Also known as...
Chief People Officer, Talent and Culture Director, Head of HR.
The role in brief...
The Human Resources Director plays a pivotal role in shaping the agency’s people strategy. In large agencies they will manage a team of people, including HR Business Partners for different groups, plus administrators and specialists. They are responsible for ensuring that the agency has the right people at the right cost to allow the agency to meet its strategic objectives. This involves building and maintaining a positive culture to attract, retain and develop good people.
Working with...
- Internal: Managing Director/CEO, Board of Directors and any subsidiary management boards, department heads and team leaders, any Talent or hiring roles; finance team and operations team, and indirectly with the whole company.
- External: Suppliers, relevant trade and regulatory bodies, professional advisers, accountants and auditors, talent providers, companies offering benefits.
Responsible for:
- Providing strategic planning and leadership to the agency on everything to do with its people. Developing corporate HR plans that align with the agency’s overall business objectives. This will involve understanding and using HR and business metrics and taking a data-driven approach to issues such as staff retention.
- Providing guidance to senior management on HR matters, ensuring that people-related decisions support the company’s growth and success. Mediating in and suggesting solutions for employee disputes, understanding the unique dynamics of teams. Building and nurturing positive relationships between employees, managers, and clients.
- Overseeing recruitment efforts, including building relationships with recruitment industry suppliers, universities and other sources of talent. Working closely with hiring managers to fill critical and senior roles. Making sure that all recruitment and selection processes conform to the agency’s DEI standards.
- Designing strategies for performance evaluation, career development, succession planning and CPD. In some agencies the HRD will have overall responsibility for CPD and act as CPD Manager. This involves fostering a culture of continuous learning and creativity, recognising that engaged and inspired employees drive successful campaigns.
- Designing competitive compensation packages with the Finance Director that attract top talent. This will include benefits that meet the needs of a diverse workforce.
- Mitigating risks related to employee relations, confidentiality, and staff contracts. This involves a deep understanding of employment laws and regulations specific to the industry, and being able to find solutions that head off legal problems.
- If the agency is in a group structure they will develop strategies to enable transfer of people between companies as a way of retaining and developing talent.
Those who succeed are...
- Experienced in directing the operations and processes for making sure that the agency remains legally compliant and working optimally. This will usually involve considerable experience in generalist HR roles and a range of HR specialisms.
- Strategic thinkers and have the ability to make realistic and strategic decisions about the future staffing needs of the agency.
- Able to lead, motivate and inspire others to do great work.
- Able to sensitively work alongside a wide range of other professionals, often specialists in their field, such as accountants and lawyers. Good at negotiation and conflict resolution.
- Strong communicators, able to get complex ideas across to others in straightforward language. Empathetic, with the ability to understand the motivations and concerns of people of all ages and from a diverse range of backgrounds.
- Willing to involve themselves thoroughly within the agency, are curious and appreciative of the output.
- Proficient at building strong relationships with both senior colleagues and junior staff.
Where they come from, and where they go…
They will often have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Human Resources, Psychology or a similar subject, although this is by no means mandatory. They may have CIPD qualifications, although this also varies. They will usually have long experience in a variety of HR roles, often in other industries, and in a range of different specialisms.