We spoke to Suzie Woodhams, Global HR Director at Vix Technology about aligning HR to a new global strategy…
Tell us more about what Vix Technology does?
Vix Technology simplifies the way people travel on public transport. We do this by providing integrated transport ticketing software and hardware to organisations in over 200 global cities. With over 700 employees across 20 offices in 13 countries, we are helping passengers get to where they want to go faster and easier.
What have been the most recent challenges?
Having joined Vix in a period of transformation, the immediate HR goal was to support the organisation in aligning its regionally defined structure to a more functional, slicker, efficient global model. To do this, it was imperative that the HR function reviewed its value proposition to meet the needs of the new business model. Was HR fit for purpose and how did we ensure our service offering was future-proofed to support the strategic goals?
Moving from a regionally defined model to a global structure has led to different ways of undertaking the same fundamental HR responsibilities such as recruitment, training and performance reviews. Differing processes and varying levels of service offering has led to HR providing a different proposition in different regions, whilst executing the global strategy.
With the CIPD HR competencies in mind, the HR Team devised the ideal breadth of the function in terms of future offering and measured their current department responsibilities against the agreed core offering. With each function having clear areas of responsibility, the respective areas worked to define the current measures and the transition plan to get each region to the desired global outcome.
The HR Team became a strategic partner by providing a clear transition path and setting realistic expectations therefore gaining global “buy-in” to our function. With HR’s house in order we are now able to use the same methodology to assist other departments with their transition by applying a simple, easy to use, step by step process.
By recognising the complexity of having regional HR departments and simplifying the global core offering, the HR Team was able to remain agile and lead the company’s response to change.
