The circus freak show that was supposed to help us understand why the financial system imploded - and what role the Banking Four played in this - spectacularly failed to give much insight into either. As Fred the Shred, Asda Andy et al stood up to what amounted to little more than a stir fry, let alone a grilling, by the Treasury Select Committee, I felt myself wondering how the companies' HR directors would have performed in similar circumstances.
HBOS: "What thinking led you to implement a performance management system in which underperforming staff were punished by being sent cabbages?"
RBS: "How can a bank with one of the most admired people strategies in the country employ 'talent' that ends up taking the business into near bankruptcy? Oh, and why do they deserve £1 billion of taxpayers' money as reward for this?"
Granted, these companies are between a rock and a hard place, thanks to contracts guaranteeing bonuses. But who is responsible for these contracts in the first place? And who devised the incentive scheme?
I've said before in this column that HR needs to fight harder to get its voice heard when it comes to designing reward packages. Too often HR directors and remuneration committees fail to stand up to CEOs when it comes to so-called 'top talent' incentive schemes. The result? A small number of overpaid people feeling entitled to massive bonuses based on short-term measures rather than the longer-term health of the business - and indeed its employees.
It was clear to me that something was wrong in our banking system four years ago when someone I knew was upset about work. She felt it was immoral to put pressure on customers to buy things they didn't need. Hence, she had been told off for not selling extra products to a customer in a branch of a well-known bank. The product? A long-term savings plan. The customer? An 80 -year-old woman.
This is how bad the system has become. It's time for HR to take a lead and ensure all incentive schemes are properly scrutinised, based on meaningful measures, and reward the right kind of behaviour.
