Jackie Orme, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, the organisation for HR managers, has remained defiant in the face of stinging criticism of the decision to retain her bonus.
Earlier this year the Institute lost 41 staff as well as axing discretionary bonuses for all staff and imposing a pay freeze. Ms Orme is reported to be on a salary of £300,000 and the bonus is believed to add a further £60,000.
The story was broken by Personnel Today and, notwithstanding the resulting furore, Ms Orme appears unwilling to apply the same restrictions to herself as other CIPD staff.
In what many might regard as a striking coincidence the CIPD issued guidance on executive pay last month. According to their press release they are:
“…designed to act as a framework to help HR directors and Remuneration Committees when developing executive remuneration policies, practices and structures. They have been drawn up to be applicable across sector, industry and organisation size. They are also intended to stand the test of time, rising above some of the excessively heated aspects of the current debate on executive reward, but without losing sight of the crucial issues around risk and reward that have been thrown into sharp focus by the crisis in the financial sector.”
So what have the CIPD done? – they’ve issued a press statement seeking to justify the payment of the bonus and caused consternation on the part of HR professionals in doing so.
Simon Howard, chairman of the Work Group, is forthright in his views:
Apart from asking itself how it got into this mess…the CIPD board should face up to the damage the row has caused – morale within the CIPD could not be lower and the business challenges it faces will not go away. While on the public stage, it is difficult to see how the CIPD can comment on the whole issue of rewards and the many failures of the bonus culture, when its own leader is seen to be a recipient of it.
