Royal Recognition | HR professionals among those named in King's New Year Honours list

The 2024 New Year Honours list was recently revealed and, despite the headlines being dedicated to the plethora of celebrities receiving Knighthoods, OBEs, MBEs and more accolades, the list also revealed some inspiring news of HR professionals being recognised for their services within the people function.

From efforts in the DE&I environment, to commitments to helping recruits kickstart their careers, there was a wealth of hard work from HR leaders being recognised this year. 

‘Flying high’

Melissa Richardson, Senior Emerging Talent Manager in the Strategic Resourcing team at British Airways was awarded an MBE for Services to Early Careers in Aviation. The prestigious award recognises her outstanding efforts on British Airways’ award-winning emerging talent programmes, which provide work experience and employment opportunities for young people across the UK.

Melissa, who studied at Wrotham Secondary School in Sevenoaks, joined the airline in 2012 as an apprentice and has worked tirelessly to drive forward and promote British Airways’ emerging talent vision. She is responsible for engaging with and inspiring more than 175,000 young people to consider a career in aviation, enabling them to realise their potential and raise the profile of the airline's award-winning graduate, apprentice, business placement and work experience programmes. She has worked closely with teams from across the airline to address the skills gap and implement new early career opportunities, such as specialist graduate and apprenticeship programmes and launch a series of campaigns designed to inspire and attract future talent to the airline.

Looking for more

Empowering line managers | Building inclusive teams for high-performance success

As part of British Airways’ ongoing commitment to recruiting future talent and providing equal opportunities to people from all backgrounds, she played a significant role in launching the airline's partnership with The Prince’s Trust earlier this year to deliver its flagship “Get into Aviation with British Airways” programme. The initiative supports young people from across London who are looking to secure a career in the industry through work experience opportunities or on one of British Airways apprenticeship programmes.