Strategic Human Resource Management

Calling in the ProfessionalsWhen the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC) was set up in 2002 it called in a number of human resource specialists to help. The NCSC is part of the Government’s modernisation agenda to promote and protect the well-being of users of regulated services such as residential nursing homes, private hospitals and boarding schools. It also covers services that weren’t previously regulated, including laser clinics and private and voluntary hospitals. In the past these institutions were regulated by different local and health authorities. The NCSC essentially brought together some 1800 staff from 230 employers into one umbrella organisation. One of these Human Resources specialists was 37-year old Charlotte Grover, a human resources professional with a background in blue chip companies including Unilever, Toyota and Xerox. In 2001 Grover set up her own HR consultancy, wishing for more job flexibility and to be able to make use of the experience gained from working in a range of HR roles during her 15 years in the profession. The NCSC was her first assignment. Working to establish the NCSC certainly provided a substantial challenge, but Grover has never been fazed by a blank sheet of paper. She was initially going to be employed for a six-week interim assignment, but this soon turned into a year-long exercise, with Grover reporting directly to the East Midlands regional director Tony Frayer and with a professional reporting line through to Clare Curran, the HR Director based in the head office in Newcastle.