CIPD - Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development

The CIPD is the professional body for HR and people development. The registered charity champions better work and working lives and has been setting the benchmark for excellence in people and organisation development for more than 100 years. It has more than 150,000 members across the world, provides thought leadership through independent research on the world of work, and offers professional training and accreditation for those working in HR and learning and development.

What is HR?

HR is about helping an organisation to create value through its people – literally providing human resources. The work of an HR professional will vary depending on the type and size of their organisation, but could include recruiting people, training and developing employees, and helping to decide how staff should be paid and rewarded. There are even roles which focus on employment law and protecting the rights of employees at work. HR professionals will also often deal with legal issues, help to shape the culture of their organisations, and focus on what keeps their colleagues productive and engaged.

What is L&D?

L&D stands for learning and development and is specifically focused on helping people learn new skills so they’re motivated and productive at work. The work of an L&D professional can also be very varied and may include delivering activities as diverse as firearms training for police officers or mentoring programmes for fund managers, they may be involved in coaching line managers to help support their teams, or creating and evaluating training programmes for their organisation. L&D professionals will focus on supporting, developing and accelerating learning in order to build agile and responsive organisations with the capability they need to execute their chosen strategy.