talent pipeline - recruiting, selecting, 

retaining and developing great staff. 

Due to the current economic downturn, 

some employers simply have no choice 

but to consider the redundancy and 

related options. How this is handled 

is critically important. 

For Employees: Committed and loyal 

employees now find themselves in a 

position where their jobs are untenable. 

Where roles become redundant, 

employees are facing into the unknown 

and need support through an ambiguous 

and traumatic period. 

The Solution 

Outplacement and Career Transition 

Services are solutions that need to be 

considered in response to job losses. 

Outplacement and Career Services are 

defined by CIPD as “Activities designed to 

enable individuals to develop a greater 

awareness of their capacities, potential, 

skills and limitations, to help them to 

pursue the career opportunities open to 

them and to manage the transition 

through a career change or into 

re-employment following the loss of a 

job”. As stated in the CIPD Factsheet 

‘Career and Outplacement 

Consultants’ (2008) “A lack of regulation 

and consistent accreditation has meant 

that the services delivered by consultants 

in the career and outplacement industry 

vary in range, depth and quality and can 

be confusing for the individual, the 

provider and the employer alike”. A key 

‘fitness to practice’ criteria identified by 

the CIPD in this factsheet is chartered 

membership of the CIPD which ensures 

that Outplacement providers “maintain 

and advance their knowledge and skills 

throughout their career by undertaking 

and recording continuing professional 

development (CPD)”. 

Education as a key element 

of the Outplacement and 

Career Transition service 

The range of Outplacement and Career 

Transition services offered by the majority 

of providers include services from 

Psychometric Testing to Curriculum Vitae 

preparation to Interview Skills training. At 

National College of Ireland, as an 

institution with a national remit we are 

concerned about the choices available to 

the people who will find themselves 

unemployed in 2009. We see the 

probable choices as follows: 

• Employment 

• Education 

• Entrepreneurship 

• Emigration 

Our mission is to enable people to 

explore the first three options as 

thoroughly as possible before having to 

consider the final option. Ireland is a 

knowledge economy and one of our 

strategic aims is to support the ongoing 

development of this economy at this 

crucial time. To deliver on this mission we 

have launched a Career Transition and 

Outplacement Service with education and 

training at the heart of our offerings. 

Both employee and employer benefit 

from being supported by National 

College of Ireland as a premier national 

education institution. The College’s 

historical roots (The Workers College), 

fundamental mission to change peoples’ 

lives and marketplace reputation provides 

an instant credibility to staff. 

Our key differentiating factor from 

typical outplacement providers is that 

we are primarily a third level educational 

institution specializing in the further 

and higher education needs of adults. 

A number of the people who will be 

faced with career transition or 

outplacement either now or in the very 

near future will benefit from taking either 

an educational or entrepreneurial route. 

As both an education provider and a 

Business Incubation Centre we can offer 

both routes as added value services in 

addition to career transition and 

outplacement services. The education 

route should then lead to increased 

employment opportunities. 

To date we have worked directly with 

employers and as an education partner 

with established Outplacement Providers. 

At the National College of Ireland we 

pride ourselves on being ‘easy to do 

business with’. Our genuine interest in 

providing solutions to real-world 

problems can make a significant 

contribution to the survival and 

development of businesses during these 

turbulent times. 

PLATINUM SPONSOR OF CIPD 

33

LEARNING 


Work-Based Learning: 

Graduating Through the Workplace 

A new report on work-based learning recently launched in Cork by CIPD Director, 

Michael McDonnell, attracted employers from approximately one hundred companies in 

the Southern region. The report is written by Dr Margaret Linehan, Cork Institute of 

Technology on behalf of the Education in Employment project which is funded through 

the Higher Education Authority’s Strategic Innovation Fund. The Education in 

Employment project is focused on the learning needs of those already in the workforce. 

The work-base learning sub-group of the project is a Cork Institute of Technology-led 

consortium comprising Athlone Institute of Technology, Dublin Institute of Technology, 

Dundalk Institute of Technology, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Institute of 

Technology Sligo, and University College Cork. 

The report contextualises work-based 

learning by including an extensive review 

of the extant literature on work-based 

learning. One of the key messages 

arising from the literature search was 

that defining work-based learning is 

recognised as highly problematic. This 

report, however, considers work-based 

learning to be learning at a higher 

education level and which largely takes 

place at and through work, not only to 

meet individual learning and 

development aspirations but also to serve 

the performance objectives of an 

organisation. This suggests that workbased 

learning depends on three 

interrelated components: (i) the 

individual; (ii) the organisation; and (iii) 

the academic institution. 

Pictured at the launch of a report on Work-base learning are: Dr Brendan Murphy, 

President, Cork Institute of Technology; Irene Sheridan, Head, Strategic Innovation Funds 

Project Unit, Cork Institute of Technology; Dr Margaret Linehan, Author of Report; Michael 

McDonnell, Director, CIPD Ireland. 

The report focuses on three main 

outcomes: 

• Audit of Courses: A summary of 433 

courses which offer elements of workbased 

learning in partner third-level 

institutions. Overall, the findings reveal 

that third-level institutions are still 

using the traditional classroom mode 

of delivery and are slow to embrace 

e-learning. The findings also highlight 

that for the successful operation of 

work-based learning programmes, 

there is scope for developing further 

employer engagement with higher 

education institutes in the design, 

development, implementation, and 

delivery of such programmes. 

• Academic and Industry 

Partnerships: The report highlights 

34 

the benefits which may be gained from 

such partnerships, and illustrates some 

of the current partnerships which have 

been set up as part of this project. 

• Individual Learning Plans: The 

benefits of individual learning plans 

for both learners and organisations 

are outlined. The report illustrates 

how such plans have been piloted in 

partner institutions. 

The report proposes that work-based 

learning is becoming increasingly 

important (i) for organisations 

needing professional development to 

create dynamic, flexible workforces, 

and (ii) to higher education 

institutions, recognising the workplace 

as a legitimate and fundamental site 

of learning. In summary, the report 

recognises that an attitudinal and cultural 

shift must be engaged with to overcome 

the traditional reliance on classroombased 

programmes in order to 

successfully develop new future workbased 

learning programmes. 

Speaking at the launch, Mr McDonnell 

warmly welcomed this timely report and 

recommended employers to introduce 

individual learning plans in their 

organisations for continuous professional 

development of their employees. 

Mr McDonnell also invited further 

participation between the CIPD and 

the Education in Employment 

consortium in order to gain further 

recognition for learning achieved in 

the workplace ■


LEARNING 

A time to reflect? 

There’s no doubt that the serious dent in consumer confidence brought about by 

recent financial crises is rapidly making its presence felt in all areas of companies’ 

operations. For many learning and development departments, the consequence is a 

slowdown in the level of activity, with many programmes scaled back, postponed or 

in many cases abandoned altogether, as funds for the very important (but not 

usually urgent) work of maintaining and developing the skills and knowledge of 

employees are used to meet more pressing needs. 

While there does appear to have 

been plenty of investment within 

Irish organisations in the last ten years 

on training and development 

interventions, ironically the heavy 

workloads, urgent deadlines and often 

frenetic levels of activity that have 

characterised those organisations in that 

time have been a serious inhibitor to the 

application of learning from those 

interventions on the job. Furthermore, 

many believe that the same 

organisational conditions have resulted in 

less time being spent evaluating the 

impact of that investment on individual 

and organisational performance. 

This is unfortunate, but not surprising. 

Although estimates from around the 

globe suggest that on average, 

organisations spend between two and 

five per cent of their payroll on 

training and development initiatives, 

studies have shown that typically no 

more that ten to twenty per cent of 

the skills and knowledge gained is still 

being applied one year later. In 

addition, reports from researchers and 

practitioners alike indicate that little serious 

evaluation of these initiatives takes place. 

Surely both of these issues are worthy of 

further investigation. Therefore, for those 

of you for whom a serious slowdown in 

your training and development activity is 

now a reality, perhaps this is the time to 

reflect on what you have been so busy 

with until recently. Insights gained can 

enable you to strengthen the case for 

what you do provide, and/or call a halt to 

some of the activities that haven’t had the 

impact they should have. 

A word of warning though – if you 

want to look properly at the effect 

your training and development initiatives 

are having, you need to look at the 

whole learning system (the set of interrelated 

factors that have an effect on 

learning and performance in your 

organisation). In this regard, three areas 

are of particular importance. 

• Programme outcomes. As we 

know, typical programme outcomes 

that are measured include 

participants’ reactions to the event; 

the amount of learning that has 

taken place; changes in behaviour at 

work (learning transfer); and 

organisational impact. 

• Programme content and 

design. Looking at this aspect 

involves evaluation of the materials, 

methods and media used to ensure 

they are in line with best practice and 

that they support learning transfer. 

• Work environment factors. 

These factors are particularly 

important in helping or hindering 

application of learning back at work, 

and as such need to be examined, 

particularly their effects on 

participants’ motivation and ability to 

apply what they learn. 

It is only through proper diagnosis of the 

problems in the system and focused 

interventions to remedy them that the 

rate of return on training and 

development resources can be improved, 

and the investment in the capabilities 

necessary to deliver sustainable 

competitive advantage be realised ■ 

Cyril Kirwan is the author of a new 

book called Improving learning 

transfer: Getting more out of what 

you put into your training which has 

just been published by Gower. 

35

AWARDS 


Garvey’s SuperValu celebrate their achievement of the 

FÁS EXCELLENCE THROUGH PEOPLE PLATINUM 

STANDARD AWARD: Only retailer in Ireland to-date 

to achieve PLATINUM standard certification 

Kerry based retail group Garvey’s was awarded the Excellence Through People Platinum 

certification for best practice Human Resource Management (HRM). 

The award was presented to Caroline McEnery (Operations Director) and Kevin 

McCarthy (Managing Director) by Junior Minister of State Billy Kelleher (Department of 

Enterprise Trade & Employment – Labour Affairs), at the Excellence Through People 

Annual Conference in Dublin on Tuesday 21st October 2008. Winning the Platinum 

standard sets Garvey’s Supervalu apart as the only retailer in the country to have 

achieved this prestigious level of Award. The FÁS Excellence Through People Award is 

recognised as the Irish quality standard for human resources best practice. 

Whilst other quality accreditations 

consider processes and systems, Excellence 

Through People is the only Irish national 

standard uniquely dedicated to people. 

This Platinum level is awarded to 

companies which achieve strategic 

competitive advantage through their 

people. Only eighteen other organisations 

have achieved this elite level and the 

Garvey Group joins a network of 

prestigious companies such as Baxter 

Healthcare; DePuy; AIB Capital Markets 

and Halifax Insurance. 

Background on Garvey’s 

The food retailing division of the Garvey 

Group, Garvey's SuperValu, is part of the 

retail franchise division of Musgrave Retail 

Partners Ireland. Currently, there are eight 

Garvey’s SuperValu stores in Munster - 

Tralee, Castleisland, Dingle, Listowel, 

Cork, Limerick, Newcastlewest and 

Dungarvan, and two Centra stores based 

in Newcastlewest and Dungarvan. 

Garvey’s SuperValu and Centra stores 

were the first Musgrave stores to achieve 

the Excellence Through People Award 

(Standard & Gold), and to date, have 

achieved this award five years running, 

culminating in the achievement of the 

Platinum, standard this year. 

Other prestigious recent awards achieved 

by the Group include the Castleisland 

store, who were winners of the 2007 

Supervalu Store of the Year and Regional 

Award Winners in 2008. They were also 

36 

announced as the overall winners 

of the Checkout Best For Fresh 

Store in Ireland 2008 Award. 

The Garvey Group operates a 

number of businesses in the food 

retailing, leisure and hospitality 

industry in the South West of 

Ireland and currently employs 

over 850 across its divisions. 

Commenting, 

Caroline McEnery, 

HR & Operations 

Director, Garvey 

Group: 

“We are delighted to be 

officially recognised as Ireland’s first 

independent retailer to achieve the 

prestigious PLATINUM standard of 

the Excellence Through People 

Award. On behalf of the 

management team in each of our 

stores, I would like to thank and 

acknowledge the contribution and 

wholehearted commitment of all our 

employees, and their continuous 

dedication to achieving the highest 

standards for our customers at all 

times. We know our commitment to 

best practice in our Human 

Resources, our key competitive 

advantage will continue to keep 

Garvey’s SuperValu at the forefront 

of retailing in Ireland today”. 

The Garvey Group was praised across a 

wide range of criteria including its 

Kevin McCarthy, Managing Director, Garvey Group - 

Caroline McEnery, Operations Director Garvey Group 

– Junior Minister of State Billy Kelleher (Department of 

Enterprise Trade and Employment – Labour Affairs) 

approach to business planning, 

communications, people involvement 

and recruitment and selection. Ms 

Heather Stephens - Excellence Through 

People assessor – commended the Group 

for its “culture of teamwork, 

innovation and management 

support”. The assessor further added 

that “talent management is evident 

in the Garvey Group’s Recruitment 

and Selection system.” Ms Stephens 

added that the company is “fully 

committed to attracting, developing, 

retaining and supporting the best 

people for the business.” 

Michael McDonnell – Chairman of 

the Excellence Through People Board, 

commended Garvey’s for its established 

and effective HRM practices which were 

perceived to be “best in class” and a key 

“source of competitive advantage” ■


HR MANAGEMENT 

Helping managers to deal with grief 

at work by Breffni McGuinness – Irish Hospice Foundation 

Work is a part of everyday life, and the 

workplace, along with family and friends, has an 

important role in helping employees to adjust to 

the losses that they encounter in their lives. These 

can range from the death or serious illness of a 

friend or relative to relationship breakup or the 

death of a colleague. While grief is a normal, 

though difficult, part of life, managers often feel 

uncomfortable and ill-equipped when dealing 

with employees who are facing these situations. 

Clare’s story 

Jean and Mike are a sister and brother who work in a large 

company. Their mother was killed suddenly six months ago in 

a road traffic accident. Jean was visibly upset and found 

coming back to work very difficult. Her manager, Clare, tried 

to be understanding by adjusting Jean’s workload and 

arranging for her to work reduced hours. In contrast, Mike 

returned soon after the funeral and seemed to be managing 

well, with hardly any change in his productivity. Then, out of 

the blue, Mike went to Clare and asked for the same 

conditions as his sister; he was evidently very aggrieved 

that he had not been offered them himself. 

Clare was bewildered. After all, it was over six 

months since Mike’s mother died – surely he 

should be over the worst of it by now? She felt 

out of her depth. She wanted to be 

compassionate but wondered if Mike was trying 

to take advantage of the situation, and she was 

wary of setting precedents. She had thought that 

the best way to deal with grief situations in the 

workplace was on an individual basis, but now 

she was beginning to wonder if something more 

structured was required. 

One of the difficulties for Clare is that she has no 

guidance on how to manage these situations. 

The development of an organisational 

bereavement policy can be an important first 

step in helping managers to feel better 

prepared for workplace grief situations when 

they arise. Studies have shown that when people 

have prepared for potentially difficult situations 

they are better able to manage them when they 

occur in reality. This is also the case when 

dealing with employees who are experiencing loss 

and grief. 

A bereavement policy which covers areas such as 

leave entitlement, returning to work, ongoing 

support and health and safety issues, would help 

to avoid the dilemma which Clare found herself in. 

In setting out a minimum standard of entitlements 

for all grieving employees Mike’s perception of 

being treated unfairly could have been avoided. 

Such a policy would help to ensure a consistent 

approach for all grieving employees. It would also 

provide a useful framework which managers can refer to when 

dealing with a grieving employee. 

Managing grieving employees in the workplace is not easy, but 

it can be handled well. Learning about the grieving process 

and developing an organisational bereavement policy are 

important steps in proactively managing grief in the workplace. 

This shows that the organisation looks after its most important 

assets (its employees) at one of their most vulnerable times. 

This has benefits not only for the grieving employees, but also 

the managers who gain confidence in their abilities to manage 

well, and for the organisation in terms of increased morale and 

commitment among employees ■ 

The Irish Hospice Foundation resource Grief at Work – 

Developing a Bereavement Policy outlines how to go about 

developing a bereavement policy. It is available free of 

charge at www.hospice-foundation.ie or a hardcopy can be 

ordered by contacting iris.murray@hospice-foundation.ie 

Ph. 01 6793188. 

The Irish Hospice Foundation provides consultancy and 

training on key aspects of workplace grief. For full details 

contact: breffni.mcguinness@hospice-foundation.ie

COACHING 


Guidelines for selecting 

external coaches 

by Peter Bluckert 

The increasing use of external coaches by a whole range of public and private 

sector organisations is now well documented (Jarvis 2004) as is the unregulated 

nature of the coaching industry (Freas 2004; Grant 2006). Whilst HR professionals 

will have been assisted by the publication of the CIPD reports ‘Coaching and 

Buying Coaching Services’, 2004, and the more recent ‘Developing Coaching 

Capability in Organisations’, 2008, there is still concern about how to make 

informed decisions about external coach selection. The literature and guidance 

remains thin on what is a very important issue to the HR community. 

The purpose of this article is to fill this issue is entirely about professionalism; it’s executives. Their own reputations and 

gap by providing an assessment also about the lack of experience of many professional judgement can be on the 

framework based on clear criteria for coaches. Due to the infancy of line for if the coach fails to deliver or 

selecting external coaches. The coaching as an emerging profession disappoints their clients this will surely 

framework can be used as the basis for there are only a small number of bounce back on them. Or at least that is 

interviewing coaches or for more genuinely experienced executive what they fear will happen. So, on what 

intensive selection processes using the coaches; the vast majority being in their basis can HR specialists make better 

‘assessment centre’ model. early stages of coach development. In decisions about coach selection? 

effect there are a lot of enthusiastic 

The ‘Wild West’ analogy learners out there looking for This article sets out a comprehensive 

This analogy, first used in a Harvard opportunities to earn their spurs. framework for assessing the competency 

Business Review article in 2004 by 

as well as the fit of a prospective external 

Sherman and Freas, has caught hold The selection of coach or coaching firm. Twelve criteria 

ever since largely because it connected to external coaches are offered and set out in Figure 1 – the 

some of the anxieties pervading the On the demand side HR Directors and Bluckert Coach Assessment Grid ©. Each 

coaching field about ‘cowboy’ coaches managers sift through the melee of is now examined to provide the level of 

unskilled and unsuitable for professional marketing brochures and company detail required when interviewing 

practice. Whilst there may be some face websites trying to find the right coach or coaches to join a panel or be hired to 

validity in it I’m not convinced that the coaching firm to entrust with their senior work with executive clients. 

38


COACHING 

Figure 1 – Criteria for selecting a coach 

1 PERSONAL PERSONAL BACKGROUND 

4 Corporate 

4 Leadership 

4 Psychological/ 

4 Psychotherapy 

4 HR 

4 Consultancy 

4 OD 

PERSONAL QUALITIES 

4 Relational skills 

4 Self awareness 

4 Trustworthy 

4 Credibility 

4 Impact 

4 Passion 

2 COACHING 

PROFICIENCY 

COACHING ETHOS, SKILL-SETS & PROCESS 

4 Coaching principles 

4 Models, tools & techniques 

4 Effective coaching process from initial 

contracting to final evaluation of 

outcomes 

COACHING EXPERIENCE 

4 Number of coaching hours 

4 Number of years of practice 

4 Level of seniority of client 

4 Breadth, depth and complexity of 

issues 

3 FIT COACHING CONTEXT 

4 Match between coach and coaching 

client and company culture 

4 Fit between coach and purpose of 

coaching assignment 

4 International cultural issues 

SECTOR/INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE 

4 Familiarity with a range of sectors 

4 Awareness of key issues, challenges 

and opportunities in specific client 

sector 

4 PROFESSION 

AL PRACTICE 

5 QUALITY 

STANDARDS 

RELEVANT TRAINING/DEVELOPMENT 

4 Advanced coach training 

4 Management/Leadership development 

4 OD consultancy training 

4 Assessment/psychometrics 

4 Self development 

PROFESSIONAL BODIES 

4 Membership of recognised professional 

body 

4 Adherence to Code of Ethics 

4 Up-to-date on best practice 

SUPERVISION/CPD 

4 Committed to ongoing professional 

supervision 

4 Attendance at workshops, 

conferences etc 

4 Continuous development through 

other personal development 

QUALIFICATIONS/ACCREDITATIONS 

4 Recognised coaching qualification 

preferably at postgraduate level 

4 Accredited/credentialed by 

professional body 

6 VALIDITY RESULTS 

4 Successful coaching outcomes 

4 Return on investment (ROI) 

REFERENCES 

4 Minimum of 3 clients references 

The individual criteria 

1. PERSONAL 

The personal background of the coach is 

an important consideration given that 

coaches come from such a diverse range 

of professional background and you get 

the coach the person is. For example, the 

coach from an executive leadership career 

[or ‘suit’ as they are often known] will 

bring something quite different from the 

psychologist or ‘therapist-coach’ [whitecoat] 

who may have little leadership or 

corporate experience. Depending on the 

assignment both could be the 

appropriate choice depending on the 

nature of the assignment. The key is to 

find ‘the right coach for the right job’. 

The personal qualities of the coach are 

equally important. Coaching is a relational 

activity which means that coaches need to 

be able to establish rapport, trust and 

credibility whilst at the same time 

demonstrate a high level of self and ‘other’ 

awareness. They require excellent 

communication skills and the capacity to 

influence effectively to facilitate change. 

Clients also want to see passion, 

energy and commitment in their coach. 

2. COACHING PROFICIENCY 

Coaching ethos, skills-sets and process. 

What is important here is that the coach 

works to sound coaching principles based 

on ‘ask not tell’ and can deliver an 

effective coaching process from the initial 

contracting stage through to a proper 

review and evaluation of coaching 

outcomes. Examples of some of the 

key skill-sets include: deep listening, 

good questions which raise awareness, 

the capacity to support and challenge 

effectively, and the ability to provide 

insightful feedback. 

39

COACHING 


Coaching experience. 

The issue here is around the appropriate 

level of experience in terms of seniority 

of client and the breadth, depth and 

complexity of issues worked on. The 

number of coaching hours and years of 

experience is also an important 

consideration. Each of the 

professional bodies, the International 

Coaching Federation [ICF], the World 

Association for Business Coaches 

[WABC], and the Association for 

Coaches [A for C] offer benchmarks 

ranging from 3-5 years to achieve the 

‘Master Coach’ category or a graded 

route from 250 hours (Associate 

Coach) to 750 hours (Professional 

Coach) to 2,500 hours (Master Coach). 

It is unlikely that any more than a small 

preparation of practising business 

coaches can claim 5 years experience and 

2,500 coaching hours. 

3. FIT 

Coaching context. 

The critical variables here are the coach, 

the client, the nature of the assignment, 

the organisational culture and in 

International work, wider cultural issues. 

What is for sure is that no coach is right 

for all coachees, assignments or cultures. 

The challenge is to find the best fit 

between those variables. This has 

implications for selection and suggests 

purchasers may need to look at the 

coach, not the coaching company. 

Sector/industry experience. 

Some client organisations want to be 

re-assured that the coach has familiarity 

with their sector in order to more readily 

appreciate and tune into specific 

challenges and issues. This is 

understandable but needs to carry 

the health warning that coaches 

from the same professional 

background as their clients are more 

likely to stray into the ‘been there, 

done it’ territory and offer advice or, 

worse still, adopt the role of 

surrogate manager. 

4/5. PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AND 

QUALITY STANDARDS 

Relevant training and development. 

Experienced coaches tend to have had 

careers where they have undertaken a 

wealth of relevant training – such as 

management/leadership development, 

OD consultancy and an array of self 

development activities including being 

40 

coached themselves. Advanced level 

coach education is also an essential part 

of the coaches’ development journey. 

Ideally this needs to be at postgraduate 

level with programmes of this kind lasting 

anywhere between one and three years 

(part-time). Typically coaches from a 

business psychology background will 

also be trained in assessment processes 

such as psychometrics. 

Supervision/CPD. All professional 

bodies support and advocate that 

coaches are in regular professional 

supervision. This is a CPD activity where 

the coach works with an experienced 

supervisor or with peers to reflect on 

their work and gain support, learning and 

development. Supervision can also be a 

protective mechanism for clients ensuring 

that coaches have a check and balance 

system built into their practice. 

Professional bodies. Several 

professional bodies now exist and there is 

no single lead body. The issue here is 

that coaches need to be members of a 

professional association and adhere to a 

recognised code conduct of ethics with 

an associated complaints procedure. 

Membership of such a body also provides 

the coach with the opportunity to stay 

up-to-date with best practice. 

Qualifications/accreditations. There is 

still a great deal of confusion about the 

difference between awards 

(qualifications) which are bestowed by 

universities and accreditations which 

involve processes set up by professional 

bodies. Purchasers of coaching 

services need to look beyond simple 

membership of a professional body to 

coaches who have postgraduate level 

coaching qualifications and separate 

accreditation with a recognised 

professional body such as ICF, A for C, 

WABC or Association for Professional 

Coaches and Supervisors [APECS]. 

6. VALIDITY 

Results. 

In the final analysis results matter most, 

particularly where substantial fees are 

involved. Coaches need to be able to 

demonstrate successful outcomes from a 

range of coaching assignments and show 

evidence of return on investment (ROI). 

References. 

References should be sought from a 

minimum of three former clients. Some 

purchasers of coaching services prefer to 

speak personally to previous clients. This 

can be a good way of getting a stronger 

feel for the coach’s key strengths and 

best fit assignments. 

SUMMARY 

Despite the current economic downturn 

organisations are using external coaches in 

all sectors. Making informed decisions 

about which coaches are suitably qualified, 

skilled and credible will continue to 

challenge HR managers. Hopefully, this set 

of criteria will serve as a useful reference 

point for what to look for when arriving at 

those decisions. The Coach Assessment 

Grid also provides a framework for more 

intensive coach selection processes ■ 

Peter Bluckert is the MD of PB 

Coaching specialising in executive and 

team coaching, coach training and 

developing coaching cultures. He is 

co-founder of the professional body 

EMCC; Programme Director of the 

UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate 

Business School. Advanced Coaching 

Diploma and author of ‘Psychological 

Dimensions of Executive Coaching’ 

w: http://www.pbcoaching.com

REGIONS: COLLEGES: GRADUATION 


The presentation to the National College of Ireland students of the Certificates in 

Personnel Practice and CIPD Associate Membership scrolls took place recently at an 

elaborate event at the RDS. 

National College of Ireland C.P.P. students photgraphed with academic staff of NCI and CIPD representatives. 

Photographed at the RDS event were 

(L to R): Paula Wilcock, CIPD; Bronwyn 

McFarlane, Lecturer in HRM at NCI; 

Michael McDonnell, CIPD Ireland; Pacelli 

Breathnach, Course Lecturer; Dr. Paul 

Mooney, President, National College of 

Ireland; Rachel Doherty, Course Developer 

and Lecturer at NCI; Angela McManus, 

Course Lecturer; Barry Hill, CIPD Ireland; 

and Mike Kelly, Vice President, 

Membership and Education, CIPD. 

Rachel Armstrong, Independent Newspapers 

who received the best student award on the 

degree programme with Mike McDonnell, CIPD. 

42


COLLEGES: GRADUATION 

HR in UCD 

The HR Strategy and Development Directorate, which Rory 

Corry heads up, leads on and contributes to university -wide 

change initiatives. The introduction of a tailored 

performance management and development system for all 

staff is an example of this. A feature of this bespoke 

system is to provide an opportunity for relevant 

organisational level messages to be communicated to staff. 

This is particularly relevant given the challenging times that 

the university operates in. The HR Strategy & Development 

Directorate also has responsibility for the following: 

• Developing and implementing the HR strategy in 

conjunction with other key groups across the university 

and within HR; 

• Leading and contributing to organisational 

development initiatives on a university-wide basis; 

• Implementing and sustaining leadership and 

management development programmes, co-ordinating 

and delivering appropriate training and development 

programmes for staff and driving HR planning 

activities across the university. 

The HR Partner model has been in place in UCD for the 

past 18 months and has been a first for the university 

sector in Ireland. It is proving to be extremely beneficial in 

ensuring more effective implementation of university -wide 

policies and programmes relating to staff. Neil Young is a 

HR Partner working in the HR Relationship Directorate. The 

primary objective for this role is to provide strong, local HR 

support to managers and staff, as follows: 

• Providing guidance and advice to those with people/ 

HR management responsibilities to ensure they can 

operate in keeping with policies and best practice; 

• Assisting College Principals, Heads of School and units 

to ensure effective implementation of operational and 

strategic HR/local initiatives; 

• Ensuring that services provided by the central HR 

function are operating effectively for end users; 

• Introducing services from the specialist HR functions 

when appropriate to support local College Initiatives. 

Elaine Hassett is Head of Recruitment and a key member of 

the HR Services Directorate. The HR Services Directorate is 

responsible for Recruitment, Compensation and Benefits, 

Pensions and HRIS. One of their key focus areas for the past 

12 months has been to review and redesign the processes, 

procedures and systems in place to ensure the cost effective 

provision of HR services which meet the expectations and 

needs of the University. Some examples of this include: 

• The introduction of an e -recruitment system across the 

campus in November 2008. This on - line job application 

system brings a number of benefits to the University 

including an improved application process and 

enhanced access for Hiring Managers leading to greater 

efficiency and effectiveness and a reduced time to hire; 

• The Document Management System will begin later 

this year with HR taking a lead to pilot this system on 

behalf of the University. This project will transform 

our paper based offices and help to streamline how HR 

manage both physical and electronic documents. 

UCD HR also provides an employee relations service that is 

available to all staff and which comes under the broad 

banner of the Employee Relations and Equality 

Directorate. The service ranges from the provision of 

employee relations, equality and diversity advice on 

policies and procedures in the University to representation 

at third party hearings. 

Three New Chartered Fellows at U.C.D. 

As part of the Institutes’ membership upgrading initiative three more members of the Human Resource team at 

University College Dublin have achieved Chartered Fellowship. 

The new chartered fellows are photographed at a reception in the CIPD Ireland office with Mike McDonnell and Barry Hill (Lto R): Neil Young; 

Rory Carey; and Elaine Hassett 

43



CIPD Membership Awards Ceremony Cork 

The Annual CIPD Awards Ceremony for the Southern Region was held at Beamish and Crawford Brewery in Cork City. 

Students from the Cork Institute of Technology and University College Cork were joined by a large number of local HR 

professionals for this prestigeous event. 

Graduate Membership scrolls were presented to the students by Michael McDonnell, Director, CIPD Ireland. 

New Graduate Members at C.I.T. 

Photographed with the students are Michael McDonnell, Director, CIPD Ireland; Damien Burns, Honorary Chairman, CIPD Southern Region and 

Barry Hill, Professional Development Adviser, CIPD Ireland. 

New Graduate Members at U.C.C. 

Photographed with the students are Michael McDonnell; Damien Burns, Willie Weir, Programme Director at U.C.C and Barry Hill. 

Institute of Public 

Administration 

The Certificate in Public Sector HR 

that is offered by the IPA is 

designed to help participants 

develop as effective HRM 

practitioners and is specifically 

tailored for Public Servants. 

The next programme begins on 

30th March 2009 at the Institute of 

Public Administration. Please call 

01 - 240 3666 or see, training@ipa.ie 

Pictured at the Institute of Public 

Administration's Presentation of Awards 

held in Dublin Castle were Gerry Dowling, 

Health Service Executive Dublin North 

East; Oonagh Kelly, National Museum of 

Ireland; Karen Gleeson, Local Government 

Computer Services Board; John Casey, IPA; 

Barry Hill, CIPD; Lily Regan, IPA; Tom Barry, 

Commission for Taxi Regulation and Pat 

Malone, Office of the Director of Public 

Prosecutions who received their Certificate 

in Public Sector Human Resource 

Management Practice. 

44



Polaris - Certificate in Personnel Practice 

Waterford Institute of Technology 

Best Overall Student in the Certificate in Personnel Practice course 

was Ciara Bates and she received a special presentation from Michael 

McDonnell. Also photographed at the awards event were Gerry 

Rooney, M.D. Polaris and John Dolan, Department of Finance. 

Students who received their Certificates in Personnel Practice and 

Associate Membership of CIPD photographed with Stephanie 

Keating, Chair CIPD South East Region; Joe Daly, CPP Course 

Co - ordinator, WIT and Barry Hill, Professional Development 

Advisor, CIPD. 

Students who received their Certificate in Personnel Practice and 

Associate Membership scrolls photographed with Gerry Rooney, 

Polarids; Michael McDonnell; Gerry McMahon, Course Tutor and 

Barry Hill. 

Students who received their Batchelor of Business Studies and CIPD 

Graduate Membership scrolls photographed with Stephanie Keating; 

John McGrath, Vhi Regional Manager (Event Sponsor); Dr. McDonal, 

Head of Department and Barry Hill. 

Michael McDonnell, Director, CIPD Ireland addressing the Certificate 

in Personnel Practice students at their recent awards ceremony at 

Landsdowne House, Ballsbridge. 

Committee - Sponsors - Academics 

Photographed at the awards presentation at WIT which was kindly 

sponsored by Vhi Healthcare, were L to R (standing): Joanne Walsh, 

Committee Member; Joe Daly, CPP Co - ordinator; John McGrath, Vhi 

Healthcare; Barry Hill; and Deirdre Tobin, Committee Member. 

Seated with Stephanie Keating are Joan McDonald and 

Tom O ' Toole, WIT. 

46


UPGRADES 

Cork Bon Secours team upgraded on the double 

New Chartered Fellows 

Photographed at a recent event at the CIPD offices were a 

group of Human Resource professionals who were 

presented with their Chartered Fellowship scrolls 

following their recent membership upgrade. 

Pictured left to right, Michael McDonnell, Director CIPD Ireland; 

Stephanie O’Dwyer, Gwen Levis, Brenda O’Mahony and Barry Hill, 

Professional Development Adviser CIPD. 

Three members of the Human Resource team at the Bon 

Secours Hospital in Cork were presented with their 

Chartered Membership scrolls at a recent CIPD event in 

Cork. Coincidentally, all three only completed their CIPD 

qualification recently at CIT / UCC, becoming Graduate 

members of the Institute. However as they satisfied the 

eligibility criteria for upgrade to Chartered status, they 

were awarded Chartered Membership of the Institute. 

Pictured L to R: Audrey Hamilton; Michael McDonnell; Amanda 

Cahir–O’Donnell; Albert Osthoff; Oonagh Kelly; Barry Hill and 

James Doran 

CIPD Welcomes New Members at Accenture 

Members of Accenture’s Talent Organisational Performance team were welcomed into CIPD membership at an event 

hosted recently at Accenture's headquarters in Dublin. 

Pictured (L to R): Sarah Ryan, Tara Levins, Michael McDonnell, Anne 

D ’ Arcy; Sean O ’ Driscoll, Hon. Chairman CIPD Ireland; Lisa Manselli; Lisa 

Coughlan and Judith Crawford 

Anne D ’ Arcy was presented with her Chartered Fellowship scroll by 

Sean O ’ Driscoll. Also photographed Michael McDonnell and Barry Hill. 

New Chartered 

Fellows / 

Members – 

Southern Region 

CIPD Southern 

Region members 

were presented 

with their new 

Chartered scrolls at 

a recent event at 

Beamish and 

Crawford Brewery 

Pictured, standing left to 

right; Pat O’Sullivan, 

Cashmans Bookmakers; 

Charlie Dolan, Eli Lily; 

Rosemary Walsh UCC; 

Damien Burns, Chairman 

CIPD Southern Region; 

Carmel Murray, Induchem 

Components; Michael 

McDonnell; Liz Owens, 

Headway and Ken Collins, 

Iarnrod Eireann. Seated; 

Left to right, Barry Hill; 

Brenda O’Mahony, Bon 

Secours, Stephanie O’Dwyer, 

Bon Secours; Gwen Levis, 

Bon Secours and Noel 

Henderson, Eli Lily. 

47

REGIONS: MIDLANDS 


CIPD Midlands Region, 

Employment Law Update – 

a great success 

The CIPD Midlands Region held a very successful 

breakfast briefing event recently in the Sheraton 

Hotel Athlone. 

The event focused on Employment Law and 

featured one of Ireland’s prominent experts, 

Alastair Purdy, Solicitor and Managing Director of 

Purdy Legal. Alastair is a graduate of NUI Galway 

having obtained both a BA Degree in Economics 

(1986) and an MA Degree in Economics (1987). 

He obtained a Diploma in Legal Studies from the 

DIT and passed the Solicitors Exams the first time 

whilst working full time. Alastair has extensive 

knowledge of the multinational sector having 

worked there for a number of years both in 

Ireland and abroad. He is widely recognised as 

being one of the foremost experts in Employment 

Law in Ireland. 

Michael Slevin, Rosderra, Micheál 

Coughlan, Hon. CIPD Midlands 

Chairman , Michael O ’ Sullivan, , 

Director ARRA HRD, Kevin Irvine, 

Dublin Port Tunnel 

Mary Gavin, HSE, Elaine Hassett, 

Sharon Fogarty, CIPD Midlands Hon. 

Secretary 

Geraldine O ’ Brien, Covidien, Mary 

Johnston, Vhi Healthcare, Doreen 

Gerety, CIPD Midlands Hon. Vice 

Chair, Margaret Byrne, Vhi Healthcare 

The event was opened by Micheál Coughlan, 

Chairman of the CIPD Midlands Region. 

Micheál thanked the Sheraton Hotel for hosting 

the event and welcomed all attendees, including 

CIPD members, business people and Vhi 

representatives who are sole sponsor of the 

CIPD Midlands Region. 

Alastair Purdy provided a very comprehensive 

overview on current trends in Legislation, 

including The Protection of Employment Act 2007, 

The Employment Rights Compliance Bill, The 

Corporate Manslaughter Bill and the Agency 

Worker Directive. 

He also provided an update on recent 

developments in case law which of course has 

considerable implications for both employers and 

employees and encompasses a broad variety of 

issues including mandatory retirement age, 

working time, fixed term working and 

victimisation to name but a few. 

The presentation was followed by a comprehensive 

question and answer session, with many of the 

attendees taking the opportunity to get feedback 

and guidance on complex employment legislation 

questions from the expert. 

The event entitled “ Update on Future Skills Needs ” 

will be hosted by AIT and will be presented by 

Anne Heraty, Chairperson of the Expert Group on 

Future Skills Needs and Chief Executive of 

Computer Placement (CPL) Resources plc. The 

Expert Group acts as the central national resource 

on skills and labour supply for the enterprise sector 

and an overall strategy for enterprise training in 

Ireland. The National Training Advisory Committee 

was merged with the Expert Group in Jan 2004 and 

the Group ’ s Mandate was expanded to incorporate 

the responsibilities formerly held by the NTAC. 

Anita Curley, élan, Breda Flynn, RBK, 

Maggie Egan, élan, Mary Byrne, RBK 

Patrick O’Brien, Hodson Bay, 

Patricia Conroy, CIPD Midlands Hon. 

Membership Advisor, Olivia Geraghty, 

Sheraton, Enda Maloney, 

HR Consultant. 

Sharon Fogarty, CIPD Midlands Hon 

Secretary, Ann Cunnigham, HSE, 

Kathleen McDonnell, ESB 

Micheál Coughlan, Hon CIPD Midlands 

Chairman, Dee McKiernan, HR & 

Training Consultant HSE, Michael 

Keogh, Buckley Group 

Alastair Purdy, Purdy Legal, Mary 

Johnston, Vhi Healthcare, 

Margaret Byrne, Vhi Healthcare, 

Micheál Coughlan 

Tom Ryan, CIPD Midlands Hon. 

Treasurer, Catriona Mortell, 

Genemedix, Ciara Compton, Ericsson, 

Geraldine O ’ Brien, Covidien 

48


REGIONS: MIDLANDS 

Official Launch of Midlands CIPD 

The CIPD Midlands Region held a very successful 

launch of their 2008/2009 programme of events in 

the Athlone Springs Hotel. 

The event was well attended by local business 

people, members and CIPD Ireland. 

Patrick O ’ Brien, HR Advisor 

Hodson Bay Hotel, Orlaith Martin, 

Clerical Officer Offaly County 

Council, Patricia Conroy, CIPD 

Midlands Hon. Membership 

Advisor and Paul Forrester, 

Independent News & Media 

Mike McDonnell, Director of CIPD Ireland 

congratulated the CIPD Midlands Region on their 

“very interesting and relevant programme of events 

for 2008/9”. He said he was delighted with the 

progress of the Midlands CIPD group and said it has 

grown from strength to strength. He also 

congratulated the committee for their work with a 

special mention of the relationship with the AIT in 

regard to the Certificate in Personnel Practice 

course now available and wished the committee 

continued success in the future. Mike also mention 

that the Midlands Programme of event hit on key 

issues facing companies in the present environment 

and would be very beneficial to companies. 

The sole sponsors for the Midlands Committee is 

Vhi Healthcare and they were represented at the 

event by Stephen McMahon Regional Manager 

Vhi. “ Vhi Healthcare has had a long association 

with CIPD on both a regional and national basis 

this sponsorship reflects how we feel about the 

positive influence which CIPD has on business 

throughout Ireland. As such we are delighted to 

be the main sponsor for the CIPD Midlands Region 

in 2008 /2009” 

Micheál Coughlan indicated that the goal of the 

CIPD Midlands Region committee this year “ is to 

increase membership and expand the role of CIPD 

within the HR field. 

Overall the programme of events for 2008/2009 

has something for all HR and Business professionals 

in the midlands region. A brochure of events was 

launched indicating speakers on topics such as 

Employment Law, Overview on the Future Skills 

Needs in the Midlands Gateway Region in 

conjunction with the Midlands Gateway Chamber, 

A Practical Guide to Assessment & Psychological 

Testing, HR Excellence Awards and culminated in 

the end of year AGM in April 2009. 

Kieran Doyle, Athlone AIT, Mary 

Mullin, Recruitment Consultant 

Matrix Recruitment Group, Patricia 

O’Reilly, Recruitment Consultant 

Matrix Recruitment Group, 

Micheál Coughlan, CIPD Midlands 

Hon. Chairman 

Maggie Egan, Senior Associate HR 

Élan Corporation, 

Micheál Coughlan, Anita Curley, 

HR Élan Corporation. 

Hugh Farrell, Midlands Regional 

Manager Irish Wheelchair 

Association, Janet Wallace, HR 

Consultant RBK, Elaine Hassett 

Head of Recruitment, UCD, 

Micheál Coughlan 

Catherine O’Connell, Executive 

Researcher, O’Malley InterSearch, 

Kathleen Hynes, Executive Search 

Consultant O’Malley InterSearch, 

Shauna Guilfoyle, IS Officer and 

Breda Arru, HR Administrator AXA 

Assistance 

Larry Bane, Asst. National Director 

of HR HSE Dublin Mid – Leinster 

area, Carmel Fahy, Occupational 

Health Nurse, Covidien Tullamore, 

Dee McKiernan, HR & Training 

Consultant HSE West, Mark 

McCrohan, Vhi Corporate 

Certificate in Personnel Practice Presentation at Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT) 

Back Row (L to R) 

Alison Sheridan, AIT, Tayna Handy, Bernie 

Harold, Brenda Egan, Gerry Fahy, Kate 

Drinkwater, Karen Dufy, Michelle Balacianu, 

Mary Mullen, Patricia Conroy, CIPD Midlands 

Hon. Membership Officer. 

Front Row, (L to R) 

Paula Hamm; Marie Noonan; Dr. Joe Ryan; Barry 

Hill, Professional Development Adviser, CIPD; 

Micheál Coughlan,CIPD Midlands Hon. Chairman; 

Karen Kennedy; and Louise Cooper. 

49

REGIONS: EASTERN 


‘The psychological contract winning the 

battle for hearts and minds in 

challenging times’ 

CIPD Ireland Eastern Region Evening Programme - 21st 

January 2009. Kindly Hosted by Hudson Talent 

Management and presented by Garry Goldsmith, Practice 

Leader, Hudson Talent Management & Michele Ryan, HR 

Director, McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland. 

Full attendance! 

Michele Ryan, McDonald ’ s Restaurants 

of Ireland; Garry Goldsmith, Hudson 

Talent Management & Frank Kelly, 

Dublin City Council (CIPD Honorary 

Vice Chair) 

Mel Conway, Collier 

Broderick & Laura 

Kavanagh, Oracle 

Deirdre Cronnelly, Afresh; 

Robert Hanley, Grant 

Thornton & Patricia Ryan, 

McDonald’s Restaurants 

of Ireland 

Barbara 

Boldys, Dublin 

Tourism; 

Ruanne 

Cowley & 

Christine 

Sutton, Citco 

Fund Services 

Frank Kelly; 

John Burke; 

Paul Ennis; 

Alan Burke 

November Evening Meeting 

The CIPD Eastern Group's evening meeting “Using the 

Employment Value Proposition (EVP) as a means of 

managing capability risk”, was kindly hosted and 

presented by ESB. 

Des’s presentation 

can be 

downloaded from 

the CIPD website 

www.cipd.ie ‘Past 

Events’ section. 

Des Moore, Group HR, described the key elements of ESB’s 

approach to the EVP to a capacity audience. 

Pictured (l to r) 

Luke Shinners, 

Executive Director, 

HR; Des Moore 

(speaker), Group HR, 

Michael Loughnane, 

Manager, Leadership 

and People 

Development, Group 

HR, ESB and Michael 

McDonnell, Director 

CIPD Ireland 

50


REGIONS: EASTERN 

CIPD Ireland Eastern Region Evening 

Programme hosted and presented by 

Deloitte 

‘Mass career customisation tailoring careers 

for your employees’ 

Laoise Ramberg - Torc, Annette Alcorn, Kate Feeney & Ciara 

Bolger - Deloitte 

Michael McDonnell, Mark O’Donnell – Director Human Capital, 

Deloitte & Robert Freese – Manager Human Capital, Deloitte 

Dave Maitland, 

Kevin Corbett – 

DIT 

Dermid McGuire - Vhi Healthcare & 

Herbert Mulligan - IRN, Health & Safety Review 

Seruei Merzliakov, Cyril Kirwan, Michael McDonnell & Ada Kelly

REGIONS: MID WEST 


‘Employment Law Update’ 

CIPD Ireland Mid West Region 

Evening Programme 

Kindly Hosted by Open Jobs with Guest 

Speaker Ambrose Downey, IBEC 

The IBEC Employment Law update was the first 

event of 2009 for CIPD Midwest, as always there 

was a very big attendance. The next event, Mock 

Industrial Relations tribunal, took place on Thursday 

19th February at Greenhill ' s Hotel, Limerick. 

Loraine Shaw, PRO CIPD Midwest; Barry Hill, CIPD; 

Ambrose Downey, Guest Speaker IBEC; Maria Gilsenan, 

Melior Management and Brian Cooney MD, 

OpenJobs (Sponsor) 

Peter Clifford, FAS; Jane Howlett; Gerry Berkery, Eglington; Ambrose 

Downey, IBEC; Fanchea Moloney, Harmonics; Pat Cunneen, 

Lighthouse Consulting; Gillian Driver, Harmonics 

ADVANCE NOTICE 

17th Annual John Lovett Memorial Lecture. 

Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick. 

University of Limerick 

“Strategic Human Resource Management: 

What do we know and where are we going?” 

Thursday March 19th 2009 @ 7.30pm 

David Lepak 

Professor and Chair of Human Resource Management 

School of Management and Labor Relations 

Rutgers University 

David Lepak is Professor and Chair of Human Resource Management at the School of Management and Labor Relations, 

Rutgers University. Rutgers is one of the leading American business schools for HR strategy. David’s research and teaching 

focuses on the strategic management of human capital as well as managing contingent labour for competitive advantage. 

He has published numerous articles on these topics in top-tier international journals such as the Academy of Management 

Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management and Human Resource Management Review. He 

is associate editor of British Journal of Management and has served as a guest editor for the Academy of Management 

Review. He currently serves on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal, Human Resource 

Management, Journal of Management Studies, and International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital.


REGIONS: WESTERN 

Dr. Thomas Garavan highlights the trends, 

challenges & future prospects of leadership 

development in Irish organisations. 

Pictured L to R: Tovttowani Masebe (Castlebar), Eva Avery (Sligo), 

Declan Heneghan; Dr. Thomas Garavan; Michelle Murphy, PRO CIPD 

Western Region and Martin O ’ Malley, SVLT Limited, Castlebar. 

Attending the CIPD Western Region event on Leadership Development 

in Irish Organisations sponsored by GMIT Castlebar were Elaine Feeney 

(Castlebar), Dr. Thomas Garavan, Guest Speaker from University of 

Limerick, who is originally from Newport, Co. Mayo; Declan 

Heneghan, Hotel Westport & Hon Vice Chairperson, CIPD Western 

Region; and Clodagh Geraghty, Lecturer GMIT Castlebar. 

Dr. Thomas Garavan, Professor & Associate Dean, Postgraduate 

Studies and Executive Education, University of Limerick was 

guest speaker at the Mayo Institute of Technology sponsored 

CIPD Evening on 6th November in GMIT Castlebar. Dr. Garavan 

is considered the leading academic and researcher in the area 

of Training & Development in Ireland. He has a long standing 

relationship with CIPD in Ireland commissioning much of its 

research in the field of Training & Development. 

Dr. Garavan offered the audience an insight into outcomes of 

his most recent research into Training and Development 

within Ireland. He explained that this body of work focuses 

closely on the results of a detailed survey on Leadership 

Development within Irish Organisations today. The results of 

this survey comprising of 10 questions on leadership 

development across 100 Irish Organisations will be launched 

at the CIPD Conference in May 2009. 

As well as Leadership Development, the survey focuses on 

Training Policy formulation and the level of expenditure on 

learning & development within Organisations. Interestingly, 

the survey found that Multi Nationals within Ireland have 

had a major impact on Training & Development expenditure 

and this in turn has spill over effects to Indigenous 

Companies. Types of training identified were broken down 

into, Voluntary Training (e.g. manager effectiveness) and 

Mandatory training (e.g. Manual Handling, Induction). It was 

found that in comparison the Public Sector do not focus as 

much on higher level training (i.e. people management) 

When researching the talent management process within five 

multinationals it was found that the process itself needed 

more structure i.e. training should not be given merely as a 

Pictured L to R: Lucy Love Louisburgh; Declan Heneghan, Hon. Vice 

Chairperson, CIPD Western Region; Val Mc Nicholas, CIPD Western 

Region; Dr. Deirdre Garvey, Lecturer, GMIT. 

response to requests but rather through competency profiling, 

performance appraisals and IDP ' s. This in turn should have a 

more strategic impact on the Organisation. It was found that 

successful organisations have a common leadership model and 

a common competency/behaviours model in place. 

Some barriers to development were a lack of commitment 

from senior management, an unreceptive culture and a poor 

HR strategy. 

Dr. Garavan spoke of the concept of ' Blended Learning ' as an 

effective new approach to learning & development, i.e. 

training should not just cater towards individuals but be more 

' team ' centred, ultimately this gives a more ' collective approach ' 

to developing people aligned to achieving strategic objectives. 

Interestingly, the survey also highlighted the trend that less 

educated employees have less learning opportunities within 

companies. It was also found that when it comes to learning 

opportunities, more males that females and managers than 

non-managers have opportunities in learning & development. 

It was also identified that those regarded as' High Potentials' 

are the most likely to be given Developmental opportunities 

within Organisations. 

Pictured L to R: Clodagh Geraghty, Lecturer GMIT; Marianne Shine, 

PRO CIPD Western Region; Declan Heneghan, Hon. Vice Chairperson 

CIPD Western Region; Dr. Thomas Garavan, University of Limerick; Val 

Mc Nicholas, Hon. Treasurer, CIPD Western Region; and Shelagh 

Buckley, Hon. Secretary, CIPD Western Region. 

A point was made from the audience that there was a notable 

difference in management capabilities between SME ' s and 

Multinationals and to date there has been no study to examine 

this, Dr. Garavan agreed that many of the larger multinationals 

had gone through a '' professionalization ' process whereas 

management within SME ' s had a much more ' fragmented and 

informal ' approach to Learning & Development which resulted 

in a gap in management capabilities. 

The event was a great success and was attended by a host of 

employees throughout the Western region. Dr. Garavan 

commented that he was very happy to be invited to speak in 

his native Mayo and praised the Mayo Institute in Castlebar 

for its continued success & commitment to life long learning 

in the West of Ireland. A special presentation was made to 

Dr. Garavan by Val McNicholas (Treasurer CIPD Western 

Region) on behalf of the region. 

53



CIPD Western Region 

Leadership Conference 

CIPD Western Region in conjuction with GMIT held their 

annual conference entitled ‘Leadership – Strategy to 

Execution’ on Friday 10th October 2008. The event was kindly 

sponsored by GMIT and held on campus. 

The sold out event featured guest speakers Economist, 

David McWilliams and founder and Chairman of O ’ Brien ’ s 

Irish Sandwich Bars, Brody Sweeney along side Evelyn 

O ' Toole, Managing Director of Complete Laboratory 

Solutions (CLS), Deirdre McHugh, GMIT Law Lecturer and 

Joe Howley Assistant Secretary, Head of Revenue ’ s Border 

Midlands West Region. 

David McWilliams headlined the event and asked ‘ how should 

the Country be run? ’ a question on many peoples minds – and 

he endeavoured to shed some light on the country ’ s economic 

and political woes. David addressed the Government directly 

by demonstrating his strategy in the very topical ‘ How to run 

your Country ’ and how his plan should be executed. 

Joe Cowley illustrated how Revenue, as a large organisation, 

found that there was a mis - match between its structure and its 

strategy. It will demonstrate how Revenue developed a new, 

customer - focussed strategy and then completely dismantled 

the organisation. He explain the new strategy and how it has 

been executed through building an entirely new structure for 

the organisation with a particular focus on: Leadership, 

Change Management and managed risk -taking. 

Evelyn O ’ Toole, a native of Clifden, is the Managing Director 

of Complete Laboratory Solutions (CLS) and she informed the 

attendees on how her company has become one of Ireland ’ s 

leading contract laboratories providing Micro & Chemistry 

Testing, supplying trained Analysts to industry on contract, 

Health screening and R & D. 

The conference was a major success and was attended by 

over 200 HR professionals – and questions flowed from the 

floor for all of the speakers sparking witty answers from the 

speakers adding to the overall atmosphere of this highly 

informative event. 

Also addressing the conference was founder and Chairman of 

O’Brien’s Irish Sandwich Bars, Brody Sweeney. Since opening 

their first store in 1988, Brody and his management team 

have successfully opened over 300 outlets worldwide with 

over 110 outlets in Ireland, making his company one of 

Ireland’s successful export brands. Brody is one of Ireland’s 

best known entrepreneurs and a much sought-after speaker 

on entrepreneurship, leadership, C.S.R., and motivation at 

events in Ireland and the U.K. 

Deirdre McHugh highlighted developments in Employment 

Law and discussed how ensuring an understanding of a 

business ’ s legal compliance obligations, through correct 

leadership, can save on costly litigation. 

Pictured: Jacqueline O'Dowd, Hon. Chairperson, CIPD Western Region; 

David McWilliams; Bernie Turley, Goodman Medical; and 

Brody Sweeney. 

Attending the CIPD Western Region Leadership Conference sponsored by GMIT are L to R: Joe Cowley, Assistant Secretary, Head of Revenue's 

Border, Midlands, West Region; David McWilliams, Economist, Broadcaster & Author; Clodagh Geraghty, GMIT & Master of Ceremonies; Deirdre 

McHugh, GMIT Law Lecturer & Barrister; Evelyn O'Toole, MD, Complete Laboratory Solutions; Bernard O'Hara, Registrar of GMIT; and Brody 

Sweeney, Chairman & Founder of O'Briens Sandwich Bars. 

54


REGIONS: REGIONS: WESTERN 

‘CCP Recruitment commended for loyal 

sponsorship of the CIPD Western Region' 

The CIPD Western Region Gala Dinner grows from strength 

to strength each year and this year it was a glittering affair 

where 370 HR and Business professionals rubbed shoulders 

in a gala evening in John Glynn ’ s Clayton Hotel. 

Sponsored by CCP Recruitment for the 7th year running 

the event has developed into one of the city ’ s most 

glamorous affairs. 

MC for the night, the ever witty Phil Cawley from Today 

FM welcomed the guest and sponsors and commended 

CCP Recruitment for their Excellence through People - 

Platinum Award (the only agency in Ireland to receive 

such an accolade). 

This year CCP has also won the National Award for ‘ Best in 

HR ’ awarded by the Small Firms Association and presented 

by former Taoiseach – Bertie Ahern. 

During the gala event the award for the GMIT BA in 

Personnel Management Student of the year went to 

Suzanne O ’ Gorman and the NUIG Masters in Industrial 

Relations and Human Resources Management Student of 

the year was awarded to joint winners – Thelma Frayne 

and Clare Murray. 

The Outstanding Service to the CIPD Western Region 

Award went to a very deserving Jim Redmond for his 

dedication to the HR profession and the CIPD over 

the years. 

Jacqueline O ‘ Dowd, Honorary Chairperson, CIPD Western 

Region, spoke of the growth of CIPD in the Western 

Region over the past number of years – it has become a 

vibrant networking association. 

Sean O ’ Driscoll, Honarary Chairman, CIPD Ireland 

addressed the attendees and highlighted the success of the 

West region in organising a host of excellent events each 

year. There are over 130,000 members of the CIPD 

throughout Ireland and the UK and the membership of 

this body is widely accepted by employers as a requirement 

of practice as it demonstrates a commitment to high 

standards and professionalism and to continuing 

professional development. 

CCP Recruitment are now part of a very select few who 

have ever been recognised for demonstrating this level of 

professionalism in human resources and they were setting 

the standards for their industry. Both Directors of the 

company Roisin McNamara and Michelle Kilcar are fellow 

members of the CIPD and Michelle Kilcar addressed the 

attendees highlighting there delight in being involved 

CIPD Western Region as their main sponsor again this year. 

The award was sponsored by CareerWise Recruitment, pictured L to R: 

Today FM DJ Phil Cawley, Jim Redmond (Recipient of Outstanding 

Service to CIPD), Tom Devaney (Director, CareerWise Recruitment) and 

Jacqueline O ' Dowd (Hon. Chairperson CIPD Western Region). 

Those attending were entertained by tenor extraordinaire 

Frank Naughton, music and dancing by Horizon and DJ 

Kevin Belton. 

The Medtronic/NUIG B.Comm HR Student of the year Award 2008 

had joint winners – Claire Murray and Thelma Frayne. This award 

was presented at the CIPD Western Region Gala Dinner Dance held in 

the Clayton Hotel. Pictured L to R: Phil Cawley MC, Claire Murray 

and Thelma Frayne (joint recipients of NUIG/Medtronic HR Student of 

the Year Award), Dorothy Kelly (HR Director, Medtronic) and 

Jacqueline O'Dowd (Hon. Chairperson CIPD Western Region) 

The Collins McNicholas/GMIT Student of the Year Award for BA in 

Personnel Management 2008 was awarded to Suzanne O ’ Gorman. 

The Award was presented at the CIPD Western Region Gala Dinner 

Dance, pictured at the presentation L to R: Today FM DJ Phil Cawley, 

Michelle Murphy (Regional Manager Collins McNicholas), Suzanne 

O ’ Gorman (Recipient of the GMIT/Collins McNicholas Student of the 

Year Award) and Jacqueline O ' Dowd (Hon. Chairperson CIPD 

Western Region) 

55 55



CIPD Western Region partner with 

Purdy Legal Solicitors to hold 

Employment Law Briefing 

The annual HR Practitioner Residential Weekend in conjunction 

with the GMIT BA in Personnel Management residential was 

held in Hotel Westport on the 16th & 17th of January. 

L to R Val McNicholas (Hon. Treasurer CIPD Western Region), Michelle 

Murphy (PRO CIPD Western Region), Alastair Purdy (Principal Speaker 

and Sponsor), Sheelagh Buckley (Hon. Secretary CIPD Western 

Region) and Tom Devaney (PRO CIPD Western Region). 

The event was kindly sponsored by Purdy Legal Solicitors and 

Alastair Purdy was the Principal Speaker over the duration of 

the weekend. 

The highlight of the weekend was the mock Employment 

Appeals Tribunal Hearing which was held on Saturday 

afternoon. Delegates listened to the full presentation of 

evidence from the employer ’ s and employee ’ s side – the facts 

were based on a previous case so the determination of the 

tribunal was as in the original case. The mock EAT session was 

chaired by John Fahy BL a long standing Chairperson of the 

Employment Appeals Tribunal and the person who sits most 

frequently in the West, he was accompanied by Jim Redmond 

a long serving employer representative and Paul Clarke, an 

experienced Trade Union member of the EAT. The session was 

highly informative and gave the delegates a realistic insight 

into how the tribunal works, the structure and format of an 

EAT and how they reach their final decisions. 

The CIPD Western Region Chairperson Jacqueline O ’ Dowd 

wished the students well in their up - coming exams and 

encouraged the current 3rd year students to sign up for the 

Residential Weekend in 2010 to upgrade their continuing 

professional development. The weekend was a wonderful 

success – the workshops held by Alastair Purdy were extremely 

informative and sparked healthy debate amongst the 

delegates, the hospitality from Hotel Westport was superb as 

it is each year and the networking & social aspect was highly 

enjoyable as always. 

The importance of understanding the essentials of 

Employment Law is more crucial in the current working 

environment – now more than ever! In a time of massive 

uncertainties, it is important that HR & business professionals 

equip themselves with knowledge in dealing with 

employment legislation issues effectively within their 

organisations. The CIPD understand the importance of 

holding events on cutting edge HR topics and this weekend 

was no exception! 

Alastair Purdy highlighted the importance of keeping abreast 

of employment legislation and over the course of the 

weekend he covered such crucial areas as Recruitment & 

Selection, Law during the course of Employment, Terminating 

the Employment Contract, Workplace Investigations, Unfair 

Dismissals & the EAT, as well as a review of what is happening 

in Employment Law during 2009. 

Pictured at the CIPD Residential Weekend sponsored by Purdy Legal 

Solicitors and held in Hotel Westport from left: Deirdre McHugh 

(GMIT Galway), Alastair Purdy (Principal Speaker and Sponsor), 

Jacqueline O'Dowd (Hon. Chairperson CIPD Western Region) Declan 

Heneghan (Hotel Westport) and Clodagh Geraghty (GMIT Castlebar). 

REGIONS: SOUTH EAST 

The loadzajobs.ie sponsored breakfast meeting which is 

being organised by the CIPD South East region will take 

place on Wednesday 11th March 2009 at the Woodlands 

hotel commencing at 7.30am. 

The place to go when you want to go places. 

The name of our guest speaker is Adrian Twomey, Head of Employment Law Group, 

Advokat/Gallen Alliance Solicitors. The title of his presentation is EMPLOYMENT LAW 

UPDATE, 2009. 

56



Minister Launches NUI, Galway Book on 

Work-Life Balance 

Minister for Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon 

Ó'Cuív T.D. recently launched the book Work-Life Balance: 

Policies & Initiatives in Irish Organisations by researchers at 

the Centre for Innovation and Structural Change (CISC) at 

NUI, Galway. 

hand are in search of a greater balance in their work and 

non-work lives”. 

The book is the culmination of a two-year Irish Research 

Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) 

grant-funded project at the Centre for Innovation and 

Structural Change. 

The new publication from Oak Tree Press is written by 

Geraldine Grady and Dr Alma McCarthy from CISC at NUI 

Galway, Dr Colette Darcy at the National College of Ireland 

and Dr Melrona Kirrane at Dublin City University. 

The book provides a thorough and accessible review of key 

research on flexible working and work - life balance in Irish 

organisations. It builds a compelling business case for 

investment in flexible working initiatives in the workplace. 

Additionally, it sets out a comprehensive framework for 

designing, implementing and evaluating flexible working and 

work - life balance initiatives thereby providing a valuable tool 

for managers and organisations. 

Dr Alma McCarthy of NUI Galway highlights the relevance of 

the publication: “In today’s competitive environment, 

employers are continually seeking ways to manage key talent 

in the organisation as well as attracting prospective 

employees from a wider audience. Employees on the other 

L-R: Dr Willie Golden, Director of the Centre for Innovation & 

Structural Change (CISC), NUI Galway; Dr Alma McCarthy, CISC 

(author); Eamon O'Cuív, Minister for Community, Rural & Gaeltacht 

Affairs; Geraldine Grady, CISC (author); and Dr Colette Darcy, 

National College of Ireland (author). 

Workplace Strategy Evening at 

Covidien, Galway 

Lucy Fallon Byrne, Director National Centre for Partnership 

and Performance was guest speaker at the Covidien sponsored 

CIPD evening recently hosted in Galway. Lucy brought home 

the importance of improving the capacity of our workplaces 

to change and innovation by positive engagement between 

managers and staff. The event was a great success which was 

well represented by a host of employees throughout Galway 

as well as the Covidien Galway Management team and staff. 

A key message of ‘The best way to develop a good idea is to 

develop lots of ideas’ went down a treat with the attendees. 

Lucy spoke about involvement and the importance of listening 

with positive engagement between managers and employees 

being key to effective Partnerships and Performance. The 

feedback from the event was very positive. Lucy commented 

on the positive atmosphere at Covidien Galway and the 

genuine desire that the managers have here to support their 

employees. She said ‘I will certainly be back as I thoroughly 

felt the warm welcome in my home county of Galway’. 

Pictured at the Workplace Strategy event are L to R: Sandra Mooney, 

HR Manager, Covidien; Lucy Fallon-Byrne, Speaker NCPP; Jacqueline 

O’Dowd, Hon. Chairperson CIPD Western Region; and Rodney Crooks, 

Plant Director, Covidien.

REGIONS: SOUTHERN 


“HR 2.0 – Leveraging Social Media 

to Attract, Develop and Engage 

Talent in a Challenging Economy” 

RecruitIreland.com kindly sponsored the first CIPD 

Southern Region Event of 2009 which saw Krishna De, an 

award winning Employer Branding, Personal Branding and 

Social Media Strategist give an insightful overview on how 

to leverage social media to attract, develop and engage 

talent in these challenging times. 

delivering training programmes, recruitment & selection 

to name but a few. Linkedin can be invaluable for 

highlighting information on candidates in a much faster 

and cost effective way than the traditional reference 

checks. In order to optimise the benefits of social media 

for your own company, it is imperative to scope out the 

main organisational priorities and to identify which are 

the most relevant social platforms to support your 

strategy. The next step is to identify who are your key 

stakeholders and trying to anticipate and overcome any 

possible objections that they may have. 

Krishne has over 20 years of experience in the field of 

organisational growth & development and is an expert 

in brand engagement, employee communications, 

social media and executive development. Her expertise 

in personal branding and leveraging online marketing 

and social media is featured in the new book ‘World 

Wide Rave‘ published by Wiley and will available in 

March 2009. 

Krishna finished her presentation giving 

recommendations on how to nurture success utilising 

social media: create google alerts; do a search for your 

company & careers; nurture your network; create 

your social engagement guidelines and consider 

joining Linkedin. 

Social Media is, at its most basic sense, a shift in how 

people discover, read, and share information and do 

business. It's a fusion of sociology and technology. It is 

an evolving phenomenon that has captivated some, 

intrigued others, and is feared and underestimated by 

many. Social media are primarily internet- and mobilebased 

tools for sharing and discussing information. These 

sites typically use social media platforms such as blogs, 

message boards, podcasts, wikis, and vlogs to allow users 

to interact. A few prominent examples of social media 

applications are Wikipedia (reference), MySpace & 

Linkedin (both social networking), YouTube (video 

sharing), Second Life (virtual reality), digg (news sharing), 

flickr (photo sharing) and itunes (music sharing). 

From a HR perspective, going “ social ” has many 

advantages enhancing internal communication, 

Photographed (L to R): Damian Burns, Chairman, CIPD Southern 

Region; Rebecca Clark, Recruit Ireland; Tom Crosbie, MD, Recruit 

Ireland; and Krishna De, Guest Speaker 

58



“Who Wants To Be The Leader?” 

A packed room of CIPD Southern Region members had the 

opportunity to get an inspiring view on the fundamentals of 

leadership from Dr. Phillips Matthews, Director of Executive 

Education at the Michael Smurfit School of Business, University 

College Dublin. As well as having a very extensive business 

career to draw on for examples of his own leadership style, he 

also briefed the attendees on the essence of leadership 

strategies from a sporting perspective as Philip is a former 

captain of the Irish Rugby team (late 1980s & early 90s). 

Dr. Matthew’s own leadership influencers are his rugby 

experiences, his values system and his coaching experiences. 

He believes that the central themes for leadership success are 

twofold: firstly people must be open and honest about 

developing their own leadership capabilities and secondly 

leaders must be role models and live their leadership values: 

what is good for everyone else in the organisation is also 

good for leaders. He advised that in order to maximise 

productivity in these trying financial times employees need to 

be engaged in leadership concepts even before they have a 

formal leadership role and that organisations need to see the 

value of developing leaders. 

In a survey to ascertain what people want from their leaders, 

the following factors were identified: 

Honesty 88% 

Forward Looking 71% 

Competent 66% 

Inspiring 65% 

Intelligent 47% 

Fair Minded 42% 

Broad Minded 40% 

Supportive 35% 

The top four factors identified highlight that people want 

credible leaders: people who practice what they preach and 

whose actions are consistent with their words. 

Róisín O ’ Grady, 

Pfizer Ireland 

Pharmaceuticals, 

Brian Flynn, 

Fastnet Recruitment 

& Search and 

Mairéad O ’ Flynn, 

Pfizer Biologics 

Frances Chandler, 

Musgraves and 

Colm Marshall, 

Musgraves 

Matthews believes that successful leaders are those with a clear 

sense of “ self ”; have clarity in their own values and live these 

values by being good role models. He stated that it was the 

clarity of his own values that helped him to manage the 

challenging transition from the multinational sector to a public 

sector academic environment. Effective leaders need clarity in 

their value system to make the changes necessary to survive 

the turbelent times ahead. He feels that coaching plays a 

critical role to develop, stimulate and challenge leaders. 

Dr Matthews also touched on leading with emotional 

intelligence. Four critical success factors are necessary: self 

awareness; self management (keeping emotions under control); 

empathy for others through social awareness and relationship 

management (cultivating relationships and motivation). 

“ Various challenges exist in leadership: firstly knowing when to 

raise the heat enough that people sit up and pay attention ”, he 

stated. “ In tandem with this is knowing when to lower the 

temperature when required so as to reduce a 

counterproductive level of tension. Leaders need to be 

comfortable managing conflict and should not show 

discomfort. One needs to be confident in managing the 

relationship whether one is raising or lowering the heat levels! ” 

His final note: Leadership starts with your own personal 

journey, it is a continuous ongoing process and needs to be 

cultivated slowly-: it doesn’t just happen overnight. Look to 

your value system and be a role model to others. 

This event was very kindly sponsored by Fastnet Recruitment 

& Search who also launched their Outplacement Services 

division on the day. 

Dr. Phillip Matthews, 

Director of Executive 

Education, Michael 

Smurfit School of 

Business with 

Damien Burns 

Karen Hill, Fournier 

Laboratories Ireland, 

Audrey Burke - 

McCarthy, 

MotivAction 

and Gladys 

Hourigan, Irish 

Examiner 

Doreen Freeman, 

Qumas, 

Niamh O ’ Driscoll, 

Fastnet Recruitment 

& Search 

and Sandra Carey, 

Irish Examiner 

Coleman Casey, 

UCC, Pat O ’ Driscoll, 

Fastnet Recruitment 

& Search 

and Don Hegarty 

60


REGIONS: SOUTHERN REGIONS: 

CIPD Southern Region Are Programmed For Success! 

Over eighty HR professionals turned out to launch the CIPD 

Southern Region 2008/09 Programme of Events on 

Wednesday September 3rd last. Heineken Ireland again 

generously hosted the event in their hospitality suite in their 

Cork City location. It was a wonderful opportunity to renew 

old acquaintances after the Summer break and to network. 

Damien Burns, chairperson of the Southern Committee 

welcomed the members and invited Sean O’Driscoll of CIPD 

Ireland to update the members of issues at national level. 

The guest speaker for the evening was Mr. Billy Kelleher T.D., 

Minister for Labour Affairs. “ During this challenging economic 

climate, HR has a pivotal role to play in the linking 

management and employees ” commented Minister Kelleher. 

“ People are indeed one of a company ’ s most valuable assets 

and it is crucial that employees are developed and up -skilled 

accordingly in order for organisations to remain competitive ”. 

The Minister commended Damien and his committee for 

putting such an extensive and relevant programme of events in 

place which will keep HR professionals briefed on legalislation 

updates and best practice ideas assisting them to be a driving 

force in employee development in these challenging times. 

Events throughout the year include seminars on leadership, 

dealing with addictions in the work place, the role of media in 

HR, managing conflict in the workplace, HR strategy and 

updates on the redundancy process. The next Southern 

Region Event is titled: Employment Law Updates and will be 

delivered by Adrian Twomey of Advokat in the Council 

Chamber of the Cork County Hall. All are welcome. Please 

contact Suzanne.hegarty@examiner.ie for further details. 

CIPD Southern Region Committee 

Seated L to R : Doreen Freeman, Vice Chairman Southern Region; 

Sean O ’ Driscoll, Honorary Chairman, CIPD Ireland; Billy Kelleher, 

Minister for Labour; Damien Burns, Chairman, CIPD Southern 

Region; Niamh O ’ Driscoll. Standing Lto R: Hugh Morley, Secretary; 

Audrey Burke, McCarthy PRO; Michael O ’ Mahony; Karen Hill; and 

Don Hegarty 

Main Sponsor 

Vhi Healthcare 

L to R: Sean O’Driscoll 

Honorary Chairman 

CIPD Ireland; Damien 

Burns, Chairman, CIPD 

Southern Region; 

Niall O’Shea VHI; and 

Barry Hill Professional 

Development 

Officer, CIPD 

Guest Speaker Billy Kelleher Minister for Labour 

Noreen Murphy Heineken Ireland Cork ’ s latest Chartered Member in 

the company of four Chartered Fellows L to R Denis Kirby, Mike 

Sealy, David White, Don Hegarty 

Maurice O ’ Mahony, Audrey Burke - McCarthy, Peter Appelbe 

Eileen Forde. Anita Power 

61 61



November monthly meeting at 

Port of Cork Offices 

At this years "Services to HR" event in Cork which was 

held at the the Port of Cork offices on 26th November, the 

members of the Southern Region were the recipients of 

three very detailed and informative presentations. Kevin 

Fingleton, Marsh Ireland, gave a presentation on the 

necessity for and benefits of professional Indemnity 

Insurance. Mike Devine, Director, Jabor Lodge Cork, spoke 

in detail about "Addiction in the Workplace" and Dr. 

Bernadette Carr, Medical Director, Vhi Healthcare gave a 

presentation titled "Treatment of Substance Addictions". 

Vhi Healthcare announced that on average they have 

spent over €9m each year on the treatment of substance 

addictions throughout Ireland between 2003 and 2007. 

The number of claims per year averaged 1,500 over the 

five year period. Some 89% of substance addiction claims 

relate to alcohol abuse with the remaining 11% covering 

other drug dependence including Tobacco, Cannabis, 

Cocaine, Opiate, Prescription Drugs and a range of non 

specified drug abuse. 

The figures were announced by Dr Bernadette Carr, 

Medical Director, Vhi Healthcare, who was speaking at 

a CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and 

Development) Southern region event hosted for 

HR Managers in the region. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, January is the worst month 

for in-patient admissions for treatment of substance 

addictions. Over the last five years on average more 

than 170 people were admitted each January for 

treatment - whether it be for alcohol or other 

substance abuse. In February this reduces to an 

average of 115 admissions, with the overall average for 

the remaining ten months coming to 133 claims per 

month. Christmas time can be very difficult for someone 

with an alcohol or substance addiction. 

Some 58% of substance addiction claims are for men 

with women accounting for the remaining 42%. Most 

counties demonstrate roughly a 60/40 split but in some 

counties such as Tipperary and Wicklow the split is 

50/50 and 49/51 respectively. 

Vhi Healthcare statistics also show that claims arise from 

all age groups, from those under 17 to people aged 80 

years and over. However, the highest level of claims 

appears to arise in middle aged groups of men and 

women most notably the 40 – 60 year olds, with women 

in particular showing vulnerability to alcohol dependency 

in this age group. 

However, a small number of counties showed that 18-29 

year old males recorded the most frequent claims (Carlow, 

Galway, Mayo and Wicklow). In Galway and Wicklow it 

was found that other drugs (i.e. not alcohol) accounted 

for 34% of admissions among 18-29 year old addicts – 

well above the overall average of 11% for this category. 

Dr Carr highlighted that, “Alcohol and drug addiction are 

on the rise in Ireland and impacts all social classes and 

crosses the urban/ rural divide. In the past two years 

substance abuse and in particular Ireland’s love affair with 

cocaine was catapulted into the spotlight. This has led to 

an increased awareness of the problem and more open 

discussion than in the past where there was a greater 

stigma attached to substance addiction. Employers need 

to support employees and help them resolve and get 

treatment for their addiction problems.” 

L to R: Kevin Fingleton Marsh Ireland, Mike Devine Tabor Lodge, Dr Bernadette Carr Medical Director VHI Healthcare, Damien Burns Chairman 

CIPD Southern Region, Michael O ’ Mahony Event Organiser 

62

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