'There was a belief within the new management team that HR was a ‘dirty word’

Stokes spent her teenage years swimming. “I didn’t want to go to University, I wanted to carry on swimming.” A job looked like the obvious alternative to higher education, but her mother whispered in her ear, “No-one’s going to employ you if you don’t have any skills. She suggested I went to college, and I did.” That parental advice put her in good stead and she undertook a law course. That enabled her to land a job as an administrator in a software warehouse which she did for the next two years.

“There was a lady there that did HR, and I thought to myself that was something that I could do. I found myself in an HR admin role working for a textile services business that supplied washroom services around the UK. There were 3,500 employees and it was a very transactional role - it was great because it gave me a grounding in everything.”

Stokes laughs when she recalls the paper-based systems that were used that she refers to as being ‘clunky.’ Just as she was realising that more could be achieved, the business was taken over. The organisation became more sales-orientated and 20% growth occurred. “There was a belief within the new management team that HR was a ‘dirty word’ - we had to be referred to as ‘support services’. We were hidden.” Overnight the service was streamlined from being 12 to just two. “It was just my HR Manager and myself which meant I got involved in a lot of things early on in my HR career.”

Stokes stayed with the business for a decade. “It was at this time I met Jonathan Smith, The APC’s CEO.” As the business grew, HR became recognised and was allowed to surface to the limelight. “By the end, I was leading the HR function for the textile business and they put me through my CIPD qualification, which I am so grateful for.” Stokes smiles when she tells me she looks back fondly upon those years.

At just 28 years old, the young HR leader recognised she was ahead of her peers, who typically reached the same level of seniority in their mid-40s.

“I did sometimes feel alone, but I quickly learnt to build upon my network and those connections picked me up when my confidence dropped.”

As well as having an invaluable contact’s book, Stokes realised that she also needed to understand the business inside out and that meant getting to grips with the numbers. “I had to talk their language to be able to influence them,” she says. ‘Just’ being an HR expert wasn’t going to cut it.

‘I was conscious that my experience was too narrow, so I joined a wider HR team’

By 2004, Stokes knew it was time to make her next move, this time to Sirva Relocation. It was an American business which owned Pickford’s removals. “In terms of the demographics of employees, it was very similar.” It offered European exposure and the opportunity to learn from others. Timing is everything and, within a month of arriving, the business was faltering. An urgent restructure occurred, and Stokes was knee-deep in closing depots and rolling out redundancies.

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“It was my first experience of European HR law.” Stokes also found herself juggling two hats – one in which she was very much part of the immediate business and one where she considered the global picture "When you switched to the global perspective, you didn't have to worry about what the UK Pickford removals business thought." By 2006, Stokes had joined Balfour Beatty Rail as Head of HR. "They had just secured the track renewal framework contract for London Underground for the next five years. The track workers would remove all the track and aim to have it replaced by 4 a.m - and if they couldn’t, everyone would know about it!" she recalls.

The business, as they so often do, changed its business model, and amalgamated into a number of different large organisations. "It became my first proper Trade Union role and we were operating a cost plus model contract.” Looking back, she says it was a time in her career when she learnt ‘so much.’

Family life began while Stokes was at Balfour Beatty and while she was bringing up two children, she was also commuting from northwest London near Heathrow airport to Redhill in Surrey each day. “I was forever phoning my mum saying I was stuck on the M25 and asking if she could pick up the kids.” It wasn’t sustainable and Stokes knew it was time to go. She considered consultancy work but realised she would miss being part of a team.

She duly landed a more location-pleasing job at Clancy in Uxbridge in 2015. “It’s a family-owned utilities business, and I was their first HR Director.” Having a blank canvas with all her HR experience provided a clean sheet and chance to shine. "The business was transitioning from a second-generation, Irish-owned family business to a third-generation one," Stokes explained. It had 2,500 employees, plus another 900 through the supply chain. "Many of the executive team had joined the organisation at 18 and worked their way up, so they required external expertise from someone with extensive HR experience to guide them in better formalising their HR processes."