Hayley Kingdom, HR Director, Burton's Biscuits

Hayley Kingdom,
HR Director

Looking back at your time with the company, what are you most proud of?

In my time with Burton’s I am most proud of the significant difference we have made to morale and the culture of our business. Over the last two years we have developed our unique ‘Being your Burton’s Best’ suite of tools, which is aligned to our cultural values and supports the whole employee lifecycle from interview toolkits and onboarding through to how we assess, measure and develop our colleagues. By offering our colleagues these tools it would significantly improve engagement because we know that giving people clarity and purpose improves engagement and creates high-performing teams.

What is the most exciting project you’re working on over the next 12 months?

We have a stream of work that we are calling ‘Love our Employees’ which focusses on our 1,400 bakers in our Edinburgh, Blackpool and Llantarnam sites. Our colleagues baking our great biscuits are at the heart of what we do, and we have designed a programme of activities to recognise and reward the amazing work that they do.

“Our colleagues baking our great biscuits are at the heart of what we do”

What do you hope to achieve at Burton’s Biscuits in the future?

Over the last 18 months our work in HR has transformed the culture and engagement levels within our business (up 14% in 18 months). In the next two years, my strategy is to further embed the great work we have done around work-life balance, modern and flexible working and our colleagues genuinely loving coming to work. Since Q4 2016 this increased engagement has resulted in some amazing financial improvements to our business and I am excited about the positivity of our business and our plans for the next few years.

What is your guiding philosophy for HR?

My strong view is that HR should be personable, commercial, genuine and supportive. Behaving less like the HR police and more like an extended team member that supports innovation and positive change will enable HR to take more of a leadership role and will result in being welcomed into teams with open arms. I also believe that HR should lead and role model the culture that they want to see and most of all ensure that people are remembering to have fun.

What do you hope to achieve at Burton’s Biscuits in the future?

Over the last 18 months our work in HR has transformed the culture and engagement levels within our business (up 14% in 18 months). In the next two years, my strategy is to further embed the great work we have done around work-life balance, modern and flexible working and our colleagues genuinely loving coming to work. Since Q4 2016 this increased engagement has resulted in some amazing financial improvements to our business and I am excited about the positivity of our business and our plans for the next few years.

What is your guiding philosophy for HR?

My strong view is that HR should be personable, commercial, genuine and supportive. Behaving less like the HR police and more like an extended team member that supports innovation and positive change will enable HR to take more of a leadership role and will result in being welcomed into teams with open arms. I also believe that HR should lead and role model the culture that they want to see and most of all ensure that people are remembering to have fun.

Paid time off for employees to settle in a new cat? What?!

Hayley Kingdom, HR Director, Burton's Biscuits

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