HR industry in crisis as trans ruling deepens rifts

Telegraph

29-04-2025

'Are we really too 'woke'?' the boss of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) asked his members in a blog post last year.
The topic, Peter Cheese claimed, was one which had 'real importance in the world of work'. It also has meant a busy year for the CIPD, 'responding to the 'anti-woke' pushback'.
Yet many in the HR industry say they are not overly impressed. Instead, they wish the organisation, which was set up to improve the wellbeing of factory workers in 1913 and has over 160,000 members, would just stay out of culture war politics.
'You've got the Employment Rights Bill coming in and you don't see a strong opinion from them on that. Yet you do on the 'anti-woke' culture and transgender rights, despite a lot of HR professionals just wanting the sector to be balanced,' says one HR chief who used to work for the CIPD.
'At the same time it is growing its focus on the Middle East, where there are challenges around human rights.'
Another HR veteran, who has long been a CIPD member, shares the same frustrations. 'There's always been a level of grumpiness about them – it's a bit like council tax with people asking, 'well, what do I get for it?''
What has changed 'is that they have strayed into campaigning territory – 'what will get us a seat in this discussion on this table?'' says the insider. 'The problem with HR is that it gets into social policy and doesn't focus on driving good business.'
After the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of a woman, some of the CIPD's longest-standing critics have ramped up their scrutiny of the organisation.
Posting a video on LinkedIn of the cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants running around in circles looking panicked, HR adviser Tanya de Grunwald wrote: 'Live scenes at the CIPD as they realise their 'trans inclusion' guidance has increased risk for their members'.
Another person added: 'HR teams who have been using the CIPD guidance have a lot of work ahead of them'.
The criticism centres on CIPD guidance which has since been removed, stating that it may legally be classed as discrimination to refuse a transgender person access to female-only facilities.
Maya Forstater, who runs gender critical group Sex Matters, argued at the time that its 38-page transgender guide was 'not usable'.
The CIPD had claimed that its guide 'makes clear that employers should listen carefully to employees and seek legal advice where necessary'.
A spokesman says that its guidance is based on 'evidence and legal frameworks', adding that it is a 'politically neutral' organisation which is valued by members for its objectivity.
'Societal issues have increasingly become politicised in recent years, but these are very real issues affecting people's experience at work and business outcomes so it's right to provide evidence and guidance on them for our members and more broadly,' the spokesman says.
Many people disagree. The charity's increased focus on wider political issues has irked some of its members, as well as the wider business community.
One UK chairman, who did not want to be named, says they feel the organisation is going the wrong way about attempting to modernise, adding: 'They're trying to be too political, rather than thinking about where HR is going and the next generation.'
Heeral Gudka, a consultant who advises companies on their diversity strategies, says this was a hot topic when she hosted roundtable discussions with HR professionals from 10 organisations before the Supreme Court ruling earlier this month.
'One of the topics covered was how the CIPD has done a poor job of preparing HR professionals for belief conflicts in the workplace,' she says. 'Particularly as so many high-profile tribunal cases regarding belief conflicts are related to gender-critical beliefs which garner a huge amount of public interest.'
But it is not just its approach to this topic which has aggravated HR-land. One senior HR chief points to the charity's research on 'fat cat' executive pay in the years leading up to Covid, which triggered a public backlash against bosses earning 117 times the average worker.
'They were taking a position on executive pay. But people like myself are responsible for executive pay, so you're criticising the work I'm doing to get column inches,' the HR veteran argues, adding that the CIPD's focus on home working during Covid was another bone of contention.
'They forgot in their guidelines all the essential services that had operated throughout Covid – it was all about how to do work from home, when the largest employer in the country is the NHS. That kind of stuff is where you lose people.
'If you walked into the CIPD building I'd be surprised if there was anyone in there. They're not representing the profession – they've ended up in a marginalised view driven by their own perspectives.'
Some believe the recruiters now scouting the market for a replacement for Valerie Hughes-D'Aeth, the outgoing CIPD chairman, will struggle for applicants, arguing the organisation simply feels 'out of date'.
A CIPD member points out the irony in the fact it paid out £1.9m in termination and redundancy payments last year – 'not great for the profession for people management'.
Senior HR staff admit that they now view the not-for-profit organisation as more of a 'student accreditation body' than a professional one, with one person declaring that 'a lot of the more senior HR community are not senior or active'.
It is a view echoed by others. 'If you're a student looking to get qualified then the CIPD is important. People want those letters,' says another HR insider, although he admits he remains a member himself.
'Like lots of people I'm a member because my company pays my membership.'
For the CIPD, it will be viewed as a disappointment, coming at a time when the HR industry as a whole is ballooning.
The organisation's own figures show that the number of staff in the sector jumped 42pc between 2011 and 2021 – four times the growth rate of the general workforce.
What's more, there are crucial issues which need tackling. Workers in Britain are worse off than they were in 2008, according to the International Labour Organisation, with the country lagging behind the rest of the rich world.
The Resolution Foundation said this month that Britain had suffered an 'almost unprecedented' plunge in productivity over the past five years, the worst drop since the 1970s outside the financial crisis.
With such poor productivity growth, people are asking why the industry body isn't focusing on more relevant issues – rather than worrying about 'wokeness'.
A CIPD spokesman says its guidance covers the 'breadth of workplace issues' including productivity and the incoming Employment Rights Bill, adding that member satisfaction is tracked and is increasing.
Yet its critics and former colleagues remain sceptical. As the former CIPD staffer asks: 'The original CIPD charter was all about improving the world of work.'