Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

The HR profession

Science drives success

by Personnel Today 1 Feb 2005
by Personnel Today 1 Feb 2005

What does your role involve?

From a functional perspective, it involves the provision of a full HR service to the UK business. This covers recruitment, training, employee relations, talent management and organisational capability and design. I am also responsible for the overall strategy of the UK business as a member of the executive team.

What is your current major training project or strategic push?

Recently, we gained formal accreditation from Nottingham Business School for our front-line training scheme. It takes individuals from a front-line entry role to a manager in four years with university qualifications. In 2004, we introduced a tool that helps us to understand and grow the capability we have within our business. We can plan successions more scientifically to maximise internal talent and precisely identify what our longer-term external recruitment strategies should be. Work on organisational design has allowed us to understand the scale and complexity of all roles in our business. In 2005, we will be working on a more effective structure to carefully match role size with individual capability.

What impact would you like to have on your organisation?

I would like to be recognised as an individual who has provided the framework, tools and culture to enable everyone to maximise their potential capability.

What did you want to do for a living when you were at school?

I didn’t give it much thought. Instead, I focused on studying what I was good at, which was science and maths. I fell into HR through the ‘milk-round’ interviews and the influence of one trainee who enthused about the HR profession.

Which of your qualifications do you most value, and why?

My physics degree, as it results in a rigorous and disciplined approach to HR that can be relied on to be data-driven.

How do you demonstrate return on investment from training interventions?

Avis’ front-line training proposition allows us to measure the number of ‘promotables’ we have for the positions of supervisor and manager. Since the introduction of a decentralised HR function and a structured training proposition, we have seen turnover drop from 28 per cent to 16 per cent. We have calculated this amounts to a saving of about £3m over the past five years.

What do you think are the greatest challenges facing the training profession?

Credibility, strategic contribution and the ability to robustly prove added value.

What do you think will be the core skills for your job in the future?

Talent management and the provision of propositions that can identify, attract and retain quality individuals and ensure maximum contribution from each individual at all times.

How do you get the best from people?

Through leading by example and trying to instil in people my enthusiasm for the Avis proposition and the benefits of a quality ‘can-do’ HR contribution.

What is the essential tool in your job?

A sense of humour and having the tenacity and enthusiasm to always find ways to get things done.

Avatar
Personnel Today

previous post
Rising house prices make compulsory pension saving impractical
next post
CIPD hopes new document will raise its profile

You may also like

‘It’s International HR Day – wait, you didn’t...

20 May 2022

Squishy, flabby, foggy HR? Andrew Bartlow talks to...

20 May 2022

Movers and shakers May 2022: John Lewis and...

20 May 2022

Movers and shakers April 2022: Santander UK appoints...

22 Apr 2022

Time to kill off the HR business partner?...

8 Apr 2022

HR careers survey: three in four confident about...

30 Mar 2022

Movers and shakers March 2022: Appointments at Domino’s,...

14 Mar 2022

Movers and shakers February 2022: HR appointments at...

21 Feb 2022

HR chiefs report acute candidate shortage

10 Feb 2022

HR and recruitment roles shine in ‘best jobs’...

2 Feb 2022
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+