Happy New Year! And what another interesting, and probably unpredictable year 2018 is set to be. We are in times of significant change, and forces like Brexit, new disruptive technologies and changes to how, where and when we work will continue to shape the world of work and, in turn, our roles as people professionals.

Good work for all

At the CIPD we believe that the future of work is human. This is not a question. It’s an unequivocal statement, and we continue to invest in promoting the movement for change. Central to that is how we understand and develop what good work is. The 2017 Taylor review of Modern Working Practices reignited the discussion of what is good work and how important that now is in a world where the nature of jobs and roles are changing, including the growth of the gig economy, flexi-working, and the acceleration of technology and AI working alongside people.

This is a central area of CIPD research and action that we will progress in 2018. Good work embraces many of the principles at the heart of what good HR and people practices should enable; from inclusion, to proper support, the use of skills and employee voice – with outcomes and implications for engagement, well-being and productivity. We are now joining the dots between lots of these ideas.

Investing in skills for the future

To do that we must have a much broader debate about what the common or core skills are that we’ll increasingly need – this must go beyond speculation and focus more on what future jobs there will be.

Many of these skills are the truly human skills such as empathy and collaboration, creativity, judgment and critical thinking, resilience and attitude. And how we develop them, particularly with the ever growing forms of training, qualifications, and varying standards. Look out for more from us on this in 2018. The CIPD has been progressing this over the last year and we will continue pushing this forwards strongly in 2018.

Influencing the policy agenda to champion better work for everyone

There is a growing list of policy and regulatory changes that will impact many of us professionally. In the UK, 2018 is a significant year with the implementation of the apprenticeship levy, gender pay gap reporting, the general data protection regulations (GDPRs), and other sector specific policy changes, as well as ongoing consultation and discussion on corporate governance, industrial strategy, productivity and skills.

The CIPD will continue to provide guidance and support to you, our profession and beyond on all these changes, as well as researching and providing insight to influence policy direction. These are universal themes on how we both better protect our businesses and manage the risks of the future, but also how we encourage business to invest more in people, create positive work environments and act responsibly.

Inclusion, well-being and fairness will be central in 2018

We know we still have much to do to create more engaging, supportive, and inclusive workplaces and roles. After a year of troubling headlines over harassment at work, as highlighted through the #MeToo campaign, our profession has a crucial role to play in delivering on the fundamentals of good HR practice – ensuring that our people and our workforces feel respected, valued and are treated fairly. Inclusion, wellbeing, fairness will all continue to be central themes societally and politically through 2018. And we need to find the best ways to support businesses of all types, large and small – something we at the CIPD are committed to.

Working tirelessly with businesses and regulators to encourage transparency

Our ability as professionals is to understand what is happening in our organisations, therefore to provide evidence and insight must continue to be a central focus. Better people metrics and analytics, standards, and growing our capabilities in these areas will continue to be a strong push for us in 2018. We're working closely with regulators such as the UK’s Financial Reporting Council to encourage more transparency on people metrics across all businesses. These are critical to better business governance and providing the reassurance to all stakeholders that people really are at the heart of the business agenda.

Committed to being your career partner

These are exciting times for our profession, whether you are in HR, L&D or OD. As your professional body, the CIPD team will continue to focus on how we can support you in shaping the world of work as well as being a strong and supportive career partner for you.

Through 2018 we will be further developing and launching our new Professional Standards Framework, and building more of the content and learning programmes to support all of you in building skills, capabilities and confidence.

We know we need to build-in more flexibility, to support the different areas of specialisation, the common body of knowledge, and to be able to reach out to and support those in the early stages of their HR career where our qualifications and professional membership criteria are beyond where they are. This is particularly important for how we continue to support and grow our international presence and reach.

We will also be doing more in 2018 to connect and engage across our membership, to involve you in sharing ideas, practices, learning, making a difference, and building the confidence that comes through a strong professional community.

I’m proud of our profession – together we’re shaping the future

I'm very proud of the work that CIPD members do every day to champion better work and working lives. It isn’t easy and there are many pressures, but we are seeing more innovation and new ideas emerging in practice across all organisation every day. As each year passes it becomes ever clearer that as a profession we have a big role to play in shaping the future.

We invite you to share you stories of success on our Community pages so our members can continue to learn from each other and we can continue to build a strong, supportive profession for the future.

So here’s to a great year ahead, and I look forward to working with you all to progress these important agendas in 2018 and beyond.

Peter

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