Former BBC HR Director Lucy Adams has been reflecting on leadership and trust, on her blog. The whole thing is worth a read, but Beeboids will enjoy these bits, the first about emails sent to all staff.....
One day at the BBC, I got a call from a guy in News who wanted to be helpful by explaining to me that “my emails were crap” and I should “get someone else to write them for me”. I was slightly taken aback as this was precisely what I had done. My emails were usually written with several other people – people in HR, people in Legal, people in the press team and people in Internal Communications. As I re-read the most recent communications I realised with dismay that he was right. My emails were crap. They seemed pompous and sterile, lacking any humanity or humility. I had adopted the royal Executive “We” and, in an effort to be accurate, I had “lawyered-out” any personality....
During the period when we were trying to communicate the need to reform the BBC’s final salary pension scheme, the trade unions’ leaflets were so much more powerful than the corporate line. They created images of fat, overpaid BBC executives who cared little for the poorly paid BBC staffer who would suffer in old age. They produced caricatures of the Director General and his team with an almost pantomime villain quality. We talked about mortality rates and interest rate risks. During the severance scandal, the press had a field day with images of overpaid executives receiving enormous amounts of money. One entire page in the Daily Mail was devoted to my supposed obsession for designer labels and expensive handbags – despite me being a TopShop regular ! The corporate response tried to explain what we had been doing by talking about contractual entitlements and payback periods leading to savings of £20m a year. A futile attempt to combat emotion with analysis....
In every period of difficult news “Hunt the missing Exec” is a favourite pastime and yet this disappearing act damages their faith in us to do the right thing. One of the bravest leadership acts I’ve seen was Tim Davie who, on his first morning as Acting Director General of the BBC during the Savile crisis, went straight onto the Newsroom floor to meet with the journalists. Most senior managers would rather go and visit the staff in Gaza then make an appearance down there during a crisis. That one act earned him a huge amount of respect and trust....
In recent years the BBC started publishing all of the expense claims of its senior leaders. Whilst the press focused on the more luxurious claims – a bottle of champagne or a posh dinner – what annoyed the staff most was the smaller claims – the postage stamp or the cappuccino – by people who were on six-figure salaries. We’ve all seen these small abuses of privilege and some of us have been guilty of doing it; the demand for a good parking space, the slightly better stationery than everyone else, no hot desking for the Execs. It does us no favours and we come across as mean-spirited. You wouldn’t trust a mate who demanded petty privileges so why would you trust your leader ?.....
So many of our HR policies [I don't think she's being BBC-specific here, but...]have been developed because someone did something bad once and a rule was developed to prevent anyone doing it ever again. We all have the “Stop Them” Policies and indeed hours of our time go into enforcing them. Think about your employment contract. This tells us how much we are going to be paid, the hours we are expected to work and the 30 policies that if breached, will result in us being fired. Hardly the opening gambit for a trusting relationship !
Showing posts with label pensions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pensions. Show all posts
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Years roll by...
Alan Yentob is 67 today. As soon as I find out where the party is, I'll let you know.
Is he the oldest member of staff ? I doubt it, but there's a widening age gap to middle managers below. Once again, BBC students of demographics and pension changes will notice that a lot of late 50s/early 60s colleagues have been holding farewell parties as the new financial year approaches. Could it have anything to do with changes to the lifetime allowance defining the tax-advantaged pension savings that an individual can accumulate over their career ? From April, the limit is cut from £1.5m to £1.25m.
Is he the oldest member of staff ? I doubt it, but there's a widening age gap to middle managers below. Once again, BBC students of demographics and pension changes will notice that a lot of late 50s/early 60s colleagues have been holding farewell parties as the new financial year approaches. Could it have anything to do with changes to the lifetime allowance defining the tax-advantaged pension savings that an individual can accumulate over their career ? From April, the limit is cut from £1.5m to £1.25m.
- One soon-to-be-former BBC employee Lucy Adams is a long way from whatever pension she accumulated with Auntie. So it's little surprise she's topping up income with another keynote HR speech, this time at the 9th Annual Congress of the Strategic HR Network (created by an events company called Middleton Burgess as a networking opportunity, and now run as a stand-alone firm). It's a one day event tomorrow in London (delegate cost £699 + VAT) and Lucy's on at 1600.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Twas ever thus...
I'm grateful to a Facebook friend for reminding me of how John Birt left the BBC. Greg Dyke had already been appointed to replace him, and Birt reached agreement with the Governors, led by Sir Christopher Bland, to leave two months before the end of the financial year, 2000. For this, he received a termination payment of £328k, "calculated in line with BBC policy for all staff", which had us all snorting at the time. His pension pot was enhanced by £489k (to deliver a pension of £130k p.a.), and there was a further money purchase of £50k. In all, £867,000 to go.
Using the Bank of England inflation calculator from 2000 to 2012, equivalent to £1,248,671.62p.
(Birt's salary for his final ten months in post was £276k, and he received a bonus payment so £159k, and benefits of £21k).
Using the Bank of England inflation calculator from 2000 to 2012, equivalent to £1,248,671.62p.
(Birt's salary for his final ten months in post was £276k, and he received a bonus payment so £159k, and benefits of £21k).
Friday, August 16, 2013
Dining in
Former colleagues of ex-BBC executive Pat Loughrey were pleased to see the oul fella looking chipper, well turned-out and able to afford a canteen meal on Celebrity Masterchef this week.
Pat left the BBC in December 2009 after 25 years' service, with a severance package of £866k, and pension pot augmentation of £266,288. In October 2009, his appointment as Warden of Goldsmiths, University of London was announced, on a salary said to be £206k.
Pat left the BBC in December 2009 after 25 years' service, with a severance package of £866k, and pension pot augmentation of £266,288. In October 2009, his appointment as Warden of Goldsmiths, University of London was announced, on a salary said to be £206k.
Friday, August 9, 2013
On report
Looks like the BBC has reached at least one compromise with the Public Accounts Committee. The MPs had demanded details of all 150 severance pay and benefits enhancements reached with senior management over the past three years; the BBC tried to argue that a straightforward handover might breach data protection laws. Now, it seems, the NAO, whose first report sampled 60 of those severance deals and 60 additional benefit cases (some of them overlaps) are back, going over the remainder.
And the inquiry into possible payments where "other guidelines may have been breached" (which I take to mean the Fincham and Douglas exit deals) will be conducted by KPMG.
DG Tony Hall has promised both reports will shared with the PAC next month.
And the inquiry into possible payments where "other guidelines may have been breached" (which I take to mean the Fincham and Douglas exit deals) will be conducted by KPMG.
DG Tony Hall has promised both reports will shared with the PAC next month.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Millionaire
In the hope of getting it all out in one day, the BBC has revealed the final settlement for John Smith, who left the Corporation in December, after 24 years service, including eight years as Finance Director, one as Chief Operating Officer and seven years running BBC Worldwide. And he's paid back half of what he was given in lieu of notice, saving Auntie £205k.
During the financial year 2012, John took home as follows...
£337k salary (i.e. for eight months of the year)
£11k in taxable benefits
£222k bonus (presumably it would have been £333k for the full year)(see my footnote here)
£196k as payment from a profit sharing plan
£386k in bonuses deferred from previous years
£449k payment in lieu of notice - £205k subsequently returned.
In all it adds up to nearly £1.4m, even after his refund, which has clearly only come in the past month - too late for inclusion in the printed version of the Worldwide annual report.
It's being topped up now with a BBC pension of £212k a year - John took early retirement as he left, and if you wanted a pension like that, you'd need a pot of £5.8m.
During the financial year 2012, John took home as follows...
£337k salary (i.e. for eight months of the year)
£11k in taxable benefits
£222k bonus (presumably it would have been £333k for the full year)(see my footnote here)
£196k as payment from a profit sharing plan
£386k in bonuses deferred from previous years
£449k payment in lieu of notice - £205k subsequently returned.
In all it adds up to nearly £1.4m, even after his refund, which has clearly only come in the past month - too late for inclusion in the printed version of the Worldwide annual report.
It's being topped up now with a BBC pension of £212k a year - John took early retirement as he left, and if you wanted a pension like that, you'd need a pot of £5.8m.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Packaging
Radio rune readers have been pondering this aside, in Dan Sabbagh's Guardian piece yesterday about the roles BBC DG George Entwistle will have to fill......
a controller of radio job widely expected to become [vacant] when incumbent Tim Davie moves over to BBC Worldwide
Though riders, egged on from Great Portland Street, may be circling around CEO John Smith's wagons at BBC Worldwide, there's been no immediate sign of a white flag. John took home £898k last year, as well as putting aside £107k into a deferred bonus pot payable in March 2015. His estimated total deferred bonuses now stand at £483k. He waived earnings of £52k but also received £70k as a non-exec of Burberry. His contractual notice period is a year; his pension pot is estimated at £3.8m. Tim Davie might come a bit cheaper (current package £349k) but is the difference over the years enough to reach a settlement with John, which is likely to dwarf Caroline's Thomson's deal ?
a controller of radio job widely expected to become [vacant] when incumbent Tim Davie moves over to BBC Worldwide
Though riders, egged on from Great Portland Street, may be circling around CEO John Smith's wagons at BBC Worldwide, there's been no immediate sign of a white flag. John took home £898k last year, as well as putting aside £107k into a deferred bonus pot payable in March 2015. His estimated total deferred bonuses now stand at £483k. He waived earnings of £52k but also received £70k as a non-exec of Burberry. His contractual notice period is a year; his pension pot is estimated at £3.8m. Tim Davie might come a bit cheaper (current package £349k) but is the difference over the years enough to reach a settlement with John, which is likely to dwarf Caroline's Thomson's deal ?
Monday, July 23, 2012
Rewarding job
If, as the Guardian suggests, forces of change are circling around John Smith, CEO of BBC Worldwide, he's had a good run. He joined the BBC in 1989, and was confirmed as boss of Worldwide in March 2005. He'll be 55 in August.
As a long serving member of the BBC "original benefits" Pension Scheme, he's accrued a serious pot. Here's the graph of its value up until 2009, when he formally left the main BBC Executive to run Worldwide at greater arm's length. (His pension pot is not reported now in the Worldwide accounts.)
Before you get anxious about the 2009/10 dip, note a small leap in total remuneration at the same time.
As a long serving member of the BBC "original benefits" Pension Scheme, he's accrued a serious pot. Here's the graph of its value up until 2009, when he formally left the main BBC Executive to run Worldwide at greater arm's length. (His pension pot is not reported now in the Worldwide accounts.)
Before you get anxious about the 2009/10 dip, note a small leap in total remuneration at the same time.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Money box
It was interesting to hear that Lord Patten is prepared to "bear down" on the next DG's salary, but is not, apparently, tough enough to cut Mark Thompson's current deal. Could there be an understanding between them ?
Let's take my (and others') theory that Mark will leave after the Olympics, ideally for a job in the States. He can't, like Mark Byford, be made redundant - there'll have to be a new DG, so there's no lump sum coming that way. Mark has two spells of service - 23 years from 1979 to 2002, and then (if he leaves in 2012) eight years from 2004. Depending on how he moved his pension pot in the two years at Channel 4, he could clock up 31 to 33 years of service, producing a pension paying more than 50% of his final salary. (That's why the Executive have only agreed to "sacrifice" one month's pay a year, rather take a formal cut). If 2012 is his final year, it would give him over £300k a year; it could be more if he's rolled up some of the £435k a year he got from Channel 4. Mark's current total package is £779k a year - the extra £66k on top of salary is supposed to help get round the cap on ginormous pension pots.
The issue for Mark is that, without a lump sum, his pension is only payable at 60. He'll be 55 in July 2012.
Let's take my (and others') theory that Mark will leave after the Olympics, ideally for a job in the States. He can't, like Mark Byford, be made redundant - there'll have to be a new DG, so there's no lump sum coming that way. Mark has two spells of service - 23 years from 1979 to 2002, and then (if he leaves in 2012) eight years from 2004. Depending on how he moved his pension pot in the two years at Channel 4, he could clock up 31 to 33 years of service, producing a pension paying more than 50% of his final salary. (That's why the Executive have only agreed to "sacrifice" one month's pay a year, rather take a formal cut). If 2012 is his final year, it would give him over £300k a year; it could be more if he's rolled up some of the £435k a year he got from Channel 4. Mark's current total package is £779k a year - the extra £66k on top of salary is supposed to help get round the cap on ginormous pension pots.
The issue for Mark is that, without a lump sum, his pension is only payable at 60. He'll be 55 in July 2012.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Optimism
The BBC Pension Fund is hoping to do rather better with its money than my ISAs. Outgoing Chairman of the Trustees, Jeremy Peat, tells the staff paper Ariel, that, to close the deficit, investments need to show a return of 6.2% p.a. over the next eleven years. That's despite the BBC pumping £900m of licence-fee cash into the scheme over the same period.
Friday, March 4, 2011
On the road again
 |
| Mark B works the room |
From their tweets, the enterprising students fired in some topical questions, including asking if producers had been leant on to use "savings" rather than "cuts", and about the substantial Byford pension - Byford denies knowledge of journalists being told to put 'rosy slant' on cuts and justifies pension as 'within contractual rights' Search Twitter with hash-tag #ltjw.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Game over
Whatever was gripping the union side on the detail of the new pension deal at the BBC seems to have been suitably treated at ACAS. Lucy Adams, now styled as Director of Business Operations, says agreement has been reached, and the unions have signed up. By my count, it's taken six months, two days of strikes and two sets of concessions - but you have to say, it's the management wot won it. The old scheme closes on December 1; if you join the BBC after that, the only option is the new scheme, LifePlan, run by Friends Provident, with a sparkly new website; there are reassuring but fictitious case studies for "Clare, 25, Shane, 35, and Andrew, 53".
The blog of NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear is now largely silent; no posts since November 1. I hope the NUJ is ready with advice for Clare, Shane and Andrew.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Turbulence and its roots
While the NUJ at the BBC considered their position yesterday afternoon, BBC HR Director Lucy Adams did go to Manchester to appear on a panel at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development annual conference.
I can't find a formal report on what she said, so here's a selection of tweets from delegates.
HR has a functional and moral role to ensure employees are equipped for the future.
We haven't got the time or money to allow people to perform at a mediocre level any more
We can't avoid performance issues any more
Change is not as simple as beginning, middle & end anymore, & change mgt courses are so 1990's & outdated
Employers and employees need to develop an adult relationship to get through these difficult times
We must stop giving the problem & solution at the same time, we need to have a much more adult conversation
BBC currently running programmes to help leaders handle turbulence
One problem and solution offered pretty simultaneously was Lucy and Zarin Patel's original final offer on the BBC Pension deficit, way back at the end of June. I think that added to turbulence at the BBC.
I can't find a formal report on what she said, so here's a selection of tweets from delegates.
HR has a functional and moral role to ensure employees are equipped for the future.
We haven't got the time or money to allow people to perform at a mediocre level any more
We can't avoid performance issues any more
Change is not as simple as beginning, middle & end anymore, & change mgt courses are so 1990's & outdated
Employers and employees need to develop an adult relationship to get through these difficult times
We must stop giving the problem & solution at the same time, we need to have a much more adult conversation
BBC currently running programmes to help leaders handle turbulence
One problem and solution offered pretty simultaneously was Lucy and Zarin Patel's original final offer on the BBC Pension deficit, way back at the end of June. I think that added to turbulence at the BBC.
- 1105 update: There's a fuller report from John Eccleston at PersonnelToday
Thursday, October 28, 2010
A tale of two union leaders
The official results are not out, but NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear is predicting that his members at the BBC will reject the management's latest pension proposals. At BECTU, things are more circumspect,with no word as yet from General Secretary Gerry Morrissey - which might suggest things are close.
Jeremy Dear has been over eight years in post. At various times, he's been named as a member of the Awkward Squad, a group of socialist union leaders, which may or may not have existed. Or may or may not be re-assembling. And may or may not include the leaders of the PCS, the RMT and FBU. Gerry Morrissey has been in post since 2007 at BECTU. He joined the BBC as a buyer in catering.
A strike call by one and not the other would cause real tensions, and genuine anxiety for colleagues in News about crossing other people's picket lines. And there's opposition to the deal inside both unions. Let's hope the leadership teams can come up with a way forward that uses any mandate cleverly.
Jeremy Dear has been over eight years in post. At various times, he's been named as a member of the Awkward Squad, a group of socialist union leaders, which may or may not have existed. Or may or may not be re-assembling. And may or may not include the leaders of the PCS, the RMT and FBU. Gerry Morrissey has been in post since 2007 at BECTU. He joined the BBC as a buyer in catering.
A strike call by one and not the other would cause real tensions, and genuine anxiety for colleagues in News about crossing other people's picket lines. And there's opposition to the deal inside both unions. Let's hope the leadership teams can come up with a way forward that uses any mandate cleverly.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Vote often
The NUJ have finally organised a ballot on the BBC's latest pension proposals. Starting on Wednesday, it'll take two weeks to conclude, with a result not expected until October 28th. Chapel (branch) meetings in Belfast, Glasgow and at BBC Monitoring in Caversham are reported to have rejected the latest deal overwhelmingly by show of hands, but the ballot is expected to be much closer.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Personnel issues
She still doesn't get it. This is Lucy Adams, Head of BBC People, quoted on BBC News, on how the corporation is dealing with top pay (on the back of tonight's Panorama).
"We have given up, all the executives have given up two months' pay. We have had a pay freeze for the next four years."
There's an equally opaque quote from her in the Daily Mail's version.
In English, the Executive have given up a month's pay for each of the past two years (though Lucy Adams hasn't, as she only joined in June 2009). They've also "agreed" a pay freeze for two years and can reasonably expect that to continue for another two years. Their "loss" depends on inflation over the next two years.
Meanwhile, the latest BBC pension offer requires other ranks who fancy a career average benefit scheme to contribute an additional 3% of their salary, on top of the current basic 4%. That will feel like a real cut in income for BBC staff on an average of around £37k pa. Lucy Adams' earnings for 2009/10 were £328k - made up of £267k basic, plus £12k in taxable benefits, and £49k to help with her pension. Mark Thompson has that £49k "under review" (he gets a pension top-up of £163k himself), but it has not yet been formally cut. Nonetheless, many will think that £267k remains a very good public sector salary.
"We have given up, all the executives have given up two months' pay. We have had a pay freeze for the next four years."
There's an equally opaque quote from her in the Daily Mail's version.
In English, the Executive have given up a month's pay for each of the past two years (though Lucy Adams hasn't, as she only joined in June 2009). They've also "agreed" a pay freeze for two years and can reasonably expect that to continue for another two years. Their "loss" depends on inflation over the next two years.
Meanwhile, the latest BBC pension offer requires other ranks who fancy a career average benefit scheme to contribute an additional 3% of their salary, on top of the current basic 4%. That will feel like a real cut in income for BBC staff on an average of around £37k pa. Lucy Adams' earnings for 2009/10 were £328k - made up of £267k basic, plus £12k in taxable benefits, and £49k to help with her pension. Mark Thompson has that £49k "under review" (he gets a pension top-up of £163k himself), but it has not yet been formally cut. Nonetheless, many will think that £267k remains a very good public sector salary.
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