Insider profil
Top Insider Advice
The importance of a strong network should not be underestimated. During my career with Kingfisher I have built good working relationships with key contacts who I can turn to for further information and advice. This was extremely useful following the creation of my team in 2022 as it enabled me to gather open and honest feedback which meant we could ensure we delivered and exceeded the expected level of service. The creation of the People Operations team in 2021 led to bringing together three different ways of working and the processes that involves. My team's focus on continuous improvement has meant there has been a lot of change during the past year which has led to our service becoming more efficient and streamlined. The level of change within our team and Kingfisher as a whole has highlighted to me the importance of being flexible and open to new ideas. Since I have become People Ops Team Lead, I have been in many meetings where to fully understand the implications of decisions which need to be made, I have had to ask a lot of questions! I was originally concerned how this would look but now appreciate it is the only way I would understand the full picture and could make a fully informed decision. In addition to a strong network, the importance of a sense of humour should not be underestimated!! Having a laugh with my team and other colleagues has definitely helped us through some challenging times!
Career path
People Ops Team Lead
Kingfisher Plc
Started 02/2008 to PresentAssistant Personnel Officer
Kingfisher Plc
From 06/2004 to 02/2008Personnel Assistant
Kingfisher Plc
From 08/2002 to 06/2004Company
What do you like about your job and the company?
During my 15 years, I have built a great network of supportive colleagues from across Kingfisher. I am extremely fortunate to work with colleagues who are as passionate as me about improving our processes and making them simpler and more efficient. The role involves a wide range of activity. My team's focus is ensuring our current internal processes are aligned across the three functions. We also focus on creating processes to support new initiatives for the team to use internally but also those which support other teams (for example the Colleague Experience and Talent Acquisition teams). There is a large element of project work which provides us with the opportunity to build relationships and work closely with other teams both within group functions but also in B&Q and Screwfix.
Greatest achievements
When I was appointed to the role of People Ops Team Lead in February 2022, I had two People Ops Assistants already in role and two vacancies, which I quickly filled. During the course of the year the Ops Assistants' relationships have developed and strengthened. They are extremely supportive of each other both on a professional and personal level. Soon after the team was complete we brought in the joiner / mover / leaver processes for O&S S&L. The integration of the work into our team was smooth and we quickly began looking at how to align some of our processes. This is an area where we are making continuous improvement. We have brought in new processes to support this, such as the People Change Form (a tool for line managers to request a change to be processed for a member of their team) and Digital Right To Work checks, with Induction conversations and 'ASK HR' (a tool for colleagues to contact the team with their queries) soon to be introduced. I am extremely proud of how much the team have achieved to date and of their drive and passion for looking for areas of alignment and process improvement.
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Kate F
Design Research Manager
Top Insider Advice
I came from a heavy scientific background, making unnatural amino acids in the lab (which are all white crystals!) to a world of colour and possibility in food development, and felt really out of my depth. The change to industry was challenging, there were targets and KPIs and OKRs and all the other acronyms! And so many people to work with, challenge, influence... I then went to a retail environment where I felt out of my depth again initially, the pace was faster, there was less thinking time and quant evidence was king. I learned more about myself and decided after a few years to challenge myself again and go to the digital world. I've had a constant thread - understanding customers, employees, users - though the context and environment has shifted every time. And that's a good thing! Don't be afraid to jump at an opportunity, you will always learn something and it will benefit you.
Pascal V
Brand Comms Manager
Top Insider Advice
By experience a project is like a journey, the goal is essential but the path to get there is just as important. Keeping good relationship, a "can-do" attitude, open to find the right compromise to move forward are essential. There are strong things to take away from all projects, even in the failures and that should in no case affect the following experience, on the contrary it should reinforce it. Grow together all the time in contact with others, whatever the age or experience, mutual exchange is essential. Work is an important part of our life, it must be source of wisdom as well and part of our personal development.
Izzie L
Senior Supply Chain Annalyst
Top Insider Advice
To be passionate and keen to learn anything new for a new joiner may not be difficult, however, it's not easy to keep it in the mind in each area and industries. To be open minded so that you can learn from everywhere and anyone, they could be your clients, your suppliers, customers and the colleagues in multiple groups and functions as the supply chain industry is the end to end from upstream to down streams with the many interactive spots and links.