Profession for the Future, the way we’ve described our work designed to help people professionals thrive in a changing world of work, is changing.

From 27 May, it will be called The People Profession: now and for the future, or ‘now and for the future’ where there isn’t much space because, let’s be fair, it’s quite long now. 

Where did it come from?

In 2016 the CIPD set out a long-term plan focused on professionalism, professional capital and operational excellence in pursuit of our purpose of championing better work and working lives.

The objective of our professionalism work is to help people professionals to be champions by building the capability of the profession as experts in people, work and change.

The Profession for the Future strategy was developed to feed into our professionalism objective, and we have referred to the work derived from this collectively as Profession for the Future. This work has included:

• the launch of the new Profession Map,
• the alignment of membership standards to the new Profession Map,
• the development of member learning content based on the eight core behaviours in the new Profession Map

We’ve defined and talked about Profession for the Future in a number of ways:

• It’s our definitive roadmap to better work and working lives.
• It’s the CIPD vision for our changing profession, complete with practical ways for people professionals to make a greater impact and thrive in an evolving world.
• It sets out how we will shape the future of work, with confidence and credibility, as individuals and collectively.

Listening to you

We know that people professionals the world over are benefitting from the research and the resources that are the result of this work.  But if how we’re framing our work and vision doesn’t immediately resonate then we could be doing better, reaching more people professionals and supporting them to thrive in a changing world of work.

You’ve told us that for Profession for the Future to make sense to you, we need to clarify the ‘who’ and the ‘when’.

Which is why we’ve landed on The People Profession: now and for the future.

The fundamental meaning and scope of the work has not changed, but this name change aims to clarify that:

It’s with you and for you

We can only anticipate futures that help us prepare people professionals for whatever lies ahead through continuous and collaborative research.  ​Research that makes us all think and helps us to shape the future rather than merely responding to it.

It’s designed to support you today and into the future

It’s from our research, and the vision of the futures that derive from it, that we can develop the tools and resources that help you to thrive in a changing world of work.  And because those tools are based on research, they’re specifically designed to evolve to anticipate change.

It’s all part of our commitment to prepare you for the journey ahead.

So what’s in a name? Quite a bit really…