Claire Boulden, the Group Head of People and Culture, at Burhill Group Limited (BGL), to discuss her new position, the importance of having in-house HR professionals, and how the Group continues to reinforce its commitment to its people and their wellbeing
We meet Claire Boulden, the Group Head of People and Culture, at Burhill Group Limited (BGL), to discuss her new position, the importance of having in-house HR professionals, and how the Group continues to reinforce its commitment to its people and their wellbeing.
GBN: This role is totally new at BGL, why do you think it was important to recruit a Group Head of People and Culture?
CB: That is correct. This is the first time that the company has been able to benefit from a dedicated in-house HR professional, and I will be overseeing the entire group from my base at Burhill Golf Club.
My title, ‘Group Head of People and Culture’, is actually one that is becoming more common within the HR discipline. Rather than ‘Head of HR’, more businesses are rebranding the role to highlight the fact that the most important resource of any company is its people.
The culture element is something that the group are keen to instil. BGL is an established and very strong business, and to continue with growth and development we want to establish and grow a culture within all aspects of the company. This will involve looking at how we perceive things around us in the workplace, and how we perceive each other. We are all too aware that the pandemic has affected people in different ways, work/life balance included. So, our culture will represent everything to do with work: how we work, our members and customers, and how we treat each other.
GBN: If you had to describe your job role to people outside of the business, how would you do that?
CB: Well, this role covers a huge number of tasks and responsibilities. With it being a new role within the business, we have so far been concentrating our energy on things that we feel are most pressing. A very positive and exciting element of my appointment will be to work alongside my colleagues in payroll to introduce a Human Resources Information System (HRIS) into the business. This is a tool that will allow us to go electronic with HR processes and payroll information. HRIS can also help us with retention, learning and management, and back-office reporting.
In the past, I have worked at a strategic level within my roles. So, in addition to working on day-to-day functionalities like compliance, recruitment, and so on, I am also able to assist in pointing out what we need to plan for, and what we could improve on. I am actually working on writing an HR & People plan right now.
GBN: Why do you feel that this sort of position if key to the long-term success of an already established business like BGL?
CB: I understand from a lot of my colleagues that having a permanent People and Culture professional in the business has been on the wish-list for some time. I think now, in 2022, businesses are much more aware of the benefits that having such a person can bring. That isn’t just things like sorting out benefits and salaries, but it’s letting them know there is someone they can go to whenever they have a question or issue that they need assistance with.
I consider myself to be working in a dual role. The first half of that is focused around protecting the business and its interests. I must make sure that we are doing things correctly to ensure compliance, and of course our integrity and reputation, those things fall within my remit. The other half of my role is to protect the employees within the business. I sit in a role where I not only make sure that the business is operating correctly, but I also explore what we can do better for our people.
The best thing about this business, I can tell you, is the people that are working within it. I am blessed to be surrounded by people that are driven, engaged and motivated. They are quite inspiring actually. The pandemic was an extremely difficult time for the hospitality industry, but these people are steadfast in their commitment to ensuring the business grows and is successful. So, I am determined to make sure that we recognise our people for everything they are doing for the business.
We all work for a salary, that is one of our ‘must haves’. Then we also have things like a benefit scheme, which is a ‘nice to have’. Something that I am passionate about working on is a recognition scheme for those who go above and beyond – which I see a lot of within this business! It is important that we tell and reward our people when they have done something fantastic. Something that has also been welcomed since my arrival, is clearer direction in terms of how we manage the performance of our teams. In this industry, there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding that performance management is just about telling people off. That is absolutely not the case. It is crucial that we acknowledge success, because that will allow us to harness the positives and develop those methods to increase productivity moving forward.
GBN: BGL is a large business in terms of the number of golf clubs and leisure facilities it operates. How do you go about devising strategies for so many different sectors with different demands and expectations?
CB: The first thing is gaining knowledge and an understanding of how these different operations all work. As you say, we are a very complex business, with numerous brands. I would like to try to streamline things where I can, to make things easier for everyone and create a leaner way of working. The less complexity there is, the easier it will be for us to function efficiently.
This is something that will develop over time, when I have had more opportunities to learn about the day-to-day barriers and challenges that each venue faces, as well as the things they are doing particularly well.
When we are making a plan, we are ultimately trying to make working life easier, as well as making the business more successful and profitable. The first thing is always knowledge – I am trying to saturate myself with everything I can gain. When I step into our clubs and venues, the teams are very welcoming and receptive to me asking them lots of questions.
Another thing I’m going to be doing is sending out a comprehensive survey, so that I can gauge the thoughts of people across the business. What they like about us, why they like working with us, and what maybe they think we could do better.
I always find when I am doing my planning stages that surveys give me a lot of information on what we need to focus on. Some people are really interested in their holiday and benefits, sometimes it is about the working environment. So, speaking directly to our people should give us a really good overall spectrum on how to move forward in the best way.
For more information on Burhill Group Limited visit www.bglcompany.co.uk
Claire worked for British Airways for 20 years. She joined as cabin crew and remained a flyer until she departed, at the senior rank of CSD (Cabin Service Director). Whilst at BA she did multiple placements and secondments including recruitment, training, safety services, and fleet management. After leaving BA in 2016 she consulted privately for around 18 months then joined a niche villa company to revamp the HR and customer Experience. Over the Covid period she has been working with a hotel group.