With the global financial crisis and continued population growth worldwide, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD’s) president Gill Rider has called on HR professionals to play a key role in the health of their businesses.

Giving a speech at the start of CIPD’s annual conference and exhibition, Rider says: “The levels of the demands on us as a profession have grown. We need to recognise that no other profession has the same range of levers as HR to deliver and drive the change required.”

Rider picked out as key ‘levers’ the need for HR leaders to be business leaders driving performance and change, the need to develop business as well as HR skills and the need to bring top graduates into HR as priorities for the CIPD.

The CIPD Conference runs in Manchester until Thursday 10 November.