HR v Personnel - reality or branding?

On one of the forums I 'frequent' there is a lot of discussion on the difference between HR and personnel. There are people that position one as proactive and strategic and the other as more maintenance and welfare. Sure the sentiments behind the drive and focus may well be true - however if there was any real difference other than a 'brand name' then wouldn't larger organisations have both HR & Personnel functions - or in the least use both job titles?

Certainly this is one of the many assignments people undertake as part of their CPP or other HR based qualification, or is it just that some authors are trying to sell books on the back of attempting to get students to differentiate between two sides of the same coin?

Press reports on the CIPD annual conference

It has been a few days now and time to reflect. One of the interesting things is the diversity and level of coverage the annual conference gets.

A round up
I thought that we were setting a new pace in blogging but Personnel Today did something unexpected - they transcribed the keynote sessions for example Jackie Orme keynote and Surviving and thriving through turbulence . These are useful transcriptions for the keynote sessions.

People Managements site offers us Keep cool and talk during tough times

John Philpot on the CIPD site blog - a scant entry as part of his overall offer.

On TrainingZone Annie Hayes provided an overview of the event.


It will be interesting to see the articles that arise in the coming weeks from the conference content.

Earlier press coverage
Earlier in the year the announcement of the CIPD's decision to move from Harrogate to Manchester caused upset as can be read about in the Yorkshire Post - but can the CIPD be blamed? Customers have increasing demands on suppliers and it appears that while the venue has adapted - the infrastructure around the conference centre has sat back and relaxed. The CIPD annual conference is the second largest conference held annually in Harrogate.