‘Believe you can and you're halfway there.’ ― Theodore Roosevelt

This is true of our Senior Human Resources Manager Chris Davies, take a few minutes from your day to read Chris’s answers and I am sure you will see why.

• What experiences led you to work for WD Trust?

A career HR generalist, having worked in the private and not for profit sectors, the majority of my recent experience was spent leading HR in the Middle East and Asia (MEA) region for a multi-national organisation. Based in Dubai, UAE, I experienced numerous macro-level issues involving the global recession, Arab Spring, new market entry and business divestitures and even working on a project which caught the attention of a former US President! Having enjoyed my time in this sunny, tax-free haven, I missed home and relocated to Bristol in 2015 with the aim of buying a house, starting a family and studying for an MBA, which had always been a personal career goal. Whilst all had their innate challenges, thankfully all have recently been achieved. When undertaking my MBA, I was approached to commence a short-term contract role for the WD Trust. Upon expiry of the contract, I joined on a permanent basis and have recently celebrated my 3-year anniversary with the organisation.

• What does an average day look like for you?

Whilst sounding like a cliché, there is nothing like an average day. It could be expected or surprising; planned or ad-hoc; calm or chaotic; office-based or travelling dependent on what is happening in the business at any given time. However certain continuity includes working in a great team, wanting to learn something new every day, reacting and providing advice to the business and proactively working on people-related areas that requires improvement.

• What do you enjoy most about your job?

When a significant problem or challenge is identified and as a team, we work together in achieving successful outcomes. My passion is in managing projects and I have been able to do this recently in areas including recruitment, benefits, payroll, training and development and employee relations.

• What upcoming projects are you working on?

It’s an exciting time for the HR function. We are a relatively new team and are working on finalising a HR strategy and its various objectives for the next 3 years. We have 6 key areas which all HR activities incorporate and has helped us in providing a framework where we aim to improve accordingly dependent on current maturity levels. These are (i) Employee Relations; (ii) People Resourcing; (iii) Total Rewards; (iv) Talent Management, (v) Health and Wellbeing and (vi) HRIS, and the HR team will be busy working with its key stakeholders in ensuring we can drive positive improvements throughout these areas.

• In a perfect world…
  
  
  • People would keep things simple
  • There would be zero crime and zero conflict
  • Brexit, one way or another, would be sorted and the country can move forwards
  • On a personal level, daily commutes would be less time consuming and stressful