What has your year in HR been like thus far? Has 2011 been a red letter year to date, one you'd rather not be reminded of, business as usual, or something else again?The summer months traditionally offer the opportunity to reflect on the year so far, and consider what we might expect from the remainder of the year, once things get back up to top speed from September onwards.
Today we launch a short series of guest blog posts, in which members of the HR blogging community share with us their personal experience of their year in HR so far.
First up is Alison Chisnell, Group HR director at Informa Business Information. Alison is the author of the always insightful HR Juggler blog, and has also contributed earlier blog posts to XpertHR (See: Alison Chisnell: If I could change one thing about HR... and Alison Chisnell: What social media can offer HR. And as you will see from what she's written below, Alison has had a very busy 2011 already!
If you would like to share your own experiences of your year in HR so far, please feel free to have your say. You can post a comment via the box below, or get in touch via e-mail, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn.
- My year in HR so far: What's your experience of 2011 to date? Catch up with all the posts in the series and have your say!
For me, 2011 has been a year of opportunity, relentless pace and professional challenge. It has been hectic, pressured and has, at times, pushed me far beyond my comfort zones.
Opportunity has been a constant: I was promoted into my current role in January and have been driving the HR integration of a large and complex new business into my existing division. Amongst other challenges, this has involved integrating HR systems and payroll, amalgamating existing policies and setting new ones, standardising benefits and contractual terms and implementing significant global restructuring across the whole business. In addition to the operational, generalist HR teams, a specialist training and development team and an in-house recruitment team now also fall under my remit for the first time. Creating one strong combined HR team, aligned to the needs of the business, continues to be a work in progress.
I am used to working at a fast pace and in constant change, but this
year has been relentless, in terms of the types of HR challenges and the
potential impact to the wider business. From liquidating the regional
office in Korea to dealing with whistle blowing claims; through working
against the clock to finalise the management contracts in order to
complete on our joint venture in China; to taking action against
potential IP theft, I have experienced some extraordinary HR and
business issues and by necessity relied on legal experts for advice and
guidance. Luckily, it turns out you don't always need to know the answer
to everything yourself ;).
That this year has been enjoyable, stimulating and challenging, enabling me to thrive professionally rather than become overwhelmed, is due in large part to the fact I have a great boss and a supportive team. Externally, the ConnectingHR, Twitter and blogging communities have been the source of huge encouragement, personally and professionally. I am constantly learning and developing through the experiences of this year...and that, for me, is the biggest opportunity of all.
That this year has been enjoyable, stimulating and challenging, enabling me to thrive professionally rather than become overwhelmed, is due in large part to the fact I have a great boss and a supportive team. Externally, the ConnectingHR, Twitter and blogging communities have been the source of huge encouragement, personally and professionally. I am constantly learning and developing through the experiences of this year...and that, for me, is the biggest opportunity of all.
- My year in HR so far: What's your experience of 2011 to date? Catch up with all the posts in the series and have your say!
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