In this issue, we highlight a different sort of relationship. SWTs HR director, Beverley Shears, and the newly-appointed head of the RMT, Bob Crow, have known each other for years. Crow, who is portrayed as a left-wing firebrand in the national press, tells Human Resources magazine that if partnership means we have to give up our right to take strike action then no, we arent partners. Shears and Crow may sit at opposite sides of the table in an ongoing dispute but they still have respect for each other. If the two sides can find a way forward, much of that success will be due to this trust.
Few companies have been as badly shaken by the events of 11 September as British Airways. The decline in air travel, the need to prepare for a different kind of disaster and the ever-present competitive pressures from the budget airlines have forced BA to plan a staff reduction of about 13,000. For the first time, BAs director of people, Mervyn Walker, writes about the experience.
While politicians debate the future of the NHS, HR directors like Janet King apply their considerable energy to the task of doing the best with what they have got. This lesson is just as relevant for the private sector. Human Resources followed King on an average working day, packed with heated debates from morning to night.
If you have not yet thought about how to measure the value of human assets, Andrew Mayos article will provide a good introduction. For those who have already started down this road, Mayo, author of The Human Value of the Enterprise, provides clear guidance on how to get it right. And if you are fed up with the way the City views HRs contribution to business performance, a recent debate between City powerbrokers and HR may provide a crumb of comfort.
Boots, which continues to come under tough scrutiny from the City, has devised a leadership development programme called Raising the Bar that it hopes will help the company to turn itself around. But will it be enough?
Morice Mendoza
Editor
