What is your new role?
My job title is programme manager, Everyone is Welcome at Tesco. I head up the work on diversity at Tesco.
Where were you working before, and what were your duties?
I was group personnel manager at Tesco, working with 12 stores in south London. My main duties involved resourcing and developing talent, leadership development, managing change and employee relations.
What qualifications do you hold?
I’m CIPD qualified.
What are the duties in your new role?
My main aims are to mirror the community we serve in building a diverse workforce and to raise understanding of our similarities and differences so that all our staff are treated with trust and respect. I have a project manager and a team made up of representatives from across the company. They support and help achieve my aims and objectives. I report to the HR director.
What do you hope to achieve in your new role?
I want the aims of Everyone is Welcome at Tesco to become a way of life.
What are the challenges HR faces in the next five years?
In terms of diversity, the changing make-up of the working population, and attracting and retaining talent.
What advice would you give to people starting out in HR?
Understand your business first. Work with the people on the shop floor.
What is the essential tool in your job?
My BlackBerry.
And the most overrated?
E-mail. It shouldn’t act as a substitute for talking to people.
What is the worst thing about HR?
People thinking that HR doesn’t add value to the bottom line.
Who are your ultimate gurus?
TV stylists Trinny and Susannah.
What is your essential TV viewing?
Repeats of Frasier.
Who would you most dislike to work with?
Someone who thinks they know it all and doesn’t listen.
How do you fill your spare time?
With my seven-year-old daughter Hannah, and running with my iPod.
What was the last book you read?
On Beauty, by Zadie Smith.
What would be your dream job?
HR manager for the 2012 Olympics.
Who would play you in the film of your life and why?
Julia Roberts: she is tall, brunette and smiles a lot.
Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?
Colin Firth.
What song gets you on the dance floor?
Karma Chameleon by Culture Club. I’m an eighties girl.
CV
Present Programme manager, Everyone is Welcome at Tesco
Jan 1999 – May 2006 Group personnel manager, Tesco
September 1991-December 1998 Store personnel manager, Tesco
Jan 1988 – December 1990 Assistant recruitment manager, Harrods
