Wessex Branch

Welcome to our branch area

A very warm welcome to all our members.

The Wessex branch is part of the SW region and covers Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, and the Isle of Wight. We are a large branch with over 5,500 members.

I have been a member of the CIPD for over thirty years. Having volunteered in different roles over the years I am delighted to have taken on the role of branch chair in 2022. I strongly believe that as a profession we add great value to organisations and am proud to be part of our professional body.

Members often think of their membership as the events they attend and as a branch we strive to provide a range of high quality, topical and interesting events. However, that is only part of what is offered, and we are keen to engage with members across the different areas of activity.

We have a great branch committee, all giving their time and working to build engagement with local members. This may be with our student members, through our Special Interest Groups, the mentoring programme, or promoting the benefits of membership. We are also always open to new ideas as we want the branch to be of value to our members. You can contact me directly on MarionHewitt@CIPDBranch.co.uk.

Our regular newsletter is our main method of communication with local members. We also have an active LinkedIn group. Please take the time to read these so you learn about everything that is going on within the Wessex Branch and we very much hope to meet you soon.

Best wishes

Marion Hewitt, Chartered FCIPD
Branch Chair

Learn about our branch

The Wessex branch has over 5,000 members and we have positive growth of our membership year on year; our membership increased by 3% in 2020. The branch is supported by over 30 volunteers across the four counties.

The Wessex branch teams look forward to meeting you at our events, details and joining information is communicated via our monthly branch update. Please ensure we have your correct email details in order for you to receive these updates. You can update your contact details here on the CIPD website in ‘My Profile’.

In November 2020 we had our first meeting of a special interest group for independent practitioners across the branch. We will be setting up events aimed specifically to support this group.

Get involved

We're always looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join our branch committee and get involved. We welcome CIPD members from all levels to help us organise speakers and events for our members, develop relationships with fellow HR and L&D professionals, and help us promote HR as a compelling profession.

To find out more about volunteering please get in contact.

Email us

Special interest groups

Independent people professionals

Our independent people professionals are a group of like-minded individuals who work as independent professionals within HR. Wessex branch have brought together volunteers to help us:

To build a network of people professionals who work independently.
To provide a supportive space to share experience and ideas; and collaborate to enable individual and business development.
To be a forum for developing skills and knowledge specific to business growth and success.

Events will be listed on our branch Eventbrite page, so please take a look.

HR best practice

A thriving community of HR professionals sharing best practice through a peer-to-peer group discussion spanning a broad range of operational topics. This is a members-only group running monthly on the third Thursday.

The special interest group (SIG) holds round table or virtual discussion meeting to share and learn from experiences. By sharing best practices on a chosen topic in a safe and confidential environment, others can learn and apply solutions in their own organisations.

Each meeting of the Wessex branch HR best practice group will be listed in our Eventbrite feed.

Organisational design and change group

This special interest group (SIG) aims to support HR professionals and business leaders in Wessex to improve organisational design (OD), achieve greater inclusion and diversity and implement change which results in positive business outcomes and higher levels of employee engagement.

The group aims to help individuals understand how to consider OD changes and provides support by peer sharing of obstacles and challenges in a safe environment, enabling idea and experience sharing and discussion to contribute to building solutions in a non-judgemental way.

The organisational design and change group runs monthly developmental seminars as a sounding board for specific issues and includes time for reflection and evaluation. Each event is listed in our branch Eventbrite feed.