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Big Interview
Claire Canty,
Head of HR, Weetabix
Despite having deep roots at Weetabix, the company’s new Head of HR, Claire Canty, is embarking on a brand new challenge. Read on to find out how her interesting career journey has informed her view of HR…
Interview by Kieran Howells
Weetabix – it’s a brand you’ve probably heard of. In fact, there’s a very high chance that you have a box in the cupboard right now. For 91 years, the company has been serving up cereal to the nation and beyond, and it’s safe to say that it’s something of an institution of British shores.
However, despite all of that history, Weetabix is not a stuffy workplace. In fact quite the opposite; the company is agile, forward thinking and ready to do the right thing for its people. One of the latest outside-of-the-box moves made by Weetabix was the appointment of Claire Canty, to the role of Head of HR.
Today's Top Stories
Canty may be in her first few months within the HR function, but she’s no stranger to Weetabix, having spent over a decade moving around the company, taking on challenges and gaining experience that continues to inform her career.
This week, she sits down with HR Grapevine to talk about her career, why she made the move to HR, and her view on what makes the organisation a great place to work.
My goal is just to take the already great team and great position we're in to an even greater place. I'm really passionate about continuous improvement, and each day finding small opportunities to make things even better.
So how did you end up in HR? What attracted you to the function?
Having done lots of different marketing commercial roles over the last 10 years or so, I was really up for a completely new challenge to stretch my brain in a really different way. I think as I've developed through my career, I've realised that the thing I've loved most about my most recent roles is developing the people on my team.
That’s really become the biggest source of motivation for me at work; helping people be the best they can be and surprise themselves with what they can achieve. And so, I wanted my next role to be much more focused around developing people in some way. Moving to Head of HR, I get to help drive the people agenda at Weetabix and look after our huge community of very talented people here and achieving their potential.
What was the situation in the HR team when you came into it? And what were your first moves?
I'm really lucky in that I've come into a team and a function that’s in a really great place. There are no big fires that need fighting, or huge problems that need solving straightaway. My goal is just to take the already great team and great position we're in to an even greater place. I'm really passionate about continuous improvement, and each day finding small opportunities to make things even better, even more efficient, even more effective, so that a few years down the line, you can look back and see the impact and legacy that you've left.
I think it can be tempting, when you join a new function, to think that you need to immediately make your mark. But so often, it's really important just to take a step back and not just rip things up and start things again, for the sake of it.
Being a customer of HR for so long, but also just being a parent and having different life experiences, it's really helpful to look back on those policies and analyse them as I’ve experienced them as an employee.
