IB Woman
Issue No. 43 - October/November 2008
Connecting People
by Penelope Herbert
When the individual strengths and passions of employees play a strategic role in business development you know you’re working for an innovative company. Sarah Lloyd made the move from traditional human resources and recruitment to a role as People and Culture Manager at Sage Automation knowing her perceptions would be challenged.
“I knew what I was getting into and what would be expected of me as that was explained very clearly during my initial interview,” says Sarah.
“Just over 12 months on and I am energised daily by the scope of my role.”
Sarah says her role is to engage and connect staff with their senior managers in alignment with best practice and the growth of the business. She says that while attraction and retention is a challenge for every business, Sage Automation also seeks to provide its employees with an experience they enjoy. This includes regular social events, recognition of achievement and letting employees know that their feedback and concerns are valued.
“We undertook a human resources and organisational development gap analysis driven by a desire to achieve best practice,” she explains.
“Leading from the top, Sage has always been interested in their people. Our performance development program encourages career aspirations and provides opportunities for all staff, even for those who don’t aspire to be in a leadership or management position. This approach fits with my focus on coaching and recognising individual skill sets and goals.”
Yet Sarah didn’t slide in to a ready-made position with a proven track record.
The role of People and Culture Manager was a totally new position to Sage Automation and Sarah recalls two key challenges. One was to comfortably position the role between staff and managers and the other was to establish and develop working relationships with the management team both locally and interstate.
“I had to evaluate the transition, plus the time and inve...
