“When I look back at my career, the jobs where I excelled and looked forward to going into work every day were all with companies that genuinely cared about their employees, and that was reflected in the environments they fostered.” – Sonia Card, HR Director – UK & Ireland at VPK Packaging Limited, 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 Sonia Card at VPK Packaging, who began her career in administration before transitioning into HR.
Sonia has held a number of senior Head of HR roles at Carillion, Cofely, Kuehne + Nagel, and in 2013, Sonia became Head of HR – UK Packaging at DS Smith, later transitioning to the role of Head of Talent & Development for the same business unit. Prior to joining her present company, Sonia worked as a HR Consultant across a variety of industries. She took up her current position as HR Director – UK & Ireland at VPK Packaging Limited in March 2019.
Can you tell us how you got into HR and why?
Like many others, I “fell” into a career in HR. I started out life as an executive PA working for a VP in the pharmaceutical business. The company was growing, both organically and through acquisitions, and our primary customer was the NHS. It was a mainly administrative role initially, but gradually I took on more and more additional duties, such as conversing with lawyers and issuing employment contracts before setting up the HR function.
After a while, the company experienced a shortage of nursing staff and the Training Manager and I went to recruit in the Philippines. Looking back I don’t think I appreciated at the time what a fabulous experience it was! It was a real success, we had high retention rates with the hires and I returned several times.
I went on to get my basic certificate in Personnel Practice and my Postgraduate Diploma while progressing my career in HR. It was during my postgraduate studies that I realised the breadth of scope within the function. I learnt a lot from the other professionals on the course, many with years of experience, and that’s when I truly decided yes, HR is what I want to do.
Since then I’ve continued to push myself to learn. I’ve become a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, obtained a Paralegal qualification and I’m also an Executive Coach and trained Mediator. When I care about something I’m very passionate about it!
The values of the company I work for are particularly important to me, along with the opportunities for development and the professional autonomy to get things done. When I look back at my career, the jobs where I excelled and looked forward to going into work every day were all with companies that genuinely cared about their employees, and that was reflected in the environments they fostered.
I can honestly say VPK is a great business. It is third generation family owned, with 6,500 colleagues in over 70 plants across 20 countries. The country MDs have autonomy and agility around decision making and there’s a big focus on employee welfare.
I also have the privilege of overseeing and working with one of the best HR teams I have ever worked with covering the UK & Ireland – 7 sites with over 1,000 colleagues. The team share the vision, the passion and the drive to absolutely support the business to be the best it can be, and we absolutely support each other too.
Can you tell me about the key themes and challenges that you’re seeing across the HR sector?
COVID-19 really accelerated the growth in online retail, which created a fantastic opportunity for us as a company working in packaging. Every day we counted our blessings especially when we saw how other industries such as the high street and travel were suffering. However, the flip side is there’s been a massive disruption in the availability of workers.
The combination of Brexit and COVID created a perfect storm. Many people returned back home to Europe and we lost a core group of people. That’s continued because work opportunities and pay have improved in EU countries, so now people don’t want to return to the UK.
In response, we’ve had to review our reward and recognition packages to make them a more attractive proposition. We’ve increased wages, we’ve looked at retention bonuses and apprenticeship programmes, invested in social media campaigns and open days at our sites. We also continue to engage widely with the communities local to our sites.
We didn’t want to have people working during COVID that wouldn’t get paid if they had to be off work so we accelerated implementing contractual sick pay schemes at some of our sites where it wasn’t in place before. There was a strong CSR element to that, we wanted to do the right thing – that’s who we are.
Even with all of that concerted effort, and the substantially increased wage bill that came with it, recruiting and retaining sufficient levels of staff remains a challenge. There’s also a growing recognition that substantial wage increases aren’t sustainable in the long term because at some point, we’ll have to pass those increases onto our customers.
What career advice would you offer to someone either working towards a career like yours, or someone just getting started in their HR career?
At any stage in your career, network and seek out mentors, people that you can talk to and bounce ideas off. Once you’re in a role, understanding the business and its key drivers is incredibly important. Get a good commercial understanding of what the company does, who their customers are and who their competitors are. Then, embed yourself in the business. Today, HR is a business partner not a back office support function.
Solid proof regarding the business impact of HR gets the attention of the business but identifying what to measure takes considerable effort. Most companies measure employee satisfaction, absenteeism and costs, but few can interpret those rates to make better business decisions. Taking steps to analyse HR metrics can positively affect business planning.
Additionally, obtaining an industry certification like the CIPD or an MA in HR Management. If you want to advance your career, qualifications show you’re serious about doing that. In my career, I’ve demonstrated wherever I’ve worked that I’m serious about building my skills and being passionate about what I do. If you’re looking to progress as a generalist, take the opportunity to add a specialisation or two to your skill set. It demonstrates diversity and helps you deepen your understanding of the varied areas within HR.
Sonia has been working as a HR Director at VPK Packaging Limited since March 2019 and provides strategic and operational support for the UK and Ireland, and Group, when required.