EDITORIAL www.hcamag.com FEBRUARY 2016 EDITORIAL
SALES & MARKETING
Editor Iain Hopkins
Marketing & Communications Manager Lisa Narroway
Journalists Chloe Taylor Miklos Bolza Production Editors Hayley Barnett Moira Daniels
ART & PRODUCTION Design Manager Daniel Williams Designer Marla Morelos Traffic Coordinator Lou Gonzales
Business Development Managers James Francis Steven McDonald Lisa Tyras
CORPORATE Chief Executive Officer Mike Shipley Chief Operating Officer George Walmsley Managing Director Justin Kennedy Chief Information Officer Colin Chan Human Resources Manager Julia Bookallil
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In good times, in bad times… THIS MONTH’S cover profile was sparked from a rather tersely written letter to me as the editor of HRD. “Why do you only profile companies on the up and up, who are expanding and where everything is running smoothly?” It was a fair and justified criticism. We do tend to focus on rapid growth success stories – as does much of the mainstream media. This is wrong. HR in particular must be engaged with the company, no matter the wider economic conditions or other external elements. Indeed, it’s when times are tough that HR is often forced to come into its own. Tough times can involve downsizing, rightsizing and restructuring. Budgets are cut, nice-to-haves disappear, resources are stretched, tough conversations become the norm. They say that no great art ever comes from happiness. While that same logic can’t quite apply to the business world – boom times, after all, produce plenty of innovations and top results – it might be true that tough times can result in more creative thinking and new perspectives. Sure, ‘great art’ may not quite be the end result, but a streamlined operation that could make the difference between survival and extinction is almost as good.
“...it might be true that tough times can result in more creative thinking and new perspectives” Geoffrey Woodcroft of Peabody Energy (the world’s largest private sector coal company) certainly believes tough times can bring out the best in HR – and he should know. His company has been through the mill in recent years. What struck me about Geoffrey’s story was how something negative can be turned into something positive. It may be difficult to see the positive at times, but as he tells HRD, every member of his HR team has been through the greatest learning experience they will probably ever encounter at work. And importantly, the standing of HR at Peabody Energy has been enhanced by treating employees fairly, by communicating transparently and remembering that employees are people, not numbers. Sometimes, just sometimes, we come into our own when we’re furthest from our comfort zones. Iain Hopkins, editor
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