Delegates at the joint Guernsey and Jersey CIPD conference. (0832017)

A WORKSHOP about communication brought representatives of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the Channel Islands together for the first time.

Guernsey CIPD chairwoman Gillian Gorvel hailed the event a success because not only did it show the island was now working more closely with its Jersey counterparts, it also had representation from CIPD headquarters in London in the form of branch development manager Cheryl Myles.

She has responsibility for the general management and leadership of the 900 volunteers working for the organisation throughout the UK. Also present was Lisa Sarjeant, HR director of the CIPD in the UK.

‘It is the first time that the committees in Guernsey and Jersey have come together after recently beginning to work on initiatives for seminars where we engage visiting speakers so that when one comes to Guernsey, they can go on to Jersey too,’ said Ms Gorvel.

Closer working with Jersey is also being coupled with better communication with CIPD headquarters.

‘We have tended to operate in glorified isolation for the past couple of years, but the landscape of being a HR professional has changed so much that to have better communication with our UK counterparts can only benefit our local members.’

Around 20 people attended the conference, split evenly between Guernsey and Jersey members, to learn about the new communication strategy.