Introduction
Personnel and human resources officers help to make an
organisation's human resource (its employees) as effective as
possible. This may be through direct support for the employee or by
providing specialist knowledge for managerial use. Around
15,000 personnel officers (including managers) are employed in
local government throughout UK. The many aspects of personnel means
there are numerous titles for its practitioners including
industrial relations officers, staffing and development officers,
employee relations officers as well as personnel officers.
Work Environment
The work can be conducted in a variety of settings including
offices, and other workplaces within the local authority. Most of
the work however is done locally in an office environment.
Daily Activities
The work is extremely varied and broad ranging. Some of the main
areas of work include:
- ensuring employee welfare, for example implementing health and
safety legislation, developing approaches to issues such as stress,
smoking and violence at work;
- writing job advertisements, answering questions from
applicants, drawing up short-lists, organising and sitting on
interview panels where required;
- ensuring that employees have the required skills and are placed
in the right grade with a competitive salary (i.e. job
evaluation);
- maintaining personnel files and records;
- coordinating appraisal systems;
- conducting training courses; overseeing the training of some
council workers and advising on training matters;
- consulting with and talking to trade unions on employment
issues. Regular meetings take place with unions to discuss matters
such as safety, working conditions, policies and pay;
- assisting and guiding managers in drawing up plans to relocate
staff where a department closes, restructure staffing structures
within departments or will oversee offers of early retirement,
voluntary redundancy or even, in the last resort, forced
redundancy. In addition to this they will support managers and
assist in the consultation with employees and trade unions on any
proposed changes/redundancies;
- assisting with the drafting of the framework within which
employees work. Where breaches of discipline occur, it is their job
to deal with them directly or to advise departmental managers how
to proceed;
- writing, monitoring, reviewing and updating employment related
policies for the Council. It is also within their remit to ensure
that council employees reflect a proper ethnic mix of the local
area. This balancing extends to employing representative numbers of
disabled people;
- providing advice and guidance to managers on the implementation
of employment policies including sickness absence management,
disciplinary, capability, grievance etc.
Skills & Interests
Personnel practitioners should understand and get on well with all
types of people and be able to win their trust and respect. They
should have patience, tact, organising ability and be able to make
impartial decisions. They need analytical and problem solving
skills to help them to create policies, plan and forecast future
skills needs. Finally, it is important that personnel officers can
see things from the employer's as well as the employee's
perspective. They must be able to keep confidences, and are often
required to work on confidential matters.
Entry Requirements
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is the
professional body for those involved in this work. There are no
minimum entry requirements. In practice, however, most people enter
with degrees or HNDs and then undertake the CIPD's
qualifications. Many people start their careers by working on
administrative aspects of personnel work and progress by studying
part-time for professional qualifications. CIPD's Professional
Qualification Scheme (PQS) comprises three parts: Core Management;
Core Personnel and Development; and Specialist and Generalist
Personnel and Development.
An alternative route is to join another department. You might
become an administrator in the education department or an engineer
in the highways department and move into a personnel role.
The CIPD's foundation qualification, the Certificate in Personnel
Practice (CPP), and the Professional Qualification Scheme (PQS) are
both open-access courses.
The CPP is available part-time or by open learning and usually
takes a year to complete. Other CIPD qualifications include
Certifivates in Training Practice (CTP) and Recruitment and
Selection (CRS). The PQS is available full-time, part-time and by
open learning. Part-time study for this will take about three
years. SVQ/NVQs in Personnel Support Level 3, Personnel
Management Level 4 and Personnel Strategy Level 5 are also
available. An Apprenticeship in personnel support is
available. Sometimes an Apprenticeship in Business Administration
can also offer a route into personnel work.
Future Prospects & Opportunities
Once qualified, it is fairly easy to transfer skills within local
authorities to more senior posts such as principal personnel
officer, and promotion to chief officer is possible. All
local authorities throughout the UK employ personnel (or human
resources) officers which further increases the
prospects/opportunities for those who choose this career area.
Further Information & Services
Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development www.cipd.co.uk
European Network of Training Organisations for Local &
Regional Authorities www.ento.org/portal
You may find further information about this area of work through
Careers Wales (www.careerswales.com/) or
in your local library, careers office or school careers
library.