Picture perfect: Odeon & UCI on winning HR Team of the Year

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Odeon & UCI Cinemas were victorious in the HR Team of the Year category at last year's Personnel Today Awards. There have been some major business developments since winning the award, and HR has been at the forefront of leading these changes. It has been a dramatic few months for Odeon & UCI Cinemas. In November 2016, US chain AMC Entertainment finalised its acquisition of the company, and just weeks later announced it was going to acquire Nordic Cinema, the largest cinema chain in the northern region of Europe, extending its reach to another seven countries. Kathryn Pritchard, group chief people officer, has been tasked with overseeing this complex, three-way integration. “To be given this responsibility is a real privilege,” she says, “our CEO [Adam Aron] believes integration is the number one priority for the business.” At the same time, Pritchard’s team, which won the HR Team of the Year category at last year’s Personnel Today Awards, has been consolidating the impact of its existing HR initiatives and introducing a few more for good measure. The judges praised the company for the way in which its work to engage and develop colleagues had a measurable impact on the business. Revenue grew by 20% in 2015, and the company extended its market share in Europe. More recently, it has made it into the top decile in McKinsey’s Organisational Health Index, up from the top quartile in 2016, and has demonstrated double the rate of improvement of most companies involved in the benchmark. “To do that in a sale year felt really good,” says Pritchard.

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