Director of HR, UK & USA

• Mar 2018 - Present

As HR Director for the UK and USA for Charles Tyrwhitt my role is to ensure we create an inclusive work place where everyone can be, and wants to be, at their best.My responsibilities cover all areas of HR across all business units and all territories, with a particular focus on CSR, D&I, Talent Management, Recruitment, Reward & Benefits, Payroll and Administration.Key deliverables in role:- Complete restructure of the HR team, creating a separate and dedicated Payroll team and establishing Business Partnering- Introduction of Best Companies Engagement Survey, achieving 2 star status representing "Outstanding" levels of employee engagement- Established a clear and succinct business wide CSR strategy, working with PlanetMark to measure and reduce carbon emissions as well as Inclusive Employers to develop our D&I agenda (including the establishment of a vibrant internal D&I group)- Professionalisation of the HR function, including the implementation of a new HRIS- Introduction of an end to end Talent Management process to identify key risks and succession plans- Overhaul and update of all policies and procedures to make them inclusive and to promote wellbeing and psychological safety- Creation of specific management development plans to upskill line managers- Full benefits review including enhancements to key areas such as holiday and healthcare in the US Show less

Senior HR Business Partner

• Feb 2017 - Mar 2018

HR Business Partner - IT

• Nov 2015 - Feb 2017

HR Business Partner to two Directors of IT in the John Lewis Partnership, my role involved helping them deliver all aspects of their people plan through their senior leadership teams. For the final 6 months of this role I worked as Business Partner to the CIO on a large scale restructure and consolidation covering 1100 IT employees across 3 John Lewis divisions. Critical elements of my role included: - Supporting Talent Identification and Management, - Development of employee engagement and wellbeing plans, - Organisational design and development to facilitate restructures and reorganisations (OD/OE support right through to practical implementation including impact assessments, TUPE, etc), - Supporting Performance Management conversations and complex ER cases, - Facilitating and developing approaches to total reward, - Strategic resource planning. Show less

HR Business Partner - Retail

• Mar 2014 - Nov 2015

HR Business Partner at the John Lewis Flagship store - my role was to support and challenge the senior leaders in the branch to deliver the commercial objectives and people ambitions in a way that aligned with the Partnerships ethos.Responsibilities:- Talent management identification and development,- Developing an effective and progressive employee engagement strategy to support cultural change,- Ensuring timely and efficient resourcing and onboarding through engagement with Centres of Expertise and local line managers,- Creation of short and long term L&D plans focused on business priorities,- Reward application and pay review analysis to identify and rectify areas of low pay,- Oversight of resourcing plans and monitoring of trade pattern matching which led to us changing the contractual working hours of circa 300 Partners,- Change management and organisational design/restructuring. Show less

Directorate Business Partner - Buying

• Sep 2013 - Feb 2014

Directorate Business Partner for the Buying and Brand area, my role was to partner the Buying and Brand Director who was a member of the John Lewis Management Board. Supported by two HR Business Partners, my key responsibilities during this maternity cover were:- Delivery of the Senior Manager Pay Review in budget and on time,- Performance Calibration across the function with particular focus on senior Partners,- Delivering and advising on the people elements of strategics Organisational Changes,- Ensuring Talent Reviews and Succession Planning was in place for critical roles,- Creating of a new Graduate Buyer programme. Show less

Personnel Manager - Retail

• Aug 2011 - Sep 2013

Personnel Manager for John Lewis Oxford Street, the Flagship store of the John Lewis division.Responsibilities:Responsible for creating and delivering an effective and engaging Personnel strategy for over 2000 Partners, a key focus at the time was to deliver a cultural shift in the branch and to lead the HR team on the site.Cultural Change:Engaged with groups of Partners to understand the culture of the branch, working collaboratively with the business leads to create a strategy to tackle areas of concern and improve employee engagement and commercial delivery.HR Leader:Leading a team of 40 Personnel professionals across Learning and Development, Recruitment, Policy and Occupational Health, my role as the accountable manager was to ensure successful delivery all of the key HR interventions across the employee lifecycle (Pay Review, Appraisals, D&G) as well as the continued development of the Partners in my area. Show less

Personnel Manager - Contact Centres

• Feb 2010 - Jul 2011

Personnel Manager for the new John Lewis Contact Centres which opened in Hamilton and Didsbury.Responsibilities:Responsible for ensuring the successful opening of two new Contact Centres, with particular responsibility for all recruitment and training activity.Recruitment:Recruited over 700 new Partners to the business through my resourcing team. Led the development of a new recruitment process to identify candidates suited to working in a Contact Centre environment. Working with my L&D team, we then created and delivered an intensive 4 week training program for new starters.Learning and Development:Establishing ourselves as a centre of excellence for customer service, Learning and Development was an area of focus. This culminated in winning a prestigious Contact Centre award for People Development, recognising the efforts we had put in to establishing a learning and development culture across the two sites. Show less