Tuesday 27 March 2012

A day in the life of a HR Director - by Sally Phillips, Ward Williams HR


Over coffee at home this morning I’m pondering over what is already on our agenda for this year and deadlines to adhere to. Today I will be working on Recruitment - preparing to deliver a Management Training Course and preparation for rolling out annual reviews; all for a variety of clients.

I was also going back over past employment where I used to wake up every morning thinking to myself – another day another dollar! They were the days when I just went to work and hadn’t really thought about what I really wanted to do. Well that’s all history now. I smile to myself when I get out of bed and get ready to go to the office. Don’t get me wrong I don’t like the cold dark mornings  - but  I don’t class my role as work or a job, it’s what I do and I love every minute of it. No day is the same and each day brings different challenges. 

Many people view positions in Human Resources as just administrative, but to be successful  you will have to have a good knowledge of your client’s business and be able to recruit the best possible candidates for the roles in line with business priorities. You will also be excellent at identifying training requirements for staff, ensure that diversity objectives are met and support line managers and heads of department.  It’s so important to work closely with our clients and form an open and honest commercially based relationship. This enables us to recommend what’s right for their business and deliver the right solution.

So my day starts with addressing all of the above. We pride ourselves on the ‘excellent’ quality services we provide. This is reflected in our client retention numbers and the positive feedback we receive from our clients.

Our HR department consists of Kate, Collette and I; together we ensure that our clients have the right people to achieve its business objectives and to keep it running successfully whilst ensuring compliance.

My next challenge is to prepare for our client’s management training course. They have recently restructured the group and have given heads of departments key responsibilities in the running of their departments. This has enabled their HR department to delegate a lot of their workload back to the managers. They will now be more hands on with the managing of their departments and we need to ensure that we deliver the correct training to further develop their people skills.

 I list out the topics that I will be covering and start preparing the workshop. Workshops work well as they encourage everyone to move out of their comfort zone. For some people moving into a management role can be uncomfortable so I focus on subjects such as ‘developing yourself and others’, ‘communicating effectively’ and ‘how to continue to motivate yourself and your team’. This year the department heads will also be responsible for conducting their teams annual reviews, so again training in this area will be carried out prior to the reviews being rolled out.

Our priority is to fully support the employer with up-to-date templates covering all aspects of HR, along with indemnified advice and telephone support. We also want to ensure their staff remain motivated in their roles, and by getting their internal HR right relays a positive and professional message to the people within their organisation. Having WWHR on board is a solid investment into the success of their organisation and the development of their staff. So the saying ‘another day another dollar’ is quite apt with investing time and training staff.

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