HR experts pass on advice to Chamber members
HR experts from four key employers across the Lichfield and Tamworth area shared key lessons from their decades of experience during a speaker breakfast event hosted at Lichfield Garrick Theatre.
Chaired by Lichfield and Tamworth Chamber of Commerce president, Fiona Rouse, the discussion on HR and recruitment included expert opinion from Sarah Findlay-Cobb, chief executive of the Landau Forte Academy Trust, Jennifer Mosely-Bradley, HR director at Palletways, Ian Pettifer, partner at Keelys Solicitors and Kate Wass, business and operations director at Premium Sales Consultancy.
The importance of working with your employees to look after their mental health, successful examples of growing a positive workplace culture and the importance in HR of receiving impartial advice from outside sources were three of the main areas discussed.
Fiona Rouse said: “As a business owner myself who understands the importance of creating an open, inclusive and supportive culture within my business it was refreshing to hear that businesses of all sizes across both districts share similar values.
“In the Q+A afterwards there was a range of frank and interesting questions asked by delegates which added to the benefit of the event. ”
Sarah Findlay-Cobb, spoke of her experience in the education sector of making the right decision when hiring staff, linked to alignment with workplace culture.
However, she also stressed that it is important to not make an appointment for the sake of it, instead having the confidence in your processes to wait for the best candidate.
“Time pressures can force recruiting managers, especially in our sector, to make an appointment based on the wrong criteria and from experience it is better to wait for the right candidate than make a rushed decision and be back where you started 3-6 months after going through your process, ” she said.
Jennifer Mosely-Bradley, speaking of her experience of setting up a wellbeing support structure at Palletways since November 2019, also referenced the importance of supporting the mental health of employees.
She said: “Since November 2019 Palletways began engaging with our employees from director level to shop floor to ensure they were trained and given the tools to support each other in their mental health journeys. ”
Kate Wass spoke of Premium Sales Consultancy 's close-knit team who work flexible hours in an at times stressful sales environment.
She added the return of employees to the office has made workplace culture even more important.
Kate said: “Our staff were keen to return to the office very soon after restrictions were lifted because of the importance of having a strong team and working together to support each other.
“As our business is based on our clients paying us by the hour to canvass and sell their products work has to be completed by clear deadlines so showing that support and engagement with our team has never been more vital to the success of the business. ”
Ian Pettifer summed up many of the discussion points, stating: “HR and wider employee engagement isn 't easy to get right as a business owner but asking the right questions of your processes, engaging with your employees, using external expertise and embedding that support at board level and throughout the business is a great place to start.
“The legal requirement of HR in a business compared to the ethical and good practice levels are very different.
“That is why it is vital to treat your employees with respect and humility, work with them where possible, take good advice about how to improve your culture while also ensuring that, equally as importantly, your business functions as successfully as possible with robust policies in place. ”