Thursday, February 28, 2013

BBC essentials

Getting bums on seats at the Royal Opera House has taught Lord Hall a few things about price points. There's a "just under" similarity in the first two BBC salaries he's set: James Purnell, on £295,000 and Anne Bulford, on £395,000.  A mere coincidence, I'm sure, and HR boss Lucy Adams will have looked at Towers Perrin manuals, the Hutton Review of Fair Pay, the likely median multiples and much more, before giving in.

There's one piece of BBC spin that defeats me. It is apparently ok for Ms Bulford to get close to £400k, because she's replacing both Zarin Patel (CFO) and Caroline Thomson. Caroline's job as COO was abolished, wasn't it, BEFORE Ms Bulford's arrival ? The BBC has teetered on for nearly six months without her...  Skipping over that, and assuming that Ms Bulford isn't actually doing two full-time jobs simultaneously, we need real assurance that savings are made in management posts directly below her new role - rather than more being spent, to cover the workload in different ways.

Elsewhere in money, as they say on BBC Breakfast, Director of Policy and Strategy John Tate seems to be beavering away to make savings. January saw a range of jobs advertised in a new wing of the thinker's empire - The Efficiency Service Team.  The pitch ? "You’ll be part of a growing, dynamic team of individuals – including programme-makers, strategists and external experts. Working on a series of projects across the BBC reinventing the way we work – typically as part of a team of up to 10 people per project – aimed at helping the BBC focus on the future and make better output and smarter decisions".

Will the incoming Director of Strategy and Digital like this re-invention of Mr Tate's role ?

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