Pride and privilege (profile of Stephen Kelly, director, BBC HR division)

Citation

Berry, M. (2009), "Pride and privilege (profile of Stephen Kelly, director, BBC HR division)", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 17 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2009.04417cad.002

Pride and privilege (profile of Stephen Kelly, director, BBC HR division)

Article Type: Abstracts From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 17, Issue 3

Berry M.Personnel Today (UK), 9 September 2008, Start page: 24, No. of pages: 3

Purpose – Offers a profile of Stephen Kelly, director of the BBC’s HR division BBC People. Design/methodology/approach – Notes that before joining the BBC Mr Kelly worked for seven years for BT, finally as HR chief, and that he is using his change management experience to help the BBC continue to develop its digital, online and mobile services as well as some staff relocation. Findings – Comments that the BBC has a £100 million HR outsourcing contract which, according to Kelly, has some teething troubles but would take at least three years to show any benefits. Mentions that Kelly is aware of the fact that the company is funded by the licence fee payers and it is a fact of life that some decisions can cause bad PR. States that Kelly’s annual salary is in the region of £400,000 and that he does not agree on much with trade unions. Remarks that Kelly insists that the programme to increase diversity among BBC employees is making progress, noting that there has been an extension of a placement scheme for people with disabilities and that 50% of the new entrants to the journalist training scheme are from black or minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. Observes that Kelly disagrees with the comment that there are few Asians executives in broadcasting because “managers like to clone themselves when recruiting”. Originality/value – Sheds light on what it is like to be the HR director of a “24-hour a day, 365 days a year operation”.ISSN: 0959-5848Reference: 38AA027

Keywords: Change management, Human resource management, Human resource strategies, Outsourcing