I moved into HR 11 years ago following a career in retail fashion store management and area operations within hospitality sector, where I was a line manager for teams as large as 105 people. My only exposure to HR was from a ‘shop floor’ perspective and day-to-day management of people. It was not until I started getting directly involved in delivering management training modules whilst at Whitbread that I found a natural affinity to understanding how to get the best out of people through coaching/development, and how to achieve bottom line results through the motivation of others. From that point on I was determined to change careers from Operations to HR.
In my first HR role, I had to convince the HR Director of one of the key brands within the Whitbread group (Costa coffee) to give me a chance in HR. At that time I had no formal HR training, I had started an MBA programme, I did not speak Italian and I even offered to dye my hair black!
In my first HR role, I had to convince the HR Director of one of the key brands within the Whitbread group (Costa coffee) to give me a chance in HR. At that time I had no formal HR training, I had started an MBA programme, I did not even speak Italian! However I was willing to learn if that’s what it took, I even offered to dye my hair black! I then changed courses to complete an MA Personnel Development at Westminster University to get my CIPD postgraduate qualification. I then proved that by having a true understanding of front line operations I was able to deliver and convince my internal customers of the need to change some of the people processes, in particular related to recruitment, which is the area I had initially specialised in.
Understanding operations and the day to day challenges also gave me more credibility when recruiting for those roles and an understanding for what we were looking for.
I held the combined position of HR Director and Interim MD for the first 6 months of this year at Paul UK and still am responsible for Retail Operations and HR. This has enabled me to refresh my knowledge of Finance (profit and loss, budgets, margins, etc) and retail operations as well as production and artisan manufacturing processes.
As I work for a French company I have the opportunity to go to Lille and Paris regularly which is great (although my French is still pretty basic after all this time). I am also a committee member of 2 HR industry networking groups (“HR Retail Circle” which is made up of the main high street retailers and “HR in Hospitality” which is mainly hotels and restaurants) both groups have been established for quite a number of years and provide a great opportunity for meeting some very interesting characters not just in HR but also in the business world.
Throughout my HR career I have always worked closely with other business functions. Marketing for the brand image and how the customer facing brand relates to the employer brand to achieve synergy with the two. Plus to also ensure engagement initiatives are trained and followed through. As part of the Board and holding a senior role within the business it has always been important that the HR and people strategy is fully aligned to the business, whether that is with production, operations, finance or marketing, and I have been fortunate that I have been a key driver of the overall business strategy.
Of course within HR itself you are fully involved and continually gaining experience and expanding your own knowledge in the HR disciplines; employee relations, performance management, rewards and benefits, recruitment and retention as well as L&D. It is always great to be able to share this knowledge with your team through mentoring and improving their knowledge and awareness.
I believe that HR has come a long way, but we still have some way to go. We need to have more confidence within ourselves to be able to stand up and be true guardians and commentators for our brands/business. I think too often HR is still regarded as the old fashioned ‘tea & sympathy’ department rather than a true business partner. We are not just there to pick up the pieces, but we do need to be stronger in getting our voices heard and not be afraid to speak out.
Any advice for those interested in a career in HR?
If you’re looking to start a career in HR, my advice would be to get hands on operational (or shop floor) experience first, work through a management career if you can and then move across to HR either as a generalist or specialist after a couple of years. This will give you a much greater insight into the day to day management of people and the issues surrounding them.
To succeed you need to have great tenacity and determination (or be thick skinned!) and not take criticism personally. To have a wider understanding and appreciation of the business world in general rather than from just a departmental perspective.
Key challenges of working in HR tend to be on an emotional level i.e. dealing with human emotions and difficult situations and putting on a professional ‘mask’ when you are also finding it difficult internally to have certain conversations eg redundancy, capability dismissals due to poor health etc. But always show respect for others and be empathic with them in an open honest way. Other challenges? Getting the board and senior team to buy in to people investment overall as a long term benefit to the business.