HR in the firing line as MoD aims for 280m cost saving

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) expects to save more than 280m over the next 10 years by slashing the size of its HR function and introducing a new shared-services centre reports tomorrowís Personnel Today magazine.

In an exclusive interview with Personnel Today, Deborah Loudon, director-general of Civilian Personnel Management Service said the shake-up will see the total number of HR staff at the department fall from about 3,000 to an eventual figure of 1,500.

ìThere will be job losses but Iím hoping the majority will be through natural wastage and retirements,î she said. ìWhere possible we want to redeploy people [across the department].î

Loudon admitted that the new structure would be a huge culture shock for many staff, particularly line managers who will have to shoulder much more responsibility. ìBut we are not dumping on line managers as they will have high quality support in the form of the new agency,î she said. ìThere will be extensive training in place for them as well.î

Daniel Thomas, news editor at Personnel Today, said: ìThe scale of the MoDís move means it will be watched closely by other large employers across private and public sectors which are investigating similar initiatives. It will also be interesting to see how effective line managers are in taking on more HR-related duties. Many HR professionals donít believe general managers are equipped to tackle people performance issues.î