I’ve always hated the career ladder metaphor. Often the main beneficiaries of a career ladder structure are those that fit the profile expectations of career progression. In this post pandemic, post Black Lives Matter, post MeToo, post Trump and especially Post AI – the career ladder is dead. Long live career uncertainty.  

​In the corporate vocab of the 20th century, the ‘career ladder’ was a comforting beast. It promised a predictable ascent: climb the rungs, be rewarded for effort and connections, wait your turn, and retire with a pension. That beast has been on life support for decades – especially if we view it through an Equity lens. Now, AI is preparing to pull the plug. For Human Resources often the most risk-averse species this presents a terrifying dilemma. They can continue to pantomime the rituals of old of promotion and progress – where do you see yourself in five years time – career ladder stuff. Or they can embrace a controversial truth: in the new world of work, progress is uncertain, the corporation is no longer a family. We now work in a dynamic ecosystem, uncertainty is the norm, the ladders are disappearing and AI is the new climate. 

 From my work on ‘Industry 5.0’ I would argue we are witnessing the end of the ‘job’ as a fixed bundle of duties – but now we’re moving into an even more flexible way of working. In this new landscape, relying on technical (in its broadest sense) competence alone is a fast track to obsolescence. AI has a massive impact on work – but to focus on Generative AI specifically, it really is unbundling jobs and job roles. This shift is also driven by the rapid commodification of white-collar skills. In my book Futureproof Your Career, in this world I say the goal is not to outrun the machine, but to build a relationship with it. We are moving towards Industry 5.0 an era not of replacement, but of Human-AI symbiosis.

The future of career management, then, is not about climbing a ladder, but navigating crisscross pathways.”

​Here lies the rub for HR. For years, the function has been an administrative shock-absorber, protecting the status quo of career progression – skills needed + skills in. I think this transactional approach misses the critical human element of how we workers make career changes. To survive now, HR must become an engine of ‘career resilience’. I remember last year – 2025 a very disappointed CPO of a global energy company. He was saying when he welcomed a cohort of new graduates saying in his welcome speech: “one of you may become our future CEO” but instead of thrilled faces of GenZers he met with a sea of faces that said – yeah we don’t buy into that career ladder thinking. 

The honest conversation to have with a recruit in 2026 is not, “We see a path to Director,” but rather, “We will help you build the human capabilities needed to activate your success and we respect that you need to have wellbeing in your work-life.” My research says this shift is about emphasis on empathy, ethical judgment, and complex problem-solving. As we know – these are skills that the algorithm cannot replicate.

 This is where the argument becomes thorny. If HR merely uses AI to optimise hiring and promotion based on historical data, it automates jobs and not careers. The future of career management, then, is not about climbing a ladder, but navigating crisscross pathways. It’s all about shifting patterns where (my research shows) agility and adaptive skill under uncertainty matters. 

​For HR, the mandate is clear but demanding. Stop nurturing the illusion of stability. Instead, build an infrastructure of psychological safety where workers feel secure enough to experiment, fail, and relearn in order to progress in the matrix. Embrace the uncertainty too. You do not futureproof a career by hiding from change, but by building a relationship with it. Honestly speaking the ladder is gone. The safety net is gone. HR’s job is enable people manage themselves in this matrix/maze/crisscross career pathways – and to ensure the footing is fair.

He hates me saying this, but I didn’t go to university because I met my husband when I was 16. I realised I did not want to leave so stayed and started an apprenticeship at BT instead. Now my children go to the same school, and we live next door to my parents. I left BT this year after 23 years having grown up with it as my dad worked there, too. The growth and adventures I have had have been inspirational and rewarding.

To get on in your career you have to seize your chances

People always said I was an old head on young shoulders. I don’t know if this is true, but I do remember taking every opportunity that was open to me from a young age. On my apprenticeship there were 200 of us that started but as we went along more people started not turning up. I was like ‘get your fingers out your backsides’! Don’t throw this away. So, I held a company event to re-engage with them. It was that moment I realised I wanted to be in human-focused work and propelled me from there to gain my masters and CIPD.

Line managers can make or break an organisation

When I came back from my first child, I had mild postnatal depression but didn’t recognise it at the time. I did not want to leave my son, so decided I was going to train to be a teacher to have the holiday time off. I went to my boss and he did not accept my resignation. He said he could tell there more to it and asked me to see a doctor. From there I went on to work a more flexible week way before flexible working was available. I wholeheartedly believe that line managers can make or break the employee experience of working with an organisation and therefore it’s a short-sighted organisation that doesn’t pay attention to how good their leadership teams are.

As HRs we hold the moral compass of an organisation

During the pandemic we have been looked to as being able to understand and tap into the ‘right’ things to do for our people – morally, ethically and with the right engagement approaches. I’m not saying we are perfect, but it has been a real test of our capabilities and I think for the most part HR has proven its worth in helping the C-Suite know how to handle an experience that has been traumatic on every level.

Kindness costs nothing but means the world

It’s the most underrated skill in business, but I truly believe that kindness is everything. People want to work for and with people who make them feel good about themselves. It costs nothing to treat someone with kindness and compassion, but it can mean absolutely everything. Business leaders need to bring it to the fore in their organisations, because I truly believe that you cannot have a great organisational culture without kindness sitting firmly at the heart of it.

Flexible working is not a benefit

It drives me wild when organisations describe it as such. It’s not a benefit – it’s how the workforce of the 21st century needs, demands, and should be able to expect to work in order to ensure that we have employment that is accessible to all. The 9-5, desk-bound, Monday-Friday standard working week should be consigned to the history books where it belongs. I hope in the future that, if there are still organisations refusing to offer flexibility in working patterns to employees, it will be called out for the discrimination that it is.

The ‘rinse and repeat’ mentality gives HR a bad name

If you don’t understand the business you’re working in then how can you possibly expect to support, develop and deliver for its people? The HR profession gets a deservedly bad name when we go into an organisation and expect to be able to simply rinse and repeat. Out of everyone in the business, I would argue it’s HR who should have the most well-rounded understanding of how the various components fit and operate together. To get that understanding, you have to put in the graft and really spend time with your teams – it won’t happen by osmosis.

Treating people as adults is critical for business success …

If your hiring process is robust (and if it isn’t, then that needs to be your priority) then you’ll have brought great people into your business who are brilliant at what they do, are experts in their field, and are bright, intelligent, switched on adults – so, treat them as such. Give them the freedom to do what they do best, in the way that is best for them and best for the business. The moment we start treating our people like children we dumb them down and patronise them, we cause them to stop thinking for themselves, and, crucially, we see far, far poorer business outcomes as a result.

… And this means there has to be trust

The employer/employee relationship cannot work without trust, it’s as simple as that. You have to start from a position of trust. If your default is not to trust your employees, then you need to ask yourself why. Working in an environment where no one trusts anyone else is exhausting, miserable, and disastrous for business. Empower one another to succeed; don’t wrap so much red tape around your teams that it’s impossible for them to function.

The talk on diversity is not translating into action

There’s lots of talk out there about the importance of ensuring representative diversity within our organisations, but I fear that this doesn’t always translate into action. There is a danger that well-meaning diversity policies do little more than chip around the edges at a serious issue that permeates almost all businesses out there. If our senior teams, our managers and our wider employee populations aren’t representative of the wonderful diversity of our society then we are not yet doing enough… and when that’s the case we need to be big enough to call ourselves out, and work harder for change.

Passion and desire trumps CV spiel, every time

In my personal opinion, there’s no amount of experience can make up for an attitude and behaviours that don’t align with your organisational culture; and, equally, some of my best ever hires have come with experience that doesn’t necessarily match back to the job spec. Before I worked in HR I trained as a professional actor, which definitely isn’t the traditional route into the profession; yet there’s training from my time at drama school that I would still say I use in my role every single day! Don’t force people to fit into neat little boxes. You’re hiring humans, not robots.

Equity and equality have some crucial differences

Consistency of treatment is important, but consistency of treatment doesn’t mean treating everyone exactly the same, and this is where HR departments often find themselves drowning in and stifled by policies. The approaches you take will need to be as varied as your people. You cannot do “HR by numbers”. If we replaced a blind and obsessive following of policies with common sense, I sometimes think we’d be far better off as a profession.

Listen – even when you don’t like the answers

In a world filled with white noise, there is a risk that listening becomes a lost art. Yet it’s how most of us do our greatest learning. As HR practitioners and as business leaders, we have to continuously listen and learn, even when some of that feedback is hard to hear. It’s all too easy to become defensive and switch off when we don’t like the answers; but, when we do, we miss a huge opportunity to deliver positive change. It’s been the toughest pieces of feedback that have invariably taught me the most.

It’s a privilege to do what we do

Working directly with so many different people, supporting them and listening to them open up and share their confidences, enabling them to deliver; putting in place programmes to help them develop, succeed, and be at their best it is an utter privilege, and I give genuine thanks for the job that I am fortunate enough to hold, every single day. We won’t be alone in HR, in finding the pandemic perhaps the single toughest period of our working careers; and yet it’s also been so tremendously rewarding to sit at the heart of an organisation as we have worked our way through this very human crisis. Our people are incredible, and I’m so lucky to get to do what I do.

Kathryn Kendall is the Chief People Officer at Saltus.

Statistics show that nearly a fifth (17.5%) of new hires leave their job in the first month and this increases again in the first three months of someone taking on a role.

As UK business continues to grapple with the impact of the global pandemic, technology has become an increased part of the workforce interaction – but at what cost? And how is this effecting retention in the first important months?

This is a question that experienced resource specialist Hannah Waddington set about answering shortly after she formed her recruitment business Maru Search & Consultancy.

Originally focused purely on HR professionals and now expanded to business change and transformation, Hannah’s original market research showed that a gap in the market existed for a more human approach to onboarding.

Improved human contact

Hannah, who previously worked at independent recruitment firm Sanderson, said: “Throughout my recruitment career people have talked about AI as being a one-stop shop solution for all kinds of things.

“Where we really saw this take off was on the more functional and process parts of talent attraction and retention.

“However, as we have seen during lockdown and enforced remote working, the world of work is changing significantly and as such some of these needs – such as improved human contact and building stronger working cultures – have escalated to C-Suite level in a way that we could not have previously foreseen.”

Speaking to senior HR people across the UK meant that Hannah was able to identify pinch points that were causing teams stress and traditional onboarding programmes came out as one of the most common ‘headache’ areas.

She said: “We are living in a world where candidates want to be really bought into a company culture and the lived experience of being somewhere that is driven by purpose and human values.

“So this tends to be ‘the sell’ from businesses which builds up an ideal based on a vision and mission that then attracts the right talent. However, too often what seemed to be happening is once they were in place, there was very little support for the employee to integrate personally into this ideal – there was a mismatch and no technology seems to be able to bridge the gap.”

Inplacement was born

During one conversation with an HRD, the idea of Inplacement sprung into view and Hannah says she realised that, while it was a risk to go against the grain by putting humans where tech has ruled, from that point on everyone she spoke to about her idea ‘strongly agreed’ something along those lines was needed.

Maru has a partnership with The HR World.

Hannah took the idea to the board and Inplacement was born. Now, she says, she is hoping to see the idea take off as the programme has been built to scale easily – whether it is for small companies of up to 25 or for larger corporate firms.

She said: “One of the fears of the human aspect of retention practices is simply time management. While managers have the best of intention, too often the world of work takes over and essential team building and culture forming activities are put on the back burner.

“This ultimately leads to disenfranchised employees who do not feel looked after or understood in those important weeks of entering a new job. This is probably most significant for younger, less experienced hires and so we have shaped the programme to really focus on this market during the first stages of launch.”

Business philosophy

Hannah has grown her team and skilled up to ensure that the programme has all the necessary requirements needed to accommodate HR and says that Inplacement is the first in a series of solutions that her professional community has told her is needed.

She said: “Long gone are the days that recruitment businesses can just plaster CVS across someone’s desk and expect to get the right person for the job.

“I have always believed that every hire is a change to make your business better and that means from the very beginning of any recruitment process hard questions need to be asked and systems that find the right people for the business are put in place.

“This is from job design, to talent attraction and then on to onboarding. I’ve developed my whole business philosophy on these concepts and am looking forward to seeing how we can improve the lives of both business leaders and their teams in the important years ahead.”

1) Diversity and curiosity are the lifeblood of growth

I’ve always been curious and keen to embrace new adventures. Trying new things, experiencing new environments, and staying open minded as that’s what builds up your knowledge, skills and ambition. Throughout my career, I’ve lived and worked in four different countries, adapting along the way to new cultures, company processes, and job roles from operator, production, to manager and leader. This has contributed to my personal development and growth giving me a diversity of skills but also a breath of understanding of the sort of job challenges employees face and how this can differ by level and role, which is really useful as an HR specialist.

2) Sticking to what you love doesn’t mean staying in your lane

Like many of us, I’ve been in a job at some point in my career that hasn’t felt right for me. To avoid this happening try to find a job that involves things you’re naturally good at or enjoy doing and then aim higher. It could be writing, presenting, helping people or, like me, a love of the burgeoning world of technology. Understand where your loves lie means your strengths can be applied and find weaknesses that need improving. Embracing each one of these means you can really flourish in your career. I understood very quickly that I was a self-starter and love working on projects that discover the “new” in my work and personal life, like we constantly do in IT.

3) HRs need to practice what they preach on wellbeing

HR is often so busy looking after the workforce and the business that they forget about their own wellbeing. But your own health and happiness is key – something I would remind my younger self repeatedly – and something that we’ve all been reminded of constantly throughout the global pandemic. HR leaders have had little choice but to push through the stresses and challenges that Covid-19 has constantly presented but many will pay a price for it through their mental wellbeing, absence and diminished motivation.

4) Have humility

One of my life lessons having worked for various bosses, is that great leaders show humility and emotional intelligence. They recognise that they don’t have all the answers and build a psychological safe place that says ‘this is OK’. They listen more while providing clarity of purpose and consider their teams’ feelings and frustrations. When you’re in your first management role, ensure to make people feel that they’re understood, that they feel valued and respected, and they feel needed. You’ll soon build a strong, loyal team that supports you through whatever business challenge comes your way.

5) Bring your full self to work

One of the key lessons we teach our new joiners and aspiring leaders is the importance of transparency, especially during times of uncertainty when people need clarity and confidence. In this pandemic, employees are bringing their full selves to work more than ever, and they expect their business leaders to do the same. Look to work for a business that’s moving away from the traditional hierarchical management where egos can overshadow talent from emerging, and ideas and innovation flourishing.

6) Embrace technology – and then embrace it again

As an HR leader for a global technology you’d probably expect me to say that – but through my years in the profession I’ve seen HRs bogged down by the mundane, administration side of HR leaving them less time to focus on progression and innovation. Now, in a virtual working world, comes further HR challenges, such as recruiting and onboarding people remotely and keeping teams cohesive even when apart. But there are now digital workplace tools and apps available designed to support the HR function while keeping workforces together. Starting with the company intranet, which can now incorporate analytics to help HR track employee engagement. There are also onboarding template apps that swiftly immerse new joiners virtually and an exciting array of wellbeing tools using gamification available that enhance motivation. With hybrid working set to stay, always having a good understanding of the latest technology and remaining close to the IT team is one of the most important things to remember when starting out in the profession.

7) Be in the business  

Coping with change and uncertainty has always been front and centre of any HR role since I first started out in the industry, but ever more so in the last year with the workplace having gone through a rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, with challenges around every corner. But to see through such change effectively requires agility and that means HR must always keep close to the business. Don’t remain constrained to your team – broaden your horizons. Build relationships with a network of key stakeholders across departments from IT, to marketing, right through to senior board level. That way you’ll be a greater influencer and driver of change.

8) Everyone can make a positive difference

I was lucky enough to live and work in South Africa for many years when Nelson Mandela was President. His saying: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead,” is something that has always driven me personally and professionally – and it’s what HR should be all about.

Marine Fournier, International HR Manager at Powell Software, is an award winning global digital workplace platform vendor.

1) Asking ‘why’ will make you better at your job

Learning has been a lifelong passion for me. A big part of my drive comes from an innate curiosity but, also like a child trying to make sense of the world around them, I tend to enter into things on the presumption that I need to know as much as possible to help me do my job. At the beginning of my career, this was a very natural part of who I was. Asking people why they were doing things the way they were, why they thought the way they did. Some people may find asking questions challenging, but it’s helped me join dots and understand people’s behaviours – a fundamental part of HR.

2) Understanding organisational development is the key to HR’s success

Once I started to lead people and projects, I found a burning passion for organisational development (OD). I believe in rapidly changing and complex environments and HR and OD practitioners need to focus together to build and deliver lasting change with humanity – for me you can’t have one without the other. OD has many different definitions, dating back to the 1940s. My preference is a more recent insight, by Cheung-Judge which suggests it’s a field of applied behavioural science enabling organisations to increase performance and to ensure robust organisational health, which is vital for competitive advantage.

3) As Eleanor Roosevelt said: “You must do the thing you think you cannot do”

Organisations need to grow and adapt so change is built into the fabric of most modern businesses now and comes with many challenges and also opportunities. Maintaining belief that something better is coming if everything keeps changing is really important for HR. But it isn’t always a comfortable space and, at times I have doubted myself and had setbacks. But, essentially, HR has a privilege role across the business as a trusted connector, understanding what happens in every layer, to be able to lead, coach and guide in culture change. Not owning this opportunity despite being an uphill battle in moments would be careless.

4) Consider your intention and legacy before starting anything new

I moved to Florida with my husband and daughter when I just turned 30 and from interviewing to arriving in Miami it took two months. I’m still surprised at how much I took it in my stride. I’d been seconded for 12 months, to establish a regional office. I had to engage with the job as if I was going to stay there for a longer time otherwise the temporary nature could unintentionally impact my strategic thinking and decision making and we’d not get the traction needed. I wanted to ensure that when I left America, the business was improved and a culture was in the making – which it was. Turns out I stayed there three years, I made some great friends which have stood the test of time and means a lot to me. What I left behind was a team with self-belief and empowered to perform. This has been my greatest reward.

5) Pay it forward

Sink or swim is a commonly used phase and I feel proud to say I have felt overwhelming supported to swim throughout my career. The support that really resonated was candid performance feedback, learning, challenging and pushing my potential. I sought out moments to share my ideas, listen, adapt, reflect, learn, repeat! As an HRD I will always pay it forward, my drive and matched career highlights have instilled in me to give opportunities to others and watch them grow, but never without performance development – sinking isn’t an option.

6) The current uncertainty means HR is playing a bigger role than ever

HR people like a strategic plan and to be cool in a crisis. We love to draw up conclusions and strategies based on our insight and this is, of course, incredibly important. But we are also often the most adaptable people in the organisation. The C-19 pandemic is fundamentally teaching us that the future is unknown, and that people’s wellbeing and safety are paramount if any of our social and business structures are to develop healthily. We need to grab this chance as a catalyst to use our skills to build capabilities that create the business and people strategies needed to withstand similar future incidents.

7) You don’t always “click” straight away with everyone

Having a single boss is highly unlikely anymore. We work with many, across programmes, projects and partnerships. At one point in my career, I found myself reporting into a new leader to the organisation who was different to my previous one and I wasn’t sure we were going to click straight away. This bothered me and made me feel a little vulnerable. When she promoted to her righthand role People and Change Director, it made me reflect on how important it is to build a diverse team of strength and capability. Our relationship went on to be incredibly powerful and I learned a huge amount from her. It was a time when we really had to re-evaluate and reinvent the HR strategy and change the organisational development model to fit with changes in the business. A lesson learned about taking time to build relationships and valuing individuals points of difference.

8) Helping people be amazing makes amazing organisations

I knew when I left school that I wasn’t going to go to university because I learn best by getting stuck in and learning by experience.  I think, at a fundamental level, it’s shaped my view of what an HRD is meant to be. Our job is not just function and capabilities, it’s about supporting people into their highest potential, creating opportunities for individuals and teams to thrive. This, ultimately, makes the entire system and business fulfil its promise and ambition. Now, more than ever we need visionaries who will lead with compassion. I think in this setting HR has a real chance to change the world for the better.

1) Great HR teams are agile and forward thinking agents of change.

Today the title of HR professional spans a range of requirements and we might readily be titled “change agent”, “project manager” and “value creator”. As we see the world of business changing and digital technologies transforming work, so the HR partner role and capabilities have moved on. HR is in prime position to help businesses develop and provide an environment where the workforce community can thrive by ensuring people capital is an asset delivering great service to customers and central to business growth. This creates value for the organisation, the business and all of its shareholders, which in turn is good for everyone.

2) Curiosity must be encouraged if we want people to learn.

My mum and dad were first generation immigrants, part of the Windrush Generation, and my mother is a big influence in my life. She would talk to me and my two sisters about the importance of keeping your mind open, trying new things, having new experiences. My parents gave me a true passion for being curious. Life is a whole learning process of being engaged and wondering how things work and why. This can never really, or at least shouldn’t, be put in a box, as kids become teens and then adults. I was the first child in my family to go to university but, while academia was what they wanted for me, they were also very clear that it wasn’t just about what we did at school, it was about everything in our lives. So, we danced (I was a mean tap dancer!), we skated, we were Guides and Rangers, we visited museums and were encouraged to play, explore and be inventive. It’s something that has stayed with me.

3) The “milk round” should be fully re-energised.

When I was at Southampton University it was the peak time of the “milk round” graduate selection, when big companies would look to attract and select the best and seek out the talent of the future. There are still graduate schemes and placements, but not as many. It was a great way of finding out what career options were out there and is one of the talent mechanisms that needs re-energising. I remain passionate about opportunity and sponsorship of young people and working with the University of the West of England as a mentor means I can help students look to develop their careers and understand what’s possible when they leave. Having access to role models can be an incredibly useful thing for our Generation Y and Z folk.

4) Starting off in the public sector provided great HR technical knowledge.

My own milk round experience resulted in a job offer from British Rail and the scheme offered a robust grounding in HR. I experienced roles across a number of disciplines and was fortunate to have my CIPD training and membership paid. It was the first time I came face-to-face with a union and learnt the skills of consultation and negotiation – definitely the “sharp end” of industrial relations, plus pretty much every HR job. In my subsequent positions I recruited all the customer facing roles, managed a personnel services operation and several large-scale HR transformations. A great grounding in technical skills as well as “human” HR and it was pretty epic.

5) Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

HR is increasingly fundamental to the delivery of businesses facing huge change headwinds. My first boss was a major influence and told me to “get out of your comfort zone – and get used to it”. I was guided to get to know the business and push through barriers. At British Rail I’d find myself sitting in signal rooms and all sorts of other unpredictable situations. As part of the denationalisation programme, I was appointed to an HR role in Gatwick Express and given the opportunity to work through setting up the potential IPO before joining Forte Hotels Group as a senior HR business partner. It was amazing to experience the contrast between the public and private sector and a huge learning curve. These kinds of experiences have defined my career and led me to believe that a mindset of managing uncertainty, talent and change management, are essential HR skills. It is also the reason the value of HR is being increasingly recognised at C-suite level.

6) Implementing real L&D can be truly transformational.

I left Forte after four years to work in Dubai as regional HR business partner supporting the MEARO region for TNT. Global talent pipelines and expatriate mobility and reward became core parts of my remit, as well as the opportunity to work for a truly global business developing new markets and customers across the region. We were encouraged to “think global and act local”, taking into account the different cultures and operations in country. Also responsible for Learning and Development, I implemented the Investors in People standards, supporting and driving sales and service across our operations. It was hugely rewarding seeing the impact this made on the business. Benchmarking all of our development training, creating evaluation mechanisms and evidencing acquisition of new skills required a huge transformation and lots of communications to our employees. This ultimately led to far higher performance and productivity and was a fantastic programme to be involved with.

7) Never underestimate the benefits of a great network.

With mental health high on the agenda, I’ve been reminded of how important my own network has been, both professionally and personally, in changing times. I remember getting to Dubai for the first time and sitting in the apartment on my own for 24 hours in what I think was “culture shock”, knowing that this would be my home for the next two years. I recall thinking: “Well I can sit here and wait for the world to come to me or I can get out there and meet people!” I was bowled over by people’s kindness and how open and generous they were with their networks and friendships – some of these relationships have lasted for the past 20 years.

8) Technology has changed HR, but leadership will be delivered by humans.

At a big consultancy tech demo a couple of years ago I saw an amazing robotics programme for onboarding new employees to eradicate increasing levels of human error. They wanted to create a high functioning set of processes to ensure on a new joiner’s first day the experience was a positive one. These are genuinely areas where you can see the benefit of tech and automating processes to remove inefficiencies, limit errors and manage repetitive work. But in terms of what you need to lead, the thought leadership of an organisation, this cannot be replaced. Humans lead other human beings and we know the power of leadership at all of levels of an organisation can create enormous growth or conversely, blockers and barriers. HR is in pole position making sure the tech fits with how humans need it to function, not the other way around.

9) As Martin Luther King said: “The time is always right to do what is right”.

HR occupies a unique role in understanding the organisation as a system and how things can be done the right way for both the business and the people within it. When being asked to make difficult decisions, for example, shutting down sites or reducing the employee headcount, it is possible to find a right way of doing things. Foremost in my mind is the fact that people go on to other jobs and organisations and you have to ask, “what did they experience?”. To enable you to do this “the right way” you have to get involved in the planning and thinking ahead of time, as it’s essential to how everyone achieves the right end result. I’ve definitely been criticised for adhering to this at points in my career but have remained steadfast in these beliefs.

10) HR has many unique roles to play in times of uncertainty or change – remaining calm and containing the organisation’s stress is one of these.

The last 15 years of my career have been spent in financial services as an HR Director and CPO. Like many industries, the insurance and banking sector has experienced a high degree of change and uncertainty from regulation, competitive pressures, technological change, environmental and political ups and downs. Some outstanding leaders have said to me there is nothing worse for people to see than the captain of the ship running about as if their hair’s on fire. Organisations are looking to the HR function to help contain the stress caused by the ever-present uncertainty and to navigate through it. With the right mindset, tools and team HR can certainly lead the way.

Kim Clarke can be reached via LinkedIn.

“Data is everything. It helps you shape a factual story in order to influence business leaders on people initiatives, which can improve retention of securing new talent. That’s what makes HR so valuable and exciting right now.”

1. Working and studying at the same time can be gamechanging.

I got my first taste of HR at PWC when I was 21 after I’d completed a Diploma in IT. I realised I had a real passion for the people subjects on my course, so decided I’d do a degree in HRM. Sharon Vize, now HR Director at Cpl Resources, who was the HR Director at PWC said to me: “You’re 21, why don’t you work for us and study at the same time?” It was a no brainer as it meant I had real life experiences to tie into my studies. During those three years I became more focused and disciplined in my approach to my studies, work, life and made the transition into adulthood.

2. Try to remain calm and ‘think duck’.

This is advice I would give my younger self – as well as trying to enjoy life and relax more. There will always be deadlines and people crises that HR has to resolve. Putting out fires where you really want to scream or get people to do what you want is a real skill in HR. But you will get through those challenges and they will help you be a better HR practitioner. A colleague, who I respect greatly, Conor McCarthy, Head of Emerging Markets at Indeed, once said: “You always seem calm in stressful situation.” However, like a duck, under the surface I’m paddling like mad (my secret is out now!).

3. Data is everything.

The moment I found out how technology worked it felt a bit like the ending of The Matrix! When I looked into a HR system, I could see how to pull apart the data. Possibly a bit earlier than my peers, I realised that the stories that were in there were real and insightful. Data helps you shape a factual story in order to influence business leaders on people initiatives, which can improve retention of securing new talent. All of this can have a huge impact on a company’s ability to achieve its strategic aims – that’s what makes HR so valuable and exciting right now.

4. Being yourself is enough.

When I started out conducting disciplinaries or trade union negotiations I was more nervous than the individuals sitting in front of me. I was always trying to mimic approach I’d read from management books. Once again, I was lucky in my career to have a boss who became a mentor. Ray Comerford, now HR Director at Eurofound, encouraged me to understand myself as a professional. He assigned me strength projects, gave me space to fail. On one occasion he asked me to lead negotiations with a trade union about implementing a new system. He accompanied me to the meeting and things didn’t go to plan. Afterward, he asked what I would do differently. I said I should have been more forceful and direct. However, Ray provided me with the clearest piece of feedback. He said: “I didn’t recognise the man leading the negotiations. You weren’t yourself.” Ray set up a follow up meeting and encouraged me to be myself – use data and storytelling to help you bring everyone onboard. The 2nd meeting was a success for everyone.

5. Gaining self-awareness is a great side effect of working in HR.

One of the best, yet often acknowledged, things about a career in HR is how understanding of yourself you gain and how that helps you grow. Once you’ve been through the firewall a few times you learn a lot about who you are and that creates a much better understanding of other humans, how they feel during the tough times and the good.

6. Treat people like adults and they will act like them.

People will make mistakes in their career, however, if you treat individuals with respect those difficult conversations can be made easier for everyone. As Michelle Obama said: “When they go low, we go high.”

7. Talk about your frustrations and your mistakes.

I make mistakes every day, it’s part of being human. This is a point I make to people who report to me. I encourage them to be open and honest about their mistakes and look at it as a learning. The same with frustrations. A main frustration of mine is winning over colleagues to make decisions around data. At times, there can be assumptions about what we think the employees want or need, however, when we dig into what an engagement survey, social media responses, or attrition data a very different story can emerge. With this information HR can design a strategy which will positively impact the business. I’m consistent in raising these issues.

8. Language is important.

I’ve had the privilege to work with people from across the globe. It’s exciting and broadens your knowledge of people and the world too. It has taught me to be more aware of my communication style when speaking to individuals or a wider audience. My Irish sense of humour or colloquial terms may not translate into an international audience. If you are not understood how you communicate effectively with people? This becomes incredibly important and leaders need to be aware of how language can affect people, not just an individual’s experience of the working environment but the how the whole culture can suffer because of a breakdown in understanding.

9. HR needs to reflect human-ness.

Technology in HR and in the workplace doesn’t mean less human contact or group interaction. People should always be our main focus, but this can be easy to lose sight of this in the busy-ness of business. When rolling out a HR initiative I like to gather a number of employees together to road test the initiative to make sure it is human in its approach – is it what the employees want or need? Those session are always so much fun as the approach is collaborative and the positive energy ensure the end result delivers on what our human needs are in the workplace, which is the important factor.

10. Take a break when you need to.

I’m acutely aware of what stress or anxiety can do to your mental health, so I’ve tried hard to help people in the business understand what that stress means to them as an individual and how to handle it. Research by GSK shows the scale of the problem for adults in Ireland. HR leaders have key role to play in this and alongside the business focus on how to provide a safe working environment for people to have honest conversations about their mental health problems. I’ve personally taken time off and it’s made me a much better colleague and person to be around. I had a supportive manager and colleagues which greatly helped me speaking about my challenges, which in hope in turn has helped others.
 – Barry Hughes, senior HR Leader and senior HRBP for Ireland and the UK at Indeed.

 “This is a special time in business – things are changing and business can help lead societal change.” – Matt Elliott, Chief People Officer, Bank of Ireland.

1. My experience of diversity as a youngster has shaped a lot in my life.

In the 70s and 80s in Sheffield, there was a real cultural mix and this set my frame of reference for diversity. My first school was very multi-cultural and, as it was my first, that became my ‘norm’ expectation around diversity. Later on, I found it strange and unusual to live in a more predominantly ‘white’ area, it didn’t seem real to me. I’ve since seen how society brings prejudice into play as you grow into and through adulthood. When you’re young you don’t see any difference in school friends on the basis of skin colour or religion. I’m committed to making sure that’s the case now at work – we must ask ourselves, why shouldn’t it be?

2. I developed people skills intuitively to protect myself.

My Dad’s career progressed really well in education and he became a headteacher. We moved to a lovely old house on the edge of a modern housing estate in Sheffield – so from that point on we stood out a bit! Some of the kids at the local comprehensive I went to saw me as something of ‘a rich kid’ because of the house we lived in and it made me a bit of a target. I became intuitively skilled in reading behaviour and understanding what was going on, so I could make sure I kept out of trouble. This helped develop management skills I use to good effect today – reading and understanding human behaviour and being able to adapt my approach.

3. Social circumstance has an unfair impact on the opportunity for talented people to realise their potential.

The degree to which school mates realised their potential had more to do with their social circumstances than their own talent. We waste an enormous amount of potential in the work force as a result. This has been a huge motivating factor for me in HR. The ability to support and enable colleagues to fulfil their potential, whatever their start-point in life, within the company is incredibly rewarding. We are in a privileged position in HR to have this responsibility.

4. Making a difference requires bravery in our personal and our working lives.

Some 25 years ago I was at a family dinner, and when talking about relationships, a family member told me they were seeing someone. It turned out they had been in a relationship for some time but weren’t sure how friends and wider family would react to it being a same sex relationship. I felt I reacted supportively, but I know having talked about it many years later, I had missed a real opportunity to help with the confidence and trust to be more open sooner. I regret not being more encouraging and supportive. I’m lucky that as a HRD I can use the motivation from a personal regret at work every day to create a safe working environment where people can simply be who they are. I don’t want people to come to work and feel they can’t be themselves, it must be exhausting.

5. There is no substitute for hard work.

I was lucky, after completing my post-grad in HR RBS appointed me as the only graduate at a time when it was a relatively small bank. I joined a small team and received a lot of support and opportunity. I found myself getting unexpected opportunities over the first five years of my career, doing strategic work as well as responsibility for implementation, working with amazing people. I always thought I was lucky, but now realise I created my own luck. You have to work hard to gain, and take, opportunities. As the Yorkshire saying goes, “you don’t get owt for nowt”!

6. You’ve got to be happy at work to thrive.

As my career progressed, I felt I was spending too much time managing company ego-based politics than getting on with doing a great job – it was exasperating. I’d grown as a person, my perspectives were changing, and I started to question if I was happy and in the right company. Feeling that way started to affect the contribution I was able to make. It was time to move on and experiencing a different environment at BP helped me feel happy at work again and make the right contribution.

7. Be sure you understand what you need from your professional life.

I loved working at BP, the company had significant challenges but was full of integrity in seeking to resolve them. So, when Jayne-Anne Gadhia, then CEO of Virgin Money, asked me to join her team it was a difficult decision. In the end, I decided it as too good an opportunity to be part of a company to make a difference in Financial Services, and to be able to cut my teeth as the standalone HRD. I’ve loved the accountability of being the leader of the function and a member of the Exec Team who over eight years successfully integrated Northern Rock, listed the company, became a national leader in D&I, and developed a culture I’m immensely proud of. We transformed the company in every sense. But to make the move, I had to recognise my desire to take personal accountability for a company versus be a cog in a big wheel.

8. Be clear on what you stand for.

To be a good leader, people need to know what you value and believe in. I used to keep that to myself a little too much, just because of my personality. If you aren’t clear on what you stand for and how you go about things, unsurprisingly people wonder how they can get behind you. I’ve learnt to say more about what I’m thinking/feeling, and why – and then back it up in action.

9. This is a special time in business – things are changing and business can help lead societal change.

Passion and inspiration is what is needed to make change happen and this will only come when leaders open their minds to what is happening in the wider, real world. CEO’s are now understanding a responsibility beyond delivering business results, and increasingly have an ambition for an impact on wider society. Richard Branson talks about ‘Business as a force for good”. I think it’s inspirational and the business focus around diversity and inclusion is a good example of this. In business, and in HR, we need to aspire to making a difference in the world. It’s hard work, but nothing worthwhile comes easy.

10. Be honest about your priorities in life.

Spending time with my two boys, Luke and Jake (aged six and eight) is always my happiest time, so I make sure I protect time with them. I love being with them – and I’m enjoying it while they are happy to spend their time with me! In the end, what really matters in my life is how happy they are. When Jake asked me recently what it is I do at work, I said “I help people to be the best they can be”. He was happy with that. And, therefore, so was I.

Matt Elliott, Chief People Officer of Bank of Ireland.

He is one of the UK’s leading champions on workplace diversity and is regularly recognised for this contribution in places such as the FT’s OUTstanding Lists 2018. You can read more about his thoughts on diversity here.

1. Good training can change your life.

I did a degree in law which wasn’t for me and ended up in business starting with a job in Matalan – and being in the right place at the right time meant I became general manager of a store at the age of 22. After winging it for a year I realised I needed to get some training and found an incredible programme at Tesco which was fantastic, giving a very good grounding in core disciplines. Again, I was lucky in being in this position at a really exciting time for the company. They were integrating William Low into their business, so I was sent to work in Scotland with the young dynamic team who were driving the change. It was around this time I realised this was what I wanted to be doing. Everything was to play for and they were up for trying new things and from that I got my first proper job.

2. If you knock your head against a brick wall you get a headache.

Knowing when the game is up for you is a great piece of self-awareness to cultivate. I have worked through many challenging experiences and have developed an internal ticker that allows me to understand where I am best placed to put my energy, sometimes you need to recognise that a boss or organisation is not ready or right for your brand of fabulous!

3. You’re better off not asking people’s opinion at all if you’re not going to take it seriously.

Being serious about change means that leadership has to take full ownership of it and if an engagement programme is activated then taking action on the results is the most critical thing. There’s nothing more demotivating for a workforce than asking them to get involved in a creative process and then closing it down or failing to act on feedback.

4. Politically motivated boardrooms get toxic pretty quickly.

People really show themselves when they are given a bit of power and if not handled properly companies can develop a toxic culture of game playing where it’s more important to be seen to do or say the right thing than to make the tough decisions that are the right thing for the people or the company.

5. When it came to people’s potential, my Dad was right about everything.

My Dad was a teacher and then a headmaster and he came from a school of education where he saw his role as finding the brilliance in everyone. He helped people who would normally have been lost in the system and believed in them when other people didn’t. I take that into any organisation I work with, I want to be catalyst for unlocking peoples magic. It’s really important to me that when I get home at night, I know that I’ve made a difference.

6. Creating an exceptional team is a bit of an art form.

One of the highlights of my career was when I moved to AXA as Head of HR. At the time (around 2000) there were major changes being made to financial services. In the new role, I could pick my own team for the first time, which allowed me to choose and blend the team with a combination of new talent and folks who had been there for a period of time. We really believed in the changes we were making and had a real feeling of our mission. We put in some long hours and my role was to set the team up for success. My top tips are to hire people who think and do things differently to you, the magic is in blending each individual’s different talents to do things together that individually wouldn’t have been possible.

7. It takes about five years for company-wide cultural change to be truly embedded in a large organisation.

When I moved on to RSA it was disappointing that, while so much of what we achieved at AXA had really embedded, some of the things just didn’t stick. I’ve since realised that for things to really take hold in a culture it takes about five years before its sustainably part of the business DNA and not dependent on any single individual to drive it.

8. Having children as a working woman means you have to be more honest about what you want and need.

There was a lot of travel in the RSA job. You’d go to Asia one week, Europe the next. Toward the end of that time I went on maternity leave and had my eldest. It was a strange process and I went back to work around five months after having him. A new job came up and there was an opportunity to take on an even bigger role. At first, I laughed as it felt like a miracle I could get washed and dressed in the morning and you’re asking me if I want a bigger job? But there was a moment there when I thought “just breathe”. I asked for some professional advice and we talked it through. Her advice which was so true was that the more senior you go the more control you have. I asked myself what would I need to make this job manageable and on what terms would I take it? I put these all down and decided to go for it, making sure that when I was in the interview process, they knew what they would be getting and the things I would need to change.

9. HR has the power to change the future of whole companies.

I had been based in the UK for my career and during my 20s my parents were always sending me jobs in Dublin, but I wasn’t interested. As I reached my late 30s, I started to look in London but also Dublin and when I got offered a job with Allied Irish Bank, I took it. There was a general lack of trust in banking in Ireland because of the recession and so my parents conversely said don’t do it! There were a lot of issues to deal with in banking in Ireland because of the recession and so my parents conversely said don’t do it! There were a lot of issues to deal with but, never a woman to give up, I got stuck in with the rest of the team and the results speak for themselves. We did the first survey on Gallup and were at the fifth percentile which is a horrendous place to be but within 2.5 years we were at the 47th percentile and the bank had returned to profitability and was modernising.

10. When life changes you change with it.

This time in my life was one of change. The CEO in the company moved on and then my Dad got sick very suddenly and passed away. I realised I’d been running at full pace for a very long time and I’d been missing out on things without really knowing it. I decided to stop and took a year-long break. I wanted to be a mum that did drop off, took their kids to the park, I took up dance again. As a working mum, I’d not really had a chance to properly cement friends back in Ireland and so I spent time doing that. I realised that gaps in a career are really a good thing. You have to take breathers.