The Future of Branches

Lisa Sarjeant, HR Director

Helen Johnson, Chair of Coventry and Warwickshire branch

The journey so far:• Identified with Branch Chairs the need to review

branches and form a working party

• Working party presented findings and proposals to Executive Board in June and September 2009

• Branches and wider membership consulted throughout and update provided to Council Reps December 2009

• Pilot commenced 1 March 2010 to launch new support role for a group of branches

Pilot aims:

• Support a number of branches within a geographic area by appointing a paid regional coordinator

• Reduce half of the administrative and financial book-keeping burden (create economies of scale)

• Build volunteer knowledge and capability in line with ‘One CIPD’ strategy and share successful branch activities

• Support branches with guidance on areas such as sponsorship, event pricing, advertising, etc

• Improve data collection of branch activities

Pilot aims cont:

• Modernise our branch constitution, ensuring good governance

• Increase professional development activities to local members eg mentoring programmes, career planning

• Increase contributions to public policy• Branch websites and newsletters to be maintained by Co-

ordinators (content produced by branch officers)• Income & expenditure accounts and auditing

co-ordinated by areas• Free up some Branch Officer’s time to contribute on face to

face activities

Benefits:• Volunteer efforts concentrated on higher added

value input to local activities• Improved brand consistency and quality of content• Event bookings managed more efficiently and cost

effectively• Improved inter-branch and HQ communication • Reduced time spent on branch accounts / audits• Increased transparency of branch expenditure • More efficient on-line event bookings • Greater opportunity to measure performance

Pilot implementation:

• Pilot branches: South Yorkshire; Leicestershire; Derby & Nottinghamshire; Coventry; Northamptonshire

• Regional coordinator job share appointed and trained:– Eleanor Lloyd Jones & Sarah Barnes

• A pilot group was set up with each branch chair, Lisa Sarjeant, Cheryl Myles and the Co-ordinators with Ann Cartwright appointed as Chair

• Terms of reference and measures of success agreed

Branch Experiences

• Pre Pilot Situation– Part time paid admin– Failed part time paid admin– Removed paid admin and streamlined

• Mid Pilot Situation– Mix of increased and decreased levels of service – Increased consistency between the functionality

of branches– Sharing of good practices

Measures of success

• Improve local member engagement:– Increase event attendance levels by 10%– Increase inter-branch attendance by 5%

• Improve member satisfaction– Increase satisfaction ratings in national survey – Increase satisfaction of branch service and

events members in the pilot area

Branch Commitments

• Future of Branches Pilot Group meetings and ‘project’

• Measures of Success• Increased face to face activities

– Mentoring Programmes, Social or Networking Events, Policy Consultations, Branch Awards, etc …..

– Better utilisation of volunteers– Increased exposure of CIPD and Committee to

members

Next steps:• Pilot extended to 30 October 2010 to allow for the

summer quiet period and change in Officers• Keep providing updates to all branch committees

during pilot and share the learning• Evaluate and refine along the way• Embed the revised branch constitution • Review options for small branches/large groups• Develop a plan, including funding options, for further

roll out to other geographical areas in 2011/12• Develop virtual branch package and supporting

technologies