“Be sure to find a mentor. Their insight is invaluable and they can act as great coaches to help you progress.” – Gemma Shambler, Head of People at The Happiness Index, speaks to us about developing a career in HR Leadership.
As part of our commitment to supporting candidates to develop fulfilling careers, we’ve invited some HR Leaders to share the secrets of their success.
This week, we had a great conversation with Gemma Shambler at The Happiness Index, who began her HR career by taking on the role of Office Manager at 4Ps Marketing before ascending the ranks to become an HR Manager in April 2015. In January 2019, Gemma took on her current role as Head of People at The Happiness Index.
Can you tell us how you got into HR and why?
I got into HR whilst working at 4Ps Marketing. Initially, I joined them in more of a Facilities role working as an Office Manager. It was a fast-growing company so even at that stage there was always an element of HR to my role. It started small and grew with the company. I loved it! I’d not worked in a company that was so people-focused and invested so much in growing their people before. That philosophy really resonated with me, so I moved away from the office side of things and focussed on HR.
I enlisted the help of some experienced—but not formally trained—mentors within the business to learn the HR skills I needed. I completed some courses to facilitate that as well but I never undertook the CIPD qualification or went to university. I definitely didn’t take a conventional route to where I am now. You could say my grounding in HR was a mixture of self-taught skills, mentorship and some more formal training.
What made HR stick for me was undoubtedly the people element. The knowledge I was gaining played a role but mostly I loved being able to help people grow and progress. I wanted to help people get the best out of their careers.
After five and a half years at 4Ps, I moved to take on the Head of People role at The Happiness Index – where they are even more people-centric and offer everyone the freedom and trust to work in a way that suits them best. There’s no prescriptive, process-driven side to what I do at all, which I love! That side of HR doesn’t appeal to me in any way. Being Head of People means that I can be fully in control of our people strategy and the direction that we take.
At The Happiness Index, we’re very passionate about our vision of giving employees the freedom to be human. We’re constantly trying to achieve that by ensuring our values are underpinned in all our working practices. We really want to be the beacon for what the happiest place to work for looks like, and my role plays a huge part in that.
Can you tell me about the key themes and challenges that you’re seeing across the HR sector?
Given the current COVID-19 situation, businesses are principally focused on ensuring their survival. Many have had to go into survival mode in light of the pandemic. At The Happiness Index, we’re getting used to working remotely. In a business sense, we’re starting to come out of survival mode and into thrive mode again. In a People sense, we want to make sure that we can provide clarity and complete transparency on what to expect over the coming months and years. Our main priority is ensuring our people are secure in their roles and they know what they’re doing. We have had to pivot some roles already, but the team has taken to that really well.
Our next focus is internally kicking off our plan to make The Happiness Index the happiest place to work! That will include many different focuses and projects. The idea of having the freedom to be human is all about making sure that people have a voice, they can be true to their values and they are listened to. We are really big on the belonging piece and making sure that everyone feels like they have a place with us.
With the recent developments in the Black Lives Matter movement, we also want to ensure we’re doing everything we can to promote and demonstrate equal opportunities diversity and inclusion. Obviously, they are always on the agenda but COVID has reset a lot of things in our minds, and we’ve been able to focus on what our priorities should be.
We’re also currently engaging a lot with neuroscience. It can be really useful in terms of understanding how feelings can affect performance in a work environment. We’ve found that the insight can be hugely beneficial when you’re trying to work out how to approach tasks, set up teams and communicate with them. Not only in times of uncertainty but also more generally.
In terms of HR more broadly, I think engagement needs to be a bigger key theme across the sector. People are working in ways they’ve never worked before. Now, more than ever, it’s vital that companies are listening to their employees, giving them a voice and acting on their feedback. An open dialogue with employees is 100% key industry-wide. When you take that approach, it will create a better working environment, make everyone feel valued and inform business tactics.
What career advice would you offer to someone either working towards a career like yours, or someone just getting started in their HR career?
Find a mentor. We all need support and it’s so important to have someone to bounce ideas off and discuss what’s going on in your working life and how they might approach things. Their insight is invaluable and they can act as great coaches.
Gemma has been working as Head of People since January 2019 and provides support and leadership for all aspects of The Happiness Index’s strategic and operational HR function.
As part of their mission to create thriving cultures, The Happiness Index is offering a series of free pre-built surveys to help businesses listen, learn and innovate during times of change. This includes surveys on remote working, returning to work and wellbeing. As well as Employee Voice 24/7—a live survey that enables your people to provide feedback any time they want. This empowers leaders to effectively manage change, create meaningful actions and future-proof their businesses.
Employee Voice 24/7 is currently available in both a free six-month trial version and as a premium offering which boasts additional features such as support for multiple languages and enhanced reporting.
More information on Employee Voice 24/7 can be found at thehappinessindex.com/employee-voice-247/
If you are interested in having a confidential conversation about your career or would like support growing your team, please get in touch with Human today.