Focus on the people

Five minute interview with the head of Human Resources, Karen McLeod.

What are the priorities for Human Resources?
Besides the overarching objective of attracting, developing and retaining quality people across the Group, we focus on people and leadership development, remuneration and employee benefits, performance management and organizational change.

With 28,000 people employed by Group companies at 80 sites in 20 countries, how do you ensure a consistent approach?
We have dedicated, professional HR teams in every business unit and for the Group as a whole. Our headquarters team includes subject experts whose skills and experience are made available to our businesses. The experts also play an important role in creating an organizational culture that allows us to link the people with the operation in the way that best maximizes our competitive position.

How many people do you have in Human Resources?
We have approximately 250 HR professionals around the world. The majority work in business units in areas that include recruiting, training, HR systems and employee relations. We also have specialists in specific functions such as remuneration and leadership development.

How do you ensure a flow of future potential leaders?
We place a high premium on quality leadership, so it is a priority both for HR, the executive committee and the senior managers in each of our businesses. We use business unit HR Review processes and Future Leadership Review quarterly meetings to identify people with leadership capability at all levels and to ensure appropriate development to equip them for future roles. In the last few years we have strengthened this focus and have built not only a new suite of formal leadership development programmes but have also embedded a common set of core leadership competencies across the Group. Equally important, though, is our attention to providing development opportunities for all our employees to ensure that we have a skilled, capable and motivated workforce at all levels.