Sophie, this is an interesting piece. It's honest, bold and brave to share as well. Thank you. It has got me thinking. I'll start with the role of the CIPD.

Every year when membership renewal comes around I reflect on the value of membership. That's a good thing. I run my own business, it's a commercial cost and reviewing costs is part and parcel. I'm not alone, many of my community members - I run a global, free community for people folks who work independently- also do this and talk about it. Many have left.

I stay because I get value. I have to look for it sometimes and make the most of the resources that are produced. I contribute here to give back to the profession and learn and I've invested time in finding the gems in the membership, which might not be always visible or easy to find.

All that said I think the professional body struggles to work out what it's purpose, scope is, and communicate that, and involve the widest range of members and keep evolving. It's hard for it to cover the breadth of experience levels, disciplines within HR and size of businesses we work in.

I think People Management is a separate business arm, their training is separate too so I imagine the CIPD is trying to both deliver resources to us in our contexts and also trying to manage it's own business and the various parts of it some of which are not so much in 'their control' and are like sub companies. People Management also needs to get clicks and views, so some of their headlines and articles feel more tabloid than broadsheet to use a newspaper analogy. That said I can find gems in there if I get beyond the click bait.

Finally, I'd echo your sentiments about what leaders say and what they do. I find the companies that I love to work with and for, and where I thrive are where there is more alignment between what is said and what is done. Sometimes, my job, HR as a function and our professional body is about holding the mirror up - to businesses and to ourselves - to say we are not doing what we say we are doing and then do something about it.

I pretty much agree with all of this Sharon. There are reasons I still have my CIPD membership, despite feeling a bit dissatisfied. And I recognise the challenges of trying to serve such a wide breadth of professionals in terms of experience, sectors and needs.

Ultimately I think the CIPD are surviving on reputation and lack of competition at this stage - they have a bit of a monopoly on qualifications and memberships in this area (not uncommon for professional memberships). If an organisation popped up that gained as much "kudos" with employers and offered benefits, I think the competition would be beneficial for all because it would force the organisation to pick their USP, pick their purpose and perhaps streamline to do that bit really, really well, rather than doing lots of things averagely.

I do see snippets every now and then of the CIPD being aware of issues and wanting to improve - and have no doubt that there are some very hard-working people behind the scenes who are also feeling like they can't keep up with the rising tide of work and like their best is not good enough, because they're making changes but hearing the same complaints! And all the pressures I feel about what HR should be focusing on, well they can only be worse if you are the CIPD because you have to lead on it!

So perhaps my gripe really is with HR in general, or perhaps our national culture in general! Perhaps I just need a holiday :)

One of the things I am struggling with is the disconnect of what I am learning I should be to my company through my CIPD Level 5 studies, and what my company want me to be for them.

They are a small company and the Directors want full control. Ethical decision making? Absolutely not. Do they want my input? No, they don't want to be called out. So for example, they ignore their own handbook where it suits, they promote people who's faces fit and to hell with the repercussions. They try to exit people often from the business if they don't fit the culture. They will not hire anyone older because it is a 'young business'.

I don't really believe there's a strategy for me to hang a HR strategy on if I'm being completely honest.

I'm not asked to be involved with talent planning because there is very little planning in any area and promotions are usually based on who the MD has promised them to.

Recruitment swings from no vacancies to about 18 over night depending on whether the business wins business but then often panics about the costs of those hires because there's no forecasting or budgeting ahead.

I'm lost. I don't know whether to leave or if it's like this everywhere...but it makes me miserable. I have no control. I don't see me ever being able to be involved with things I'm taught I should be. I just clear up a lot of mess.

Ah Stacey, that sounds really frustrating and demoralising and it's certainly not like that everywhere. Senior management of organisations can have a really wide ranging view of what they want and expect from their HR function: from 'tea, tissues and toilets' to being a valued and trusted partner. Some will still view it as being an admin only function or that you're there to be the HR police. It's definitely something to ask about during a recruitment process to try and gauge how they will see you.

In a lot of circumstances I would advocate for trying to talk to the leaders to understand what they're really looking for from you, trying to build relationships to open out more ethical ways of thinking and decision making, pushing for better planning... but I think on this occasion you know the answer to that. Some mess might be inevitable but if nothing changes time and time again, then it might be time to look for somewhere more circumspect where you can genuinely add value and practice what you've learned.

Aww Stacey! No it's not like that everywhere BUT you're also not alone in it being like this... Often in small businesses and/or start ups, it absolutely can be like that.

Are they paying for your CIPD? Are you tied into them? If yes, chatting to them about what you've learned may be a useful way to start building some change.

If no, consider if it's where you want to be, if there is enough good there for you to work with them. If there is (or if you're stuck) perhaps set yourself some small goals to bring about incremental change. See if you can build up enough trust with just a single leader to chat about how the actions are not matching values or how they're not matching policy etc. and chat about the impact this has - for you personally, but also on things like employee engagement and risk to the business financially and as a time drain - let them know you want to work with them on reducing this risk while also not causing unnecessary delays

Thank you for your reply. I'm definitely on the look our for something that better aligns with my morals and values. I'm glad to hear things operate differently elsewhere too.

I'm glad to know that there's other opportunities but did think this must be a small business thing. I got asked by my head of HR (an accountant) to do a sped up version of the capability process this week. They accidently told an employee anothers salary but still wont pay her the same as him. I'm constantly at a loss with them. They have paid my studies that's not a hindrance to me looking elsewhere. Thank you

The biggest challenge for me is that sometimes there is so much compliance, and processes in our job that all we do is blaming people when they make a mistake and we forget the human side. It feels like there is no room for mistakes , just blame and sense of guilt. As a very empathyc and emotional person I take everything to the heart and when a mistake happen I feel responsible at the point that I feel depressed, incompetent and not good enough to derserve this job. Employee quite often are disappointed with us and their expectations feels hard to meat.

HR is not making me miserable, some of the tasks we have to do are not nice! But I welcome challenges and thrive on this role being so difficult with each day different. I am concerned about smaller businesses with all the employment law changes coming up and what the future holds for HR.

I think as HR professionals we need to push back a bit harder at some of the management decisions, we are all guilty of 'yes okay' and being scapegoated - we should be collectively taking a stand saying this is how we should do things, if you want to go against expert advice then that is on you. At the end of the day, we are paid to do our job with our expert knowledge. I still feel HR gets pushed back and not taken as seriously as other departments in many businesses.

I am lucky in my current role, but have worked in environments which do not take it seriously and honestly, I could not go back to that way of working.