Leading a multi-disciplined team covering business partnering, resourcing, development and diversity & inclusion, I was responsible for defining, building and maintaining a culture that delivers brilliant homes and services for our customers.

Acis Group is a dynamic and forward-thinking registered provider of affordable housing and student accommodation. We create opportunities for people to have better lives through the provision of better homes and better services.Reporting into the Chief Executive and being a member of the Senior Leadership Team, my role is to provide strategic HR leadership to the business. Leading a diverse team, I have specific responsibility for designing and implementing a cultural change programme enabling the organisation to become more commercial. This involves responsibility for HR, L&D, OD, payroll, and health & safety.

Founded in 1989, Insight is a leading HR and management consultancy in both the public and private sectors with wide experience of providing human resource and organisation development solutions across the UK. We provide these services through a combination of cutting edge ideas, and practical solutions and procedures, which are presented in a clear and unambiguous manner.With Insight I deliver a broad range of HR interventions, which include: managing structural and cultural change programmes; employee engagement projects including survey development, implementation and analysis; carrying out ‘fit for purpose’ reviews of HR departments focusing on service and efficiency improvements; strategic reviews of reward and recognition activities as well as carrying out pay benchmarking exercises; designing and delivering learning events on topics such as leadership, change management, customer excellence, and equality & diversity; executive recruitment; holding an Interim post as Assistant Director Human Resources for a longer-term client, where he was tasked with managing a number of TUPE transfers whilst also transforming the HR department.Being able to deliver all of this successfully has relied on my varied and multi-sector experience; ability to work with organisational leaders to make sense of complex situations and develop and deliver bespoke solutions; commercial awareness; in addition to sound project management skills. As well as a broad and extensive knowledge of HR theory and practice, I also have the knowledge and ability to apply psychological theories and principles to work. This enables me to consider approaches based on empirical evidence and work with clients to tailor interventions to particular organisational issues and cultures.

Reporting into the Chief Executive, my remit was: to support the organisation through a period of significant change in terms of culture and growth through acquisition; provide direction and support to the HR team; develop a 3-year HR strategy aligned to the Corporate Plan; and conduct a fit for purpose review of the HR function and deliver improvements in departmental efficiencies, customer service and team working. The outcome of my review resulted in a greater focus on Organisational Development activities; more effective and efficient due diligence and TUPE processes; and a restructured and reenergised HR function closely aligned to the business.

Working for an $11B multi-national matrix organisation, my role was to lead the HR function across three manufacturing sites in the UK and an external Sales team in Norway; I was also the HR Lead for integrating a recently acquired business. Key achievements include:• Successfully implementing HR processes into a new acquisition, whilst also managing a number of restructuring programmes that resulted in a workforce reduction of approximately 25%; • Leading a team of HR professionals to develop and deliver a comprehensive HR business plan that resulted in improved communication, performance management, employee and leadership development, and selection and assessment processes. My approach led to goal alignment, clarity and ownership of individual goals, improved team-working, delegation and empowerment across the HR team;• Challenged the status quo within the Leadership Team that resulted in a robust and engaging strategic business plan; higher levels of employee engagement; and improved communication processes.

My main areas of focus were: developing people management skills within the management and supervisory populations; developing and implementing training and development systems and processes across the site; supporting the business in improving quality and efficiencies; and improving employee involvement and engagement. Other projects included: • Leading a working party to develop and implement a performance appraisal process, including a competency framework, and carrying out training to all managers, supervisors and Works Council members.• Developing and implementing an attendance management policy, involving the Works Council, training all managers, supervisors and Works Council members. I also instigated a series of health promotion events and campaigns to supplement the policy, with third party support;• Developed and implemented an employee survey, in order to bring about positive changes to the culture of the organisation;• Managed a restructuring exercise, which resulted in improved organisational competencies in key areas such as Supply Chain Management

My first project was to manage a downsizing exercise within a team of automotive engineers. The pack I produced and subsequent HR plan that I developed in order to deal with the side effects of redundancies was later used as a standard approach. Shortly after this period the Business managed to secure IIP recognition. I later developed an HR plan for the multi-site UK purchasing function, which required an understanding of the department’s needs. These included a responsive recruitment campaign; processes to deal with high levels of absence and low levels of performance and the development of a management team ethos, which would enable the department to deliver its challenging and high profile cost-saving objectives. Later projects included developing generic competencies and job descriptions across the UK, with a view to up-skilling the department.

Working within a heavily unionised, multi-site manufacturing environment, my role was to provide support to the UK HR Manager and operational management teams. A key project included developing an HR business plan for a business unit, which had previously had little involvement with the HR department. This resulted in closer links and also the adoption of standard procedures, including absence management. I also developed a set of job descriptions that were accepted and utilised by a sceptical R&D management team in the recruitment and appraisal process. In addition to this my duties included managing the appraisal process and delivering the training plan; supporting head office recruitment; providing day to day support and advice to managers based at the manufacturing plants and head office; developing and implementing health and safety systems and audit procedures; and designing and delivering specific training, covering discipline and grievance and performance management.

Joining the company as the sole HR Adviser within a newly created department, my primary role was one of building relationships with the key head office and warehouse-based management teams. The company had just doubled in size through acquisition, and I was heavily involved in harmonising terms and conditions, developing policies and procedures, and managing rationalisation projects that included warehouse closures. In order to respond to the increased support required by local managers, I was responsible for recruiting an additional 10 HR and training professionals. In addition to this I was also responsible for providing advice and support on all HR issues, such as recruitment, attendance management, employee performance, family friendly policies and redundancy handling. I also provided support to the training department by delivering software training for the bespoke order-processing system to new Sales Order Processors.

This role provided a solid foundation in operational human resources, whilst I was studying towards the first level CIPD qualification. Working within a fast-moving multi-site organisation, my responsibilities included high volume recruitment, and providing advice and support on day to day issues. I further developed a high level of computer literacy, using spreadsheets to collate manpower statistics and maintaining records on a custom-built personnel database. My greatest achievement in this role was altering the management team’s perception of the department by providing a customer-focused and effective service to managers across 4 sites.