“It’s all about knowing your data and your business model… then working out what levers from a people perspective you will need to influence those numbers.” Sharon Benson, Transformation and People Director of Edison Young People, emphasises the significance of data in creating a business-winning people strategy.
As part of our commitment to support candidates in developing fulfilling careers, we’ve invited HR Leaders from a wide variety of organisations to share their insights on building a career, the challenges they face and what advice they would share with those hoping to follow their footsteps.
This week, we had a great conversation with Sharon Benson, the Transformation and People Director of Edison Young People, an organisation which provides a safe environment for children through their homes and schools.
Sharon has a proven record of collaborating with multiple stakeholders to streamline, modernise and transform businesses through culture transformation. She has led businesses in maximising their potential and achieving commercial success while fostering passion, energy and focus in the whole organisation.
Can you share with us the journey that made you decide to pursue an HR career?
I initially worked for a recruitment agency, managing the admin and payroll team. I was in the process of looking for another job and looking to apply for a contact centre manager role when I encountered an opportunity for an Assistant Personnel Officer working for a top law firm in Manchester. To be honest, it was the salary that caught my eye at first. But looking at all the tasks, I thought to myself, I’ve done those across different jobs but never together in one role under personnel, as it was known then.
I went to my interview and it was all about all the different things I’ve done previously so I was delighted to have got the job. My main career defining moment, it was when I first started out, was that the law firm I joined initially didn’t want to give me an office as they were for ‘fee-earners’. My manager pushed back as we can’t sit on an open floor since a lot of the conversations or documents we work on are confidential so we needed one of the offices. I I thought at that moment that I might not be a fee earner, but my role will create value and I’ll find a way to evidence that. What I did was a trial on the recruitment of legal secretaries and audio typists, where we focused on audio typists and formed a pool that worked until midnight. We saved a fortune on overtime fees and night transportation fees for the secretaries. I also did a wage-shift analysis on retaining five-year PQE solicitors versus recruiting those at the three-year level.
People sometimes come into their HR careers and don’t have that commercial insight or are probably not as aware of it. I really came into my own, not just for what we were putting into the HR system, but the data and insights that we got out of it.
So that was my first ever HR job and I got promoted to national reward and benefits manager and we put in flex benefits and I had the opportunity to work on a lot of great stuff.
While I was doing my job by day, I went to University at Salford at night for my CIPD qualification. I formed a study group where I met someone who was looking for an HR Manager of a contact centre. Very different to a law firm, but my data and insights came into play again when I joined this company. I worked closely with Finance to conduct and understand the cost of recruiting a new customer sales advisor into the contact centre. From the recruitment costs, training and time to reach full competency. This piece of analysis analysis identified the significant cost of recruitment and retention and as a result we introduced a ‘work now – play later’ scheme where colleagues can focus on doing more hours during summer, which was when we really needed them, and then take it easy and have their leave or join training sessions during the winter season. We took our turnover from about 80% back down to about the industry average of 30% because we started to get a reputation for having this innovative working environment. And our policy conversion rates went up to about 10%, which was worth hundreds of thousands of pounds every year.
From the examples I’ve shared , I hope you see it’s all about knowing your data, understanding your business model and what your business is doing, then working out what levers from a people perspective you will need to pull to influence those numbers.
I’ve joined different organisations like legal services, insurance, financial services, and even social care. Many of these are happy accidents, but I have tried not to stay in the same sector twice
I like to learn new things about the business and I always try to go out at the grassroots level before I speak to the executives. This is so I can understand how the business operates and generates income and value. With that, I’ll have a better idea of how to put together the appropriate people strategy to maximise that value.
What challenges are you currently facing?
There are not enough people to do the work!. There’s a real recruitment shortage and we know that statistics show that a big percentage of the workforce went back to Europe due to Brexit and the pandemic. And what turned out to be key roles over the pandemic are some of the lowest paid ones that don’t qualify for visas.
In addition, I think a lot of people pondered and decided over the course of the pandemic; do they really need to work? Do they really need to put themselves through everything or just leave the job market?
So I would say the challenge at the moment is retention through a lot of HR people would say we’ve got a recruitment challenge. Because if you can keep the ones you’ve got, then the less you need to find. But to grow and secure new talent into the business, you’ve really got to be clear on why you’re more special than the other organisations. You’ve really got to define a new colleague experience.
The employee value proposition is massive at the minute, definitely. But people also need to look at where the transferable skills are. We really need to look at what is actually required in a certain role. What skill sets are needed and where else might people be conducting these kinds of activities, whether it’s unrelated to the current business and role or not? Can we attract people from somewhere completely different? I think that’s part of what people need to start thinking about.
Here’s an example of how we prioritised retention. In January 2020, I joined Sunrise Senior Living as its Human Resources Director. Coincidentally, that was also about the time for the pandemic to hit us. I have to say that was the most challenging and most rewarding job I’ve ever had in my life.
Like the government, we were all making it up as we went along. We shut down the doors to the home; no visitors, no activities and did this before the country did it. We put minibuses to get people to work so that they didn’t have to use public transport because we didn’t want to risk it. We gave everybody masks on their way home and on their way back. We offered to take care of their uniforms being sent to the laundry. They’d come in their own clothes and get changed into a freshly washed uniform. We gave them hot meals on their shifts so that they didn’t have to bring in food and we wouldn’t risk contaminants being brought in. We spoke to all the housekeeping teams that we needed to clean throughout the day to change their working hours to maintain the highest levels of cleanliness and infection control. We had to constantly go around and wipe everything, all the various touch points.
We spent a million pounds to put in all these measures. But we reduced turnover by 30%, which saved on recruitment and training fees as well as on overtime pay and contract labour because we kept our people. We saved £4 million by spending a million. That’s why we won the Best Approach to Recruitment at the CIPD awards in 2021
The pandemic put HR in the front and centre as a function as it brought to front that organisations are all about the people and culture to attract, engage and retain the best people. I just hope that HR can hold onto that seat at the top table that it’s managed to secure.
What pieces of advice would you give to those planning to pursue an HR career?
This is what I’ve said to everybody who comes to work in my team: I don’t want to see them in the department for the first couple of weeks. I want them to go out into the business and understand how the business works, learn how it makes money and hear directly from people how they truly feel about working for the business. Because once you get in here and you start your job, you’re never going to get that time again. You say you will, but you won’t. So know the business and understand the business context in which that particular HR department is operating.
Also, I would say know your data and your numbers. All business partners and my team could tell you their headcount, turnover, overtime rates and business performance metrics. They know their people’s metrics inside and out so that they can track them and understand what levers to pull to influence them so they can demonstrate that they are making a difference in adding value to the business area they partner.
I think it’s also about thinking differently. In the same way that marketing thinks about customer experience, HR needs to think in a really similar, structured and creative way around the colleague experience. We’ve mapped out the candidates’ and colleagues’ experience, capturing the key touch points from end to end and so we know those ’ moments that matter’. and how do our policies, procedures, and ways of working drive to make our colleagues know, feel and do at that moment in time?
I usually always start with my organisation’s design being built around the ability to deliver that experience. Do we structure and set people up for success? Everybody has to be clear on what they’ve got to do. How do you recruit for these roles? How do you manage performance or rewards?
That is a model that I replicate in several businesses and sectors. The actual methodology and approach to uncovering the right answers and priorities are the same but the outcomes are always different and bespoke based on what the business needs.
Sharon has been the HR Director of several organisations, bringing her expertise and winning track record as she joined Edison Young People in December 2021 as its Transformation and People Director. She is also a Board Advisor of syd™ (iamYiam), a predictive health technology app for the quality of life of employees.
If you are interested in having a confidential conversation about your career or would like support growing your team, please get in touch today.