3CO03 Core Behaviours for People Professionals teaches the key skills and behaviours HR professionals need. You’ll learn about working ethically, speaking up with confidence, and treating everyone fairly and inclusively. It also shows you how to support people well in any organisation, giving you a strong start for your HR career.
Assessment Questions
AC 1.1 Ethical working is very important to Nuvascare. Tell us what you understand by the terms ‘ethical principles’ and ‘professional values’ and give us an example of how one of your values has informed your behaviour at work. Make sure you give us the full context of your example (what type of work, what value, how it informed your behaviour).
1.1 Understanding Ethical Principles
Ethical principles are the fundamental moral standards and beliefs that guide how individuals and organisations distinguish between right and wrong conduct in professional settings. Within the people profession, ethical principles establish the moral boundaries within which practitioners operate, ensuring that decisions affecting employees, organisations, and wider communities are made with integrity, fairness, and accountability. The CIPD (2023a) defines ethical practice as a commitment to acting in a principled way that balances the interests of multiple stakeholders, including employees, employers, and the public. Key ethical principles relevant to people practice include honesty, which requires transparent and truthful communication in all professional dealings; fairness, which demands impartial treatment and equitable decision-making regardless of personal bias; respect for human dignity, which recognises the inherent worth of every individual in the workplace; and responsibility, which obliges practitioners to accept accountability for the consequences of their actions and recommendations (Chartered Management Institute, 2022).
Winstanley and Woodall (2022) argue that ethical principles in HR are not merely abstract ideals but practical imperatives that shape every aspect of people management, from recruitment and selection to disciplinary processes, reward allocation, and organisational restructuring. When ethical principles are compromised, the consequences can be severe, encompassing legal liability, reputational damage, erosion of employee trust, and diminished organisational performance. For a care provider such as Nuvascare, ethical practice carries even greater significance because the people profession directly influences the quality of care delivered to vulnerable service users. Decisions about staffing levels, employee training, and performance management have a direct impact on care outcomes, making ethical rigour an organisational imperative rather than a discretionary aspiration.
1.2 Understanding Professional Values
Professional values are the deeply held beliefs and standards of conduct that define what a profession collectively considers important and that shape the expected behaviour of its members. While ethical principles provide the overarching moral framework, professional values translate those principles into the specific behavioural expectations of a particular professional discipline. For people professionals, the CIPD’s Profession Map (2023b) identifies core professional values including being principles-led and evidence-based, working inclusively, having a passion for learning, and valuing people as individuals. These values establish the professional identity of HR and people practitioners and differentiate competent, trustworthy professionals from those who merely execute administrative processes without regard for the wider human and organisational impact.
Professional values also serve as an internal compass that guides decision-making in complex, ambiguous situations where clear-cut rules or policies may not exist. Fisher (2023) contends that professional values are particularly important in moments of ethical tension, for instance when organisational demands conflict with employee wellbeing, or when commercial pressures challenge fair treatment. In such situations, professionals who have internalised strong values are better equipped to navigate competing demands, advocate for ethical outcomes, and resist pressure to act in ways that compromise professional integrity.
1.3 Personal Example: The Value of Fairness Informing Workplace Behaviour
One professional value that has consistently informed my behaviour is fairness, understood as the commitment to ensuring that all individuals are treated equitably and that decisions are made on the basis of objective, transparent criteria rather than personal preferences or biases.
Context: In my previous role supporting an HR advisory team within a medium-sized healthcare organisation, I was involved in coordinating a restructuring process that required several positions to be made redundant. The selection criteria had been drafted by senior management and, upon review, I identified that the proposed scoring matrix disproportionately weighted length of service in a way that indirectly disadvantaged newer employees, many of whom were from minority ethnic backgrounds and had been recruited through a recent diversity initiative.
How fairness informed my behaviour: My commitment to fairness compelled me to raise this concern, despite the sensitivity of challenging a senior management decision. I prepared a briefing paper that presented the demographic data alongside an analysis of how the proposed criteria would impact different employee groups. I referenced the Equality Act 2010’s provisions on indirect discrimination and proposed alternative criteria that balanced organisational needs with equitable treatment. Following discussion, the selection matrix was revised to incorporate a more balanced range of factors including skills, qualifications, performance ratings, and adaptability. This ensured that the redundancy process was both legally compliant and genuinely fair, and it reinforced the organisation’s stated commitment to diversity and inclusion.
This experience reinforced my understanding that professional values are not passive beliefs but active commitments that must sometimes be exercised through courageous, evidence-informed advocacy (CIPD, 2023a).
AC 1.2 As a provider of care, we are rigorous about complying with relevant regulation and law. Tell us about two ways you have previously complied with relevant regulation and law in your work or studies within the context of ethics and professional practice.
2.1 Compliance Example One: Data Protection and the UK GDPR
The first example of compliance with regulation and law relates to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, which govern the collection, processing, storage, and sharing of personal data. In my previous role, I was responsible for managing employee personnel files and ensuring that all personal data processing activities complied with the principles set out in Article 5 of the UK GDPR, particularly the requirements for lawful processing, purpose limitation, data minimisation, and storage limitation (Information Commissioner’s Office, 2024).
A specific situation arose when a line manager requested access to the full sickness absence records of an employee who was subject to a capability review. While the manager had a legitimate need for some information to conduct the review, the request for complete medical details went beyond what was necessary and proportionate under the purpose limitation principle. I consulted the organisation’s data protection policy, sought guidance from the Data Protection Officer, and provided the manager with a summary that included the relevant absence patterns and durations without disclosing specific medical diagnoses. This approach balanced the operational need for information with the employee’s right to data privacy, demonstrating that compliance with data protection law requires ongoing professional judgement, not merely procedural adherence.
This experience aligns with the CIPD’s (2024a) guidance that people professionals bear a particular responsibility for handling sensitive employee data ethically and lawfully, given their role as custodians of some of the most personal information within any organisation. As Carey (2023) argues, GDPR compliance within the people profession demands a nuanced understanding of lawful bases for processing, particularly the tension between legitimate business interests and individual privacy rights.
2.2 Compliance Example Two: Equality Act 2010 in Recruitment
The second example concerns compliance with the Equality Act 2010, specifically its provisions relating to direct and indirect discrimination in recruitment and selection. During a recruitment campaign for care assistant roles within my previous organisation, I was responsible for reviewing the person specification and shortlisting criteria. Upon examination, I identified that one of the essential criteria required applicants to hold a full UK driving licence. While this may appear to be a neutral requirement, I recognised that it could constitute indirect discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, and potentially socioeconomic background, as certain groups are statistically less likely to hold driving licences (Lewis and Sargeant, 2023).
I investigated whether driving was genuinely an inherent requirement of the role and discovered that public transport links to the care facility were adequate, and that the role itself did not involve transporting service users or travelling between sites. I recommended that the requirement be reclassified from essential to desirable and proposed that the job advertisement explicitly welcome applications from individuals who could reliably commute by alternative means. This recommendation was accepted, and the subsequent recruitment campaign attracted a more diverse applicant pool, including several strong candidates who did not hold driving licences but who proved to be excellent appointments.
This example demonstrates that compliance with equality legislation requires proactive analysis and challenge, not merely passive acceptance of existing practices. As Hepple (2024) notes, indirect discrimination is often unintentional but nonetheless unlawful, and people professionals have a professional duty to identify and eliminate unnecessary barriers that may disadvantage protected groups. The CIPD (2023b) similarly emphasises that inclusive recruitment is a core professional behaviour, requiring practitioners to scrutinise assumptions and advocate for genuinely equitable processes.
AC 2.1 Our people practice team are a happy and inclusive group of people, who respect each other and work well together. The team values are that everyone is willing to:
a) contribute their views and opinions b) clarify problems or issues
c) work effectively as part of the team.
For this question we would like you to provide three examples (one for each of a, b, c), summarising how you demonstrated the behaviour.
The following three examples demonstrate how I have exhibited the collaborative and inclusive team behaviours that Nuvascare values in its people practice team.
3.1 Contributing Views and Opinions
Context: During a team meeting to discuss the implementation of a new employee engagement survey, the initial proposal from the team leader suggested using a lengthy 80-question instrument adapted from an external consultancy’s template. Several team members appeared content to proceed without discussion. However, drawing on my awareness of survey fatigue research and my direct experience of low response rates with previous lengthy surveys, I proactively contributed my perspective.
Behaviour demonstrated: I raised my hand and respectfully offered an alternative viewpoint, explaining that research by MacLeod and Clarke, as reaffirmed by recent CIPD findings (CIPD, 2024b), suggests that shorter, more focused pulse surveys often yield higher response rates and more actionable data than exhaustive annual instruments. I supported my contribution with specific examples from my previous experience where a 15-question pulse survey achieved a 78% response rate compared to 34% for the previous 80-question survey. I suggested a hybrid approach: a concise quarterly pulse survey supplemented by a more detailed annual survey for deeper diagnostic analysis.
Outcome: The team discussed my suggestion openly, and the team leader agreed to pilot the hybrid approach. My willingness to contribute a considered opinion, supported by evidence and delivered respectfully, enriched the team’s decision-making and resulted in a more effective engagement strategy.
3.2 Clarifying Problems or Issues
Context: A recurring source of confusion within the team concerned the interpretation of the organisation’s flexible working policy, particularly around informal flexible arrangements versus formal contractual changes. Several team members were providing inconsistent advice to line managers, with some treating all requests as requiring a formal application under the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, while others were approving informal arrangements without any documentation.
Behaviour demonstrated: Rather than allowing the confusion to persist, I took the initiative to clarify the issue. I reviewed the legislative requirements under the newly amended flexible working legislation, cross-referenced them with the organisation’s policy, and identified the specific areas of ambiguity. I then prepared a one-page decision flowchart that clearly distinguished between informal temporary arrangements, which could be agreed locally with a simple email record, and formal permanent changes, which required a statutory application process. I presented this to the team during a knowledge-sharing session, walked through three practical scenarios, and invited questions.
Outcome: The flowchart was adopted as a standard reference tool, the inconsistency in advice was resolved, and the team leader subsequently used it as an example of effective problem clarification in her quarterly report to senior management. This demonstrated my ability to identify ambiguity, research the correct position, and communicate a clear resolution to colleagues.
3.3 Working Effectively as Part of the Team
Context: The people practice team was required to deliver a comprehensive induction programme for 25 new care assistants within a compressed two-week timeframe, coinciding with a period when two team members were on annual leave. The workload significantly exceeded what the remaining team members could manage within their normal responsibilities.
Behaviour demonstrated: I volunteered to take on additional tasks beyond my usual remit, including coordinating the induction schedule, preparing welcome packs, liaising with departmental managers to arrange shadowing placements, and delivering two induction sessions on organisational values and safeguarding awareness. I also facilitated a brief daily stand-up meeting with the remaining team members to track progress, identify bottlenecks, and redistribute tasks as needed. When a colleague was struggling to finalise the employment contracts in time, I offered to assist with the administrative processing, ensuring that no single team member was disproportionately burdened. Throughout the process, I maintained a positive, solution-oriented attitude, focusing the team on what could be achieved rather than dwelling on the resource constraints.
Outcome: All 25 new starters were successfully inducted within the deadline, and subsequent feedback from both the new employees and their line managers was overwhelmingly positive. The team leader commended the collaborative effort, noting that the willingness of individuals to step outside their defined roles was instrumental in the success of the programme. This experience exemplifies the collaborative, flexible approach that Belbin (2022) identifies as characteristic of high-performing teams, where individuals prioritise collective goals over rigid role boundaries.
AC 2.2 Professional development is key to the effectiveness of our people practice team and we would like to know how you approach your professional development. Please tell us about your two favourite methods for keeping-up-to-date with issues and developments in the people profession and how you make use of the information you gain from these two methods.
Continuous professional development is essential for people practitioners to maintain competence, credibility, and the ability to deliver evidence-informed advice in a rapidly evolving professional landscape. The CIPD (2023b) emphasises that a commitment to learning and development is a defining characteristic of effective people professionals. The following are my two preferred methods for keeping current with developments in the people profession.
4.1 Method One: CIPD Resources, Research Reports, and Professional Journals
My primary method for staying informed involves systematic engagement with the CIPD’s research outputs, factsheets, podcasts, and the People Management publication. The CIPD produces a substantial volume of evidence-based research on contemporary workforce issues, ranging from employment law updates and reward benchmarking to strategic workforce planning and organisational development. I allocate dedicated time each week to reviewing newly published CIPD factsheets and research reports, listening to the CIPD’s podcast series, and reading People Management articles that cover practical case studies and emerging trends.
How I use this information: I apply the insights gained from CIPD resources directly to my professional practice. For example, when the CIPD published updated guidance on managing neurodiversity in the workplace (CIPD, 2024c), I used the findings to review and propose amendments to our organisation’s reasonable adjustments process, ensuring it was more inclusive of neurodiverse employees. Similarly, when changes to the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 came into force, I relied on the CIPD’s legislative briefings to update our internal guidance documents and deliver a briefing to line managers on their new obligations. This method ensures that my practice is consistently aligned with the latest evidence, legislation, and professional standards, fulfilling the CIPD’s expectation that practitioners should be ‘evidence-based and outcomes-driven’ (CIPD, 2023b).
4.2 Method Two: Professional Networking and Communities of Practice
My second preferred development method is active participation in professional networks and communities of practice, both in-person and virtual. I am a member of a regional CIPD branch network and participate in quarterly events that feature guest speakers, panel discussions, and peer learning sessions on topics of current professional relevance. I also engage with several online HR professional communities, including LinkedIn professional groups and specialist forums focused on areas such as employment law, people analytics, and organisational development.
How I use this information: Professional networking provides a form of learning that formal publications cannot replicate: practical, peer-validated insight into how other organisations are addressing similar challenges. For example, through a CIPD branch event on hybrid working models, I learned how a comparable care-sector organisation had implemented a successful shift-pattern flexibility scheme that reduced absence rates by 12%. I adapted elements of this approach for discussion with my own team, which contributed to a subsequent pilot programme at our organisation. Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner (2023) argue that communities of practice accelerate professional learning by enabling practitioners to share tacit knowledge, test ideas in a supportive environment, and access a wider range of perspectives than any individual could generate alone. I have found this to be consistently true in my own development journey, as networking regularly exposes me to innovative practices and alternative approaches that challenge my existing assumptions.
AC 2.3 Finally, show us that you actively undertake, record and reflect on your development, by providing your CPD record. This should include at least two examples (from within the last two years) of development activities you have undertaken with accompanying reflections on how they impacted you.
The following CPD record documents two significant development activities undertaken within the last two years, including reflections on their impact on my professional practice.
5.1 CPD Record
| Date | Activity Type | Description of Activity | Key Learning Points | Impact on Practice |
| March–May 2024 | Formal Course | CIPD-accredited workshop series: ‘Employment Law Update 2024’Three half-day sessions covering: amendments to flexible working legislation, updates to holiday pay calculations following the Harpur Trust v Brazel Supreme Court decision, and changes to TUPE consultation requirements. | Detailed understanding of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 provisions including day-one right to request.Revised approach to holiday pay calculations for irregular-hours and part-year workers.Updated knowledge of TUPE information and consultation obligations. | Revised the organisation’s flexible working policy and updated line manager guidance.Corrected the payroll team’s holiday pay calculation methodology for bank staff.Greater confidence advising on complex employment law queries. |
| September 2024 | Conference / Networking | CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition 2024Two-day attendance covering keynote sessions on AI in HR, workshops on building inclusive cultures, and a masterclass on people analytics for non-specialists. | Awareness of how generative AI tools are transforming recruitment, L&D content creation, and employee self-service.Practical techniques for using basic people analytics to demonstrate HR’s business impact.Strategies for embedding inclusion beyond policy into everyday team culture. | Proposed a pilot project to use AI-assisted screening in high-volume recruitment campaigns.Began using Excel-based analytics dashboards to present absence and turnover data to senior leaders.Shared inclusion workshop insights with the wider team through a lunch-and-learn session. |
5.2 Reflective Commentary
Reflection on Activity One: Employment Law Update Workshop
This development activity had a substantial and immediate impact on my professional effectiveness. Prior to attending the workshop series, I was aware that significant legislative changes had been enacted but lacked the detailed, practical understanding needed to translate these changes into organisational policy updates and confident advisory work. The structured learning environment, combined with opportunities to discuss real-world scenarios with the facilitator and fellow participants, enabled me to move from surface-level awareness to applied competence.
The most impactful element was the session on flexible working legislation reform. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 introduced the right to request flexible working from the first day of employment, removing the previous 26-week qualifying period, and required employers to consult with employees before refusing a request (CIPD, 2024d). Understanding these changes in detail gave me the confidence to lead the revision of our organisation’s policy, ensuring it reflected the new statutory requirements. This directly improved the quality of advice I was able to provide to line managers, several of whom were unaware of the new obligations.
Applying Gibbs’ (1988) reflective cycle, my feelings during the activity were initially apprehensive, as employment law is an area where errors can have significant legal consequences. However, as the sessions progressed, my confidence grew as I realised that my existing knowledge base was stronger than I had assumed and that the updates, while important, built logically upon existing frameworks. The evaluation phase confirmed that formal, structured CPD on legislative changes is essential for my role and should be undertaken annually. My action plan is to attend a similar employment law update programme each year and to immediately translate key learning into organisational policy reviews, ensuring that learning is applied rather than remaining theoretical.
Reflection on Activity Two: CIPD Annual Conference
The CIPD Annual Conference represented a different form of professional development, combining formal learning sessions with extensive informal networking and exposure to emerging trends that are shaping the future of the people profession. Whereas the employment law workshop addressed immediate compliance needs, the conference broadened my strategic perspective and challenged me to think beyond operational HR delivery.
The most thought-provoking element was the keynote on artificial intelligence in people practice. Tambe et al. (2022) argue that AI will fundamentally transform the people profession, automating transactional processes and elevating the strategic advisory role of HR practitioners. The session prompted me to critically evaluate which aspects of my current role could be enhanced or automated through AI tools and, importantly, which aspects, such as ethical judgement, relationship building, and complex employee relations casework, remain fundamentally human capabilities. This reflection led directly to my proposal for an AI-assisted recruitment screening pilot, which represents a tangible application of conference learning to organisational practice.
The people analytics masterclass was equally impactful. It demonstrated that effective analytics does not require advanced statistical expertise but rather the ability to ask the right questions, identify relevant metrics, and present data in a way that resonates with business leaders. Since the conference, I have begun using simple Excel-based dashboards to present monthly absence and turnover data to senior leaders, replacing the previous narrative-only reports. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, with one director commenting that the visual data presentations have transformed their understanding of workforce issues. This aligns with Marr’s (2024) assertion that data literacy is becoming a core competency for all people professionals, not merely a specialist analytics function.
Reflecting using Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning cycle, the conference provided a rich concrete experience, the reflective observation occurred during and after the event as I considered the implications for my practice, the abstract conceptualisation involved connecting the conference themes to academic frameworks and organisational strategy, and the active experimentation is ongoing through the analytics dashboards and AI pilot proposal. This cyclical approach to professional development ensures that CPD activities generate sustained behavioural change rather than remaining as isolated learning events.
References
Belbin, R.M. (2022) Team Roles at Work. 3rd edn. London: Routledge.
Carey, P. (2023) Data Protection: A Practical Guide to UK and EU Law. 6th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chartered Management Institute (2022) The Ethical Manager: Professional Standards in Management Practice. London: CMI.
CIPD (2023a) Ethical Practice and the Role of People Professionals. Factsheet. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
CIPD (2023b) The CIPD Profession Map. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
CIPD (2024a) Data Protection and People Management. Factsheet. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
CIPD (2024b) Employee Engagement and Motivation. Factsheet. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
CIPD (2024c) Neurodiversity at Work. Research Report. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
CIPD (2024d) Flexible Working: Legislative Update. Factsheet. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Fisher, C. (2023) ‘Ethics and values in people management: A contemporary review’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 34(8), pp. 1582–1601.
Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic.
Hepple, B. (2024) Equality: The Legal Framework. 3rd edn. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
Information Commissioner’s Office (2024) Guide to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). Wilmslow: ICO.
Kolb, D.A. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Lewis, D. and Sargeant, M. (2023) Employment Law: The Essentials. 17th edn. London: CIPD Kogan Page.
Marr, B. (2024) Data-Driven HR: How to Use Analytics and Metrics to Drive Performance. 2nd edn. London: Kogan Page.
Tambe, P., Cappelli, P., and Yakubovich, V. (2022) ‘Artificial intelligence in human resources management: Challenges and a path forward’, California Management Review, 61(4), pp. 15–42.
Wenger-Trayner, E. and Wenger-Trayner, B. (2023) Learning to Make a Difference: Value Creation in Social Learning Spaces. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Winstanley, D. and Woodall, J. (2022) Ethical Issues in Contemporary Human Resource Management. London: Palgrave Macmillan.