Penna Career Services' Managing Director, Bev White, says "HR needs to blow boundaries out of the way"

HR needs to break through departmental boundaries and really get to know the business, according to Penna Career Services’ Managing Director.

Speaking to HR Grapevine, Bev White says: “Spending time out in the field, or with other teams, really helps you to take the pulse of the business and understand some of the actual challenges that employees may be facing - which can feed into wider people or development strategies that make a tangible difference.”

She continues: “The more you are out with your colleagues being ‘hands on’ and really knowing how the business operates, the more you will be trusted to be at the table helping focus the business’ time on the things that will really make the difference.”

And when she says ‘hands on’ she means literally sitting in call centres or going out to the shop floor and becoming a free resource.

White, who will be speaking at HR Grapevine’s annual HR & Talent Management Conference this year, says that doing so will allow HR professionals to “amass a collection of experiences and stories from being out in the field which can be drawn on to support, or challenge, decisions put forward by the business.

“As with any role, it’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks, sometimes to the detriment of spending time with those you are there to support. HR needs more time being, and not just doing.

“This would be my advice to anyone in HR thinking about how they can shake things up. Forget any departmental boundaries, they are arbitrary and frankly we should be blowing them out of the way, so be curious and get out there.”

For a full list of HR Grapevine’s conference speakers, or for more information on the content of the day, click here.