Stacey thinks about his career in three stages. First there was a foundation period based at Associated Ports where he learned the fundamentals of the profession and gained relevant qualifications. His time at the business was varied and this resulted in him building a strong knowledge base alongside plenty of practical expertise. 

I’m motivated by the blending of commercial realities with community impact.”

He then moved to the Royal Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), which offered him more experience within a public sector setting, and one which was undergoing transformation and change. Those changes included relocating the organisation’s headquarters, introducing new technology and reframing the relationship the organisation had with its customers: “The change programme touched every part of the organisation,” says Stacey. “It was demanding but also incredibly fulfilling”.

For Stacey, this work cemented the importance and influence of people management across organisations. While he says he spends a lot of his time making the connection between overall business strategy and the people mission, he also believes the standing of HR within organisations has improved over the years he has worked in the function. There is a clear acknowledgement that people issues go hand in hand with overall success.

“Certainly there is now the recognition that culture has a part to play in supporting competitiveness and growth, and therefore HR has a role to define and embed that culture” he says.

The Covid achievement

Stacey has been with Serco for 15 years and identifies the Covid years as giving him a particular sense of achievement. Working against a backdrop of ‘profound uncertainty’ Stacey was part of the Serco team that was not just affected by the pandemic but was actively trying to help deal with the crisis too. Work was continuous, with long days 7 days a week, with Serco involved in supporting the UK Government response setting up and operating test centres and supporting the contact tracing ecosystem. At the same time the business itself had to manage closures, work to protect vulnerable employees and recognise the stress employees felt as they juggled work with home schooling and other personal issues.

Stacey says the sense of fulfilment for doing an important job was significant, but there was also a sense of freedom about the work. This kind of project had never been done before and there was an acknowledgement that mistakes would be made along the way. However, there was also a great deal of resilience and commitment to getting the job done.

“My original role was linked to the hotel,” Bruno admits. “But I moved around a lot, from general services, security, project management and then, 15 years ago, into HR.” Even in HR he covered many different roles – health and safety, employee housing, operations training, assuming his current position five years ago.

Broadening experience

He’s been open to new challenges and positions within the business across his time at Disneyland Paris, and notes this isn’t something everyone would do. While others have stayed in their line of business, he has chosen to take on new projects and challenges wherever they may lie. Some of those challenges – such as preparing for the opening of the resort’s hotel – were directly linked to his past career, but others were entirely new and have broadened his experience of working for the business and his understanding of how a company of that size and type operates.

It’s an element which has stood him in good stead with colleagues as he’s undertaken subsequent HR tasks: On the one hand the people he works with know that he understands what it’s like to be working on the frontline (and elsewhere) in the business. On the other hand it has informed his own approach to the HR function.

I understood that it was paramount for leaders to keep up to date with the latest skills and developments in their areas.”

Bruno’s view from his current position is that it’s not just about training people but also about developing great leaders. He feels his own experience has effectively guided him to work towards his full potential, addressing certain aspects of his skills, undergoing training and building experience before moving forward with more responsibility. Throughout this development he has appreciated the time he’s been given to achieve more: “I always had the time to develop myself through projects and assignments,” he says. “I understood that it was paramount for leaders to keep up to date with the latest skills and developments in their areas.” Unsurprising then that when Bruno made the move from operations into HR he took an HR course with a Paris business school in order catch up with the key concepts he required.

The latest webinar from The HR World, sponsored by Cognisses Talent Analytics, part of the DeepLearn Group, brought together three experienced individuals on HR data and analytics to discuss how talent analytics could up the game for HR on early careers and more general talent management. Understanding Your Talent Needs Before The Search gave an insight into ideas and practices for HR which would make the most of the data their departments already generate resulting in smoother talent management practices.

Cian Short, Early Years Career Manager for the Irish company Kepak explained how his business had already started to engage with analytics in order to identify the potential of newcomers to the company as well as beginning to map out their training needs and career path across the organisation. Johanna Reategui, Client Services Director from Cognisess was on hand to explain the process behind using analytics while Ross Crook, Chief Revenue Officer at Lifetime Training gave a view from the senior end of the HR spectrum, outlining the strategic thought and investment that needed to supporting the effective implementation and use of talent analytics across organisations.

Between the three of them the panelists demonstrated how HR already has copious amounts of useful data that can be drawn upon to give insight into many aspects of talent management – identifying skills and skills gaps before they are required – rather than simply recording what has already occurred.

Organisations already engaged in this work are driving towards being able to strategically plan their workforces, reflecting and tying employees into the needs of the business as that changes and develops. It was also noted that sometimes accessing and carrying out the necessary analytical work can cause a pause in the recruitment process but it can sometimes be more desirable to take that time and ensure you are recruiting the right talent in the right way and onboarding or managing that talent effectively, than simply bringing in the most likely looking candidate as soon as possible.

Whatever stage you may be on the road of talent analytics this webinar provides a comprehensive and valuable insight into how companies can make analytics work – from every perspective. As AI takes an ever larger role in the recruitment process analytics will continue to play an important role in supporting the human decision maker whose responsibility it is to ensure the organisation always gets the talent it requires.

A: Prior to HR, I initially considered a career in the performing arts and attended a school focused on that area. Following my studies, I decided to change direction. After travelling and exploring options and professional paths, I joined a software company in an administrative role. The business had lost its HR representative and I was looking to build a career. I put myself forward for the role and convinced the business that I could learn quickly and would commit to studying at night alongside completing all my existing duties, which enabled them to give me the opportunity. I then set my mind to completing the professional CIPD qualifications I needed to succeed.   

After working in software for three years, I joined a contact centre where I was exposed to a high level of employee relations work in a very fast-paced environment. 

I joined Dennis Eagle in 2009 as an HR Advisor, and that’s where I’ve been ever since. I never thought I would stay so long, but the company gave me a position where I’ve been able to develop professionally and personally, with the autonomy to shape a new function and effect real change. This has continued to challenge me for more than 16 years. I have had the opportunity to take on additional responsibilities, joining the Board in the role of HR Director in January 2024. At the same time, I also joined the Extended Board of our division of companies, Terberg Environmental, and started working with our international subsidiaries all over the globe. 

Dennis Eagle was a team of 500 people when I joined the business and now we’ve doubled to over 1,000 employees, so I have seen a lot of growth and change in that time. I continue to build on my knowledge and skills, and recently completed a coaching qualification. For me, learning is never finished and I’m now considering my next learning goal. 

Q: Please give us one or two stand-out achievements

A: At Dennis Eagle, we gained Silver status with Investors in People in 2022 and achieved this recognition again this year with even better scores, which was a really proud moment for us as a business. A lot of work, sustained commitment, and passion goes into achieving consistent and positive engagement results. This accreditation focuses on all elements of the employee journey, giving us impartial insights into our leadership culture, employee engagement, and continuous improvement practices. Where we are today is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to continuous improvement and excellence in how we support, develop, and engage our teams, and we are continuing to reflect and improve, working towards achieving Gold in our next assessment. 

We’ve also focused on mental health and wellbeing and were very early as a business to recognise the importance of Mental Health First Aider (MHFA) training. As a male-dominated traditional sector, it was important to us to start this open conversation around mental wellbeing and the importance of talking and reaching out for support, breaking down the stigma around mental health. 

We embrace hybrid working, flexitime, and job sharing, all of which have made a difference to the work-life balance of our people.

As a result, we now have a cohort of MHFAs across our sites and Service Centres. We also rolled out mental health training for all our managers, have an employee assistance programme in place, and offer opportunities for occupational health support, counselling support, and general wellbeing check-ins. This includes internal events hosted around the business such as our Tea and Talk sessions that took place all over the UK to mark World Mental Health Day. 

I am also proud of the flexible working environment we’ve introduced in the business. We embrace hybrid working, flexitime, and job sharing, all of which have made a difference to the work-life balance of our people. We are committed to considering how we can afford accessible working options for employees in all roles within the organisation. This is challenging in a manufacturing organisation but compressed hours, staggered shifts, job sharing, and flexible holidays can work when you make flexibility a priority. 

Q: What attracted you to HR? 

A: Truthfully, I totally fell into the world of HR. But I quickly realised how much I enjoy the people side of business and the variety that HR brings.

With such a high level of contribution across the HR agenda and throughout the wider businesses where she’s worked, it may come as a surprise to learn that Jenner could have stayed in her initial lane, concentrating only on employment law and immigration. Having successfully completed her education to become a lawyer sudden ill health led to three week’s off during which time she realised the legal profession was not for her. A brief stint in recruitment followed – in which the sales angle didn’t suit her – before an HR opportunity arose which seemed perfect.

It came in the form of a lead generation business who were looking for someone who could fulfil their recruitment needs while also overseeing the employment law side of the business – two areas where Jenner knew she could deliver: “My first HR job was as leader of HR,” she says. “I didn’t start as a specialist in a particular role, I needed to be a generalist from day one.” While this may have been something of a baptism of fire Jenner notes that her career has since progressed, moving her away from official structures and systems for HR, focusing instead on the more psychological aspects of people management – how to get the best from the talent with whom she works. 

“I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of human behaviour, business strategy, and organisational design,” she explains. “HR is one of the few functions that influences all three.”

If you do it right you can have an impact on how people feel about work and that affects how they work for the business.”

Indeed, structures have been something of a target for Jenner as she’s realised how much potential organisations can waste through traditional ways of handling people. Business structures, systems, communication and even encouraged forms of leadership can all get in the way of realising a workforce’s full potential.

A round table dinner discussion, hosted by The HR World and sponsored by Pebl brought together a number of HR and business leaders to address the challenges around expanding workforces to take on global employees. As the need for specific talent increases and hybrid employment extends the reach of employers outside their own country, the discussion sought to identify barriers to employing people internationally and provide solutions and ideas as to how the right talent can be used effectively and compliantly.

The discussion was hosted by The HR World’s CEO Mike Beesley with the conversation led and inspired by Carly Jenner, Vice President, People & Culture (Global Head), Apeel and Lindsay Gallard, Chief People Officer, Six Degrees – two highly experienced HR professionals with diverse experience in creating international workforces.

Overall the discussion brought to light the challenge that organisations often seem to be trying to expand their international presence at a pace that exceeds their own internal capacity. Tensions and difficulties can emerge as a result, around areas such as leadership maturity and organisational structure. Participants noted how HR often finds itself trying to manage issues around business ambition, operational readiness and the consequential risk. Indeed, it seems that often when senior leadership desires a move to an international basis HR is brought in after the decision has been made and charged with making it work – regardless of the realities of the situation, and the challenges this creates legally and culturally.

The need to expand

The situation can be further exacerbated by the sense of urgency that underlies an overseas appointment. The business may feel it needs to secure this talent without delay – it is a necessary and important appointment that will have a swift and noticeable impact on the company. Consequently there is added pressure to navigate the complex regulatory constraints that can exist to make the placement. This results in an onboarding process which may not be the most efficient approach, but because of timing and business need, the resulting model becomes the accepted way of doing things. The business can then gradually find itself building an ever more complex scenario for finding, employing and managing overseas talent.

One round table participant noted that businesses often seem to pursue opportunities without considering the long-term picture. The emphasis is always on exploiting the immediate opportunity rather than reflecting on what the implications might be for the wider organisation in the future. In particular there may be little time for considering what going international may mean from a structural point of view. Taking on overseas employees can therefore create tension between making the move sustainable and safe, while also meeting the immediate ambitions of the business.

Compliance issues around employing overseas talent can extend to many areas including: tax, accommodation, payroll obligations, and local audits, all of which may complicate the picture and make for added expenditure when securing new talent.  In some instances the range and cost of compliance can compromise or even prevent companies from using talent from some regions – the lack of knowledge around local employment laws, cultural norms, hiring expectations and more create too much of a barrier for HR and business leaders to manage effectively.

These issues become more significant the less a company – or more specifically HR leaders – know about a country. Therefore, determining a way to address compliance and management issues around the global workforce can be key for organisations if they want to establish a bank of international employees. Using external agencies such as Pebl can address some of these problems and ease the administrative and legal burdens experienced by businesses engaging this kind of talent. Their use can effectively open the business to better talent from around the world.

The three ‘R’s

Company leaders often want to jump in with both feet without first building the capacity to support an international workforce. As a consequence of this while businesses take aim at international opportunities, HR finds itself trying to catch-up in terms of establishing appropriate support systems. One participant boiled down the issue to the ‘three Rs’ of international expansion: Risk, Readiness and Reward. The issue they had to deal with was that “businesses tend to focus on the reward.”

Naturally the way in which businesses set out to fulfil their international ambitions will depend on the size and culture of that business. Founder-led and high-growth firms tend to focus heavily on opportunity, favouring rapid expansion while sometimes overlooking the infrastructure required to support global operations. Larger companies with more resources and more access to international support can find international expansion easier, being able to rely more on the structures and expertise that already exist within their organisations.

Interestingly the HR experts around the table agreed that while compliance issues might be complex for some countries where they are trying to set up, these issues could at least be understood and managed through education and accessing external knowledge and support. However, the issue of internal leadership maturity can present a bigger challenge and be a greater barrier to expansion for these businesses.

The need for leadership

A major theme emerged here around the lack of investment in leadership and management development, particularly in fast-growing organisations where technical specialists are frequently promoted into leadership roles without appropriate training. “Compliance can be managed,” commented one participant. “Where I think it goes wrong is because businesses don’t have the readiness from a leadership maturity, a cultural maturity to make the right decisions.”

Remote working just exposes lazy management.”

Moreover, the scenario of managing a hybrid and certainly geographically dispersed workforce can highlight weaknesses elsewhere in the business. “Remote working just exposes lazy management,” said one participant, an observation which ultimately highlights the strategic and more long-term work HR needs to do in order to ensure remote international working isn’t just possible but sustainable. This is a question of building the required skills within the business, addressing management skills as well as organisational structure.

Interestingly despite the proliferation of remote working and technology supporting hybrid workforces, there was the suggestion that businesses need to specifically work on improving remote management and communications across the organisation. While many workforces are now dependent on technology to keep them together and in touch with one another, there was a sense that increasing personal contact and working to extend the values of the organisation to every employee wherever they may be would lead to a more inclusive culture for the business around the world. This in turn makes the remote worker more engaged and therefore more effective for the business. With good communications remote employees can deliver better value – an important aspect to consider given the efforts made to recruit and support these employees in the first place.

Creating successful international workforces also requires management to have an appreciation of cultural difference across the regions where its workers are stationed. As one participant noted the way in which people in Europe express their feelings about work is very different to how someone expresses themselves in America. Successful management and co-ordination of these workforces therefore requires the ability to understand these differences and to accept and respond to those differences in a sensitive and practical way.

The discussion clearly felt that the increasing globalisation across the workforce along with the consequent need to manage organisational transformation and workforce strategy felt this signalled an opportunity for HR to take a more strategic role within the businesses they support. Alongside this the successful deployment of employee technology, including AI and the governance surrounding that technology, also indicated a greater role for the HR function.

In the case of AI governance in particular, different regions have different levels of acceptance, legal and compliance requirements around this technology use. As such HR is unlikely to be able to simply adopt a single ‘one-size-fits-everyone’ solution to each new location. Local sensitivities as well as local legal demands need to be understood and reflected in policy and procedures.

Local regulations will also apply to other areas of working practice – hours expected to be worked, ‘switch off’ time from business communications and so on. Again, HR must be at the forefront of understanding these aspects of work and ensure they can be met within a productive working relationship.

HR needs to be in the driving seat as expansion occurs.”

Despite the challenges that exist for companies who want to push for a more international workforce, there is clear enthusiasm for and advantages to be gained around employing people overseas. Indeed, the enthusiasm for founder-led businesses and SMEs to go global and exploit the international workforce, has created what the discussion termed as “mini-multinationals” – relatively small companies which work across multiple countries with distributed teams.

If organisation are going to get the most from these arrangements HR needs to be in the driving seat as expansion occurs. It is clear that preparing for such expansion in advance of significant employee investment is desirable if a business is going to go international in a smooth and coherent way. As such these international moves signal another strong reason why HR should gain and retain a seat at C-suite level in order to be able to orchestrate the successful employment and use of international talent wherever it may be.

Pebl enables businesses to build a global team in minutes—no entity needed. Pebl’s AI-powered, expert-backed platform manages hiring, onboarding, payroll, benefits, and local compliance so you can access top talent anywhere.

In a webinar from The HR World and sponsored by Thomas, panelists explored how to spot signs that employees were losing engagement with their work and what could be done to ensure they remained connected and productive as much as possible.

Engage Today: how to fight the disconnection dilemma, highlighted a common, but sometimes unseen hazard in today’s workplace. At a time of complexity and challenge for businesses and their employees a lack of trust and distance can develop. Employees can feel disenchanted with their work and consequently their contribution declines. While the signs of this disconnection can be subtle and unseen at first, there can be serious repercussions if left unchecked.

During the webinar, panelists Kira van Niekerk – Global Connection Director, Thomas and Charlotte (Lottie) O’Brien – Head of People & Culture at Stopford (Jasmine Anderson was unable to attend due to ill health) discussed how the first signs of disconnection could be detected and what HR could do to respond. Working in a small business, said O’Brien, meant that she was generally able to spot when there were issues among her workforce – in a hybrid context it was possible to see when employees seem less connected with their work and the company in general, perhaps even through their non-attendance at in person events.

Kira van Niekerk noted that HR should ensure it has policies and regular check-ins to support the identification of these kind of issues as and when they emerge. Too often what seems to be a low-level inconsequential matter can grow to something more troubling if left unchecked.

Both panelists offered worthwhile solutions to both understanding and countering disconnection in the workforce – whether based on person to person communications or more sophisticated technology based platforms. Among the most important initiatives was to ensure managers were properly trained and skilled at supporting the people they are responsible for. In this way there can always be someone looking out pro-actively to ensure everyone is content and thriving in the workplace.

The webinar is well worth a watch, offering some clear and practical advice on ensuring the entire workforce always stays engaged, happy and productive.

Thriving teams: Why change shouldn’t hold your business back brought together Scott Christie – Head of Training and Integration, Strengthscope; David Edwards – Global Head of Workforce Planning, Ericsson and Anne Guérin-Moens, Group Human Resources Director, SBM Offshore.

All agreed current times were bringing diverse pressures and uncertainties to employees and organisations. Not only are external events – economic, political and so on – creating unprecedented times of change, but organisations are also changing rapidly, altering their course according to markets and opportunities.

To address some of the negative and stressful fallout from change, the panel highlighted the importance of being clear, direct and honest with employees about the need for change and to provide the kind of support required to help teams see change through. As Anne noted one of the issues at stake for organisations is the danger of disengagement with employees – that they might feel left out of considerations when change comes, with organisations presuming instead that employees will fall into line and do whatever needs to be done. However, organisations really want employees who are agents of change, ready to take on every challenge – to be part of what Anne describes as a collaborative culture.

Scott explained that understanding employee strengths can help both for teams to work together more effectively and for individual employees to be managed in a way that is more effective for them. Gone is the one size fits all approach to people management, by understanding employee’s working style and attitude it is possible to deliver more effective support and encouragement for employees to do their best.

As far as HR is concerned, David Edwards believes the function has a clear role here, taking the initiative to lead the conversation and strategy around change. By taking on that responsibility, HR can gain status and position within organisations. This isn’t just a chance to take advantage of the opportunity but for many businesses its a way to deal pro-actively with the ongoing world around them.

The webinar is well-worth a view, packed as it is with ideas, practical examples and more.

The HR World’s webinar, Immigration and employment: Are you really compliant? Sponsored by the immigration platform Borderless, uncovered not just the challenge of being compliant when engaging overseas talent, but more generally the fast changing and ever higher obstacles organisations are facing when trying to access this kind of talent.

With a highly informed and experienced panel consisting of  increasing Matthew Bond, CEO & Co Founder, Borderless, Kirstie Jones, Chief People Officer, Salutem Care and Education and Gareth Neale, Head of Human Resources, Crimson Hotels, the session covered recent changes in Home Office policies and regulations, the challenge of keeping an entire organisation up to date and compliant as well as the challenge of meeting audits when they take place.

What emerged is a highly complex area of employment where HR professionals are often in a difficult situation of having to consider the position of good and in demand skilled employees because they cannot always meet the requirements for keeping them within the organisation.

While the processes and requirements around employing immigrants continues to shift and change, it is clear that good communications, continuous understanding of regulations and investment in appropriate technology can make life easier for HR departments in this respect. Despite everything, there are still ways in which organisations can bring in great talent and employ them compliantly and safely. However, as Matthew Bond noted, the complexity around this kind of employment is such that there are rarely no issues that need addressing and organisations constantly need to work to manage their risk.

Following on from the webinar our panel of Matthew Bond, CEO & Co Founder, Borderless, Kirstie Jones, Chief People Officer, Salutem Care and Education and Gareth Neale, Head of Human Resources, Crimson Hotels give an insight into the realities and challenges of correctly employing overseas candidates in a Q&A session.

This webinar is full of insight and experience from the frontline of employing international talent. It is a must-see for any organisation currently employing immigrants or any who wish to take advantage of this source of skilled workers.