Some public-sector HR people “are not as bold and risk-taking as they need to be” to successfully deliver the massive changes required, a leading practitioner told the CIPD’s 2012 Scottish HR conference.

Stephen Moir, deputy chief executive of Yorkshire Ambulance Service, who has also held senior HR roles in local government and police authorities, said the profession had an unprecedented responsibility and opportunity “to help to encourage and facilitate radical long-term thinking and embed the cultural change we all need”. However, he observed: “Sadly, there are still some HR dinosaurs out there.”

Speaking about the context of public spending cuts, Moir said another key role for HR was “to manage the emotional consequences of business decisions”. This was particularly important for local authorities, as sometimes up to 80 per cent of their employees might live in the area. When it comes to cutting jobs or reorganising services, he said: “If you can’t think through the emotional impact on your staff, and get it right with them, how can you ever hope to get it right with the wider community?”

He also highlighted where HR was stuck in old ways. “HR isn’t the same as people management,” said Moir. Good people management is the responsibility of line managers, and the responsibility of HR is to support line managers, “not to do it for them. In many public-sector organisations that break hasn’t happened – and it needs to happen.”

Another speaker, Veronica Hope-Hailey of Cass Business School, said that building trust within organisations was essential if radical changes in public services were to succeed. “People will only take risks if they trust the person asking them to take the risks,” said Hope-Hailey, who led the recent CIPD study, Where has all the trust gone?

Moir cited the National Policing Improvement Authority as an example of outstanding practice. Despite working towards its own abolition later this year, the NPIA achieved higher scores than ever in staff engagement because it had been entirely open with staff.

“Part of creating trust within organisations,” said Moir, “is helping people to understand what may be required five years hence,” rather than keeping them in the dark. However, his experience was that many public-sector leaders were not the best people to communicate these realities. “HR has a key role in taking the spin out of it,” he added.

Transformation at the BBC – which aims to cut 20 per cent of costs and 25 per cent of HR costs in the next four years – includes the first major review of pay and grading for 20 years, according to Wendy Aslett, head of HR and development at BBC Scotland. She told delegates that the BBC’s pay and grading structure was “no longer fit for purpose”.