With your experience as SVP HR Europe at Firstsource, how do you foster a positive workplace culture that motivates employees?
We encourage micro-cultures in our centers. Clearly, we have values that are reflective of our overall personality as a company. However, we can’t lose what it means to be part of the teams and /or centers we have around the UK and NI. It’s critical people feel they belong and are free to create meaningful cultures that reflect them and their beliefs.
How do you handle difficult HR situations while maintaining trust and credibility among your team?
It depends on what we mean when we talk about difficult HR situations – if it’s a specific single-employee-centric situation, I have always worked on the premise that being straightforward is the best way. This doesn’t mean making people feel ‘less than’, on the contrary, it’s better to address it, acknowledge the impact, and be clear with the possibilities. If it’s a wider HR situation involving multiple teams, then planning is the key, along with being clear about what is going to happen, as well as what we don’t know yet. Being honest when you haven’t always got it 100% accurate is critical, HR teams are human and we can’t always plan for every eventuality.
How do you balance HR initiatives that promote employee well-being and drive business profitability?
I am really lucky as we have leaders both in and out of the HR team who are as passionate about this as I am. That does make it somewhat easier! Promoting employee well-being just makes great business sense – there are enough resources now that anyone who was left in doubt is absolutely converted to this. The consequences of not doing this are just too costly.
What initiatives do you recommend implementing to support employees’ well-being and mental health?
This depends on your organization and the construct. However, I’ve always considered well-being to be in three parts; emotional, financial, and physical. If you think back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs this 3-part construct makes sense and is as relevant today as it was back in the ’50s. A good and well-communicated EAP scheme is easy to implement and tends not to be too costly. The trick though is to make sure it’s well-used, otherwise it’s a wasted benefit. We have a well-being calendar that ties in with our engagement calendar so we promote via internal communications relevant topics on a monthly basis. We have a good network of mental health first aiders, as this provides a good first base of support, in addition, there is access to counselors. For lighter support, we have a Reward platform where we provide points, etc., along with support in our locations for food, drink other items, etc.
Can you share an example of how you successfully navigated a major organizational change and the lessons learned?
Due to a need to enhance the operating model of a commercial organisation, a major structural and procedural change needed to happen. However, this had to be treated carefully due to the culture of that organisation, therefore engaging with the key stakeholders first and giving space and time for everyone to move through the change curve together and have control was critical. The result was a full organisational re-work, building from the physical organisational structure to the skills and KPIs needed. The result in the first year was significant.
How can HR professionals encourage a culture of continuous learning and professional development?
First and foremost, encouraging curiosity, not just insular but external views. However, to do this you have to make sure there is sufficient psychological safety for everyone to be curious – this is a little more difficult to achieve. Encouraging questions and joint problem-solving ensures that there is joint learning in a safe space.
What strategies do you employ to enhance employee engagement and boost job satisfaction?
Creating engaging environments is key to job satisfaction. We focus very much on doing this in specific ways for the teams in question. What we do in one of our locations will be different from others. What remains key is sharing best practices and being structured and organised. So for Pride all of our locations do something, but what they do might be different. We have dedicated people in our HR team who focus on this, and we spend time having skip sessions, team meetings, and pulse surveys so we get a good amount of qualitative and quantitative data to be able to action and discuss with our employees.
What are the key elements of successful talent acquisition and retention strategies in a competitive job market?
This is a tough ask for any organisation volume hiring right now. Having an ‘always on’ methodology and strategy is critical but not easy to balance against actual demand. The reality is retaining people is a much better focus area than having to re-hire for that role, so a focus on individual needs is something we aim for. For talent acquisition making sure we understand the needs of the role and we reflect these accurately in the profile and discussions is a key component to avoid job shock.
What advice do you have for HR leaders looking to advance their careers and take on more strategic roles?
Have an outside-in viewpoint alongside the inside-out. By that I mean keep a healthy curiosity about the factors affecting people, not just at work but outside of work. This then plays out in what the organisation as a whole is trying to achieve or working towards. Getting into a habit of asking enough questions to understand the goals and objectives of the organisation, coupled with then reviewing what the current starting point is. This gives the as-is and the to-be. The gap in the middle will then be what is needed from a people, process, and purpose perspective. Our role as HR Leaders is to assess all three in tandem with the business in order to create the most meaningful strategy and plan. My advice to HR leaders would be to get familiar and comfortable with thinking in tandem and utilising data sets of all types in order to make judgments. I always lead any discussion with data, backed up with emotion – never the other way around!
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