Kate Ashmore Email & Phone Number

Exeter

Coaching - Individuals, Teams & GroupsCollaborating - with SMEs on how to evolve, design and develop their Organisation to enable their people to do their best workFacilitating - Team Days, Strategy Sessions & Culture Change Programmes

Bristol, United Kingdom

Main Responsibilities & Key Achievements:• Company purpose established: Making Things Better• Co-creation of the Manifesto & Values • Facilitator and contributor to the business vision, pillars, strategy & activity plan• Working & coaching the leadership team to provide consistency and direction to the business• Creation and development of the HR strategy and people agenda• Evolving business practices and policies to genuinely reflect the culture & business purpose, therefore embedding the culture, including:o Introduction of an Applicant Tracking System and Career Page to improve the candidate experience and assist the Managers with the recruitment processo New recruitment practices & process to ensure we recruit on shared valueso New induction to inspire and immerse all new team members into all things BTPo Creation of the Training: The Boston Way. Guided on the job training programme for all roles up to salaried Management o PDP builder and creation & development of Management Development Programmeo High Potential Leadership Programmeo New pay framework; plus bi-annual pay review processo Development and evolvement of the bonus processo Introduction & establishment of a talent review and succession planning process; with the later introduction of the 9-box grid (Bostonised version)o Leading the annual café visits where the Directors visit the cafes and and ask the teams directly to tell us how we can make things bettero Introduction of the quarterly café shifts, where HQ do a café shift & we then come back and make things better for the café.Resulting in: (hard stats)o Employee turnover reduced from 119% to 82.4%o Number of leavers in the first 6 months reduced from 56% to 46%o Employee retention increased from 36% to 41% o 70% internal promotion rateo 83% of employees would recommend a friend to come & work at BTPo 0% Median Gender Pay Gap; reduced from 1.8% in 2017

Dunstable

My role was split into three core sections; resourcing, reward and organisational development (OD); owing to my role being a maternity cover. My first key focus was to embed my very new team, as well as picking up and delivering two ongoing projects (Team Member recruitment & a new pay model). With my OD hat on, I worked with Operations to review and evolve current ways of working around the entire resourcing agenda, from employer brand to internal pipeline to the introduction of an ATS as well as a total reward review - which included introducing the National Living Wage, evolving the pay model to drive increased engagement and productivity, as well as a benefits review & development of a recognition strategy. In addition to this, I lead and supported a number of change initiatives that range from a review of the wider HR Team and our ways of working, restaurant structures and driving a significant change in operational capability.

ASK Italian is part of Gondola Restaurants LtdSince 2011, the business has undergone significant changes; a total transformation. Every element of the proposition has been refreshed, from the people, to the menu, the service, restaurant design and operational execution ​– ​ASK Italian is now unrecognisable from the high street chain it was. As the Head of HR during this continued period of change, my team and I looked for innovative ways to educate, engage, and embed what we do and how we do it in order to ensure that the right behaviours got the right results;Main Responsibilities• In collaboration with the L&D and Ops Teams, we drove the talent management agenda to ensure that upwards of 70% of our fills were internal promotions; whilst ensuring that the best external talent was recruited via our in­house resourcing function.• Accountable for all aspects of Performance Improvement and Employee Relations matters, including strategy, budgets, Employment Tribunals, restaurant closures/TUPE transfers and redundancies;• Driving improved HR standards, best practice and imbedded the ASK Factor in all people practices throughout the organisation;• Design and delivery of a reward strategy to reinforce our culture; aligned with the ASK Italian Journey training programme, rewarding those that drive their own development• Successfully identified the opportunity to maximise the implementation of Government Legislation to update hourly paid employees terms and conditions and introduce improved ways of working to drive improved service standards, employee retention and attraction of new staff.

HR Generalist focusing primarily on supporting the Sales Director and the Chief Marketing Officer’s and their teams as well as working within the wider HR Team to drive a step-change in the delivery of HR support. Key operational activities consisted of supporting and coaching all Line Managers in areas such as identifying development solutions, performance management issues, recruitment activities and reward and recognition practices. Key Achievements• Influenced the sales team to review their selling style• Design and delivery of a programme of 90-minute training workouts • Roll out of Job Levelling programme

•As part of a two-man team, my role was pre-dominantly an operational HR generalist. I supported all UK-based employees (110 employees), which included both the UK Market and the European Headquarters. •Project Afterburner: this project saw the full integration of the Energizer and Wilkinson Sword offices and teams. • Working in conjunction with the HR and Management Team we introduced a Talent Management Programme, which included the development of a top talent template, an in-depth & qualitative perception survey and external talent comparisons and searches.• In conjunction with the Talent Management programme, I conducted a TNA. From that I developed a Learning Strategy, of which the goal was to develop and implement of a Learning and Development Programme, which gave employees a structure and path to follow in their pursuit for development, whilst allowing them the flexibility of a number of different learning methods. I initiated a series of Personal Development Workshops to excite and encourage employees to be self-motivated about their learning.• The Common Back Office project was driven by the single legal entity of Energizer and Wilkinson Sword. This drove a requirement and opportunity to align all Wilkinson Sword and Energizer terms and conditions. I had responsibility and accountability for writing new common policies and a new Company Handbook.• I worked closely with the Management Team, sitting in on Management meetings and encouraging them to take more responsibility for their teams. Other parts of my role included recruitment, being the first point of call for all calls for advice, KPI and headcount reporting and payroll and administration. In addition, by reviewing our process and successfully simplify them I reduced HR administration by 25%, allowing more focus on value-add activities.

The Entertainment Network was originally a wholly owned joint venture Company established by two major record companies, Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd and Warner Music UK Ltd, in April 1999. Human Resources & Development Advisor – Interim Role Role & Responsibilities• Co-ordinate the full range of Learning & Development activities, including developing & implementing a Learning Strategy; introduction of Departmental Training Matrices; assistance in the development of a tailored temporary training scheme for Peak Season 2004; Training Needs Analysis and the coordination of all courses. • I was the main point of contact for all Employment Law issues, in particular, dealing with Discipline & Grievance issues, as well as coaching the HR Assistant and Line Managers through the process and beyond. As well as all aspects of Performance and Team Management.• Absence Management: including revision of the Absence Management Policy and Procedures, guidance & techniques for managing long and short-term absence, coordination of Occupational Health Doctor. Resulted in 1% reduction of absence, a saving of £60,000.00 per annum. • Compensation & Benefits Management – including Permanent Health Insurance, Private Medical Insurance, Pensions, Life Assurance and Death in Service scheme.

Human Resources Advisor – McVitie’s Factory October 2002 – August 2003Roles & Responsibilities• Responsible for Development for entire McVitie’s Management staff (around 110 people). Design of Training Needs Analysis for site & redesign of training records and a skills matrix to ensure proper recording. One to ones, offering career advice and counselling for selected Managers. Advised and co-managed redundancy and restructuring projects. Recruitment up to Middle Management level. Working with Line Managers, advising on media, assessment tools and interviewing. Human Resources Co-ordinator – Group Technical September 2000 – October 2002Role & Responsibilities• Part time, professional HR Management resource, centrally co-ordinating the Change Management activities around Project Catwalk. Providing support to the Operations HR Controller and Site Implementation Teams in the design and implementation of innovative new ways of working for the HR Function. Full time and first point of contact for all queries for the Group Technical function for all employees spanning over 4 UK sites and Northern Europe. Advising on employment law issues, best practice, staff welfare and all other ad hoc queries to Line Managers. Responsibility for the annual salary review; team job evaluation and bench-marking, appraisal training, supervision of Personal Performance Database, running of assessment centres and other recruitment, assist in ad hoc training. Responsible for the recruitment and development of Placement students during their time during with the business.

Cipd

Education record