Kay Smith

Current

• HR Manager at BPP

Past

• HR Change Consultant at Norwich Union
• HR Account Manager at Defra
• HR Manager at Defra

• HR Advisor at Defra
• HR Administrator at Defra

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2 more...

Education

• University of Westminster
• University of Derby

Recommended

6 people have recommended Kay

Connections

95 connections

Industry

Human Resources

Kay Smith’s Summary

A highly motivated Human Resources professional with expertise in a wide range of HR practices. Proven leadership skills, including managing and motivating other staff to deliver organisational objectives and targets. An excellent communicator at all levels of an organisation with strong consulting and coaching skills. Good problem solving and analytical skills.

Kay Smith’s Specialties:

HR Generalism, Change Management, Stakeholder Management

Kay Smith’s Experience

• HR Manager

  BPP

  (Professional Training & Coaching industry)

  April 2008 — Present (2 years )

  • Rebuilt and developed the HR team by reviewing internal processes, improving policy and developing fully effective relationships with managers at all levels across the business
  • Up skilled the HR team from an unresponsive administrative function to a key business partner
  • Partnered a major business unit (300 employees) through a large scale change programme which involved; nationalising the function from 13 regionally run offices, restructuring its senior management team and changing the terms and conditions of 220 employees through a project managed consultation process
  • Working closely with the Business on dealing with both contentious and non-contentious Employee Relations matters gaining consistently excellent feedback
  • Worked closely with the CEO on senior redundancies and departures
  • Business Lead on implementing a new HR and payroll integrated database across the Company
  • Developed and implemented management coaching and training sessions to embed change and HR best practice across the business
  • Rebranded and developed the Employee Forum, holding elections, training sessions and a publicity campaign. The forum is now actively engaged with the management team as a partner and well known across the business by the employee population.

• HR Change Consultant

  Norwich Union

  (Public Company; Financial Services industry)

  July 2007 — February 2008 (8 months)

  • Contributed to the negotiation and quality assurance of the HR aspects of a multi million pound two year contract which will transform the Norwich Union (Life) Finance Department
  • Designed and implemented a Change Readiness Assessment across the Finance function. Socialised the recommendations with appropriate stakeholders and helped mould the Change Strategy for the next two years
  • Produced a Talent, Recruitment and Retention Strategy for the Finance function
  • Worked closely with the Director of Compliance to develop a new organisational model which was compliant with FSA requirements
  • Coached a junior member of staff through delivering the restructure of an RAC call centre in the Midlands. The project was managed to time and budget gaining strong positive feedback.

• HR Account Manager

  Defra

  (Government Agency; Government Administration industry)

  April 2004 — July 2007 (3 years 4 months)

  • HR board member on a major finance restructure project (nominated by Head of HR)
  • Lead HR Advisor on 4 major change projects across Defra – all successfully delivered on time (as well as multiple smaller projects)
  • Increased visibility and confidence of my team in the business under a new service delivery model
  • Successfully co-located with clients to facilitate organisational change through repositioning and relocating staff in their business areas
  • Delivered culture change workshops across Defra including the introduction of a new HR model and new employee self service database (Oracle)
  • Produced and lead a sickness absence management workshop to accompany the newly implemented procedure - it was attended by over 1000 staff across my client group
  • Instrumental in the Occupational Health Re-tendering Exercise, the new electronic induction event and a paper on secretaries’ development within Defra.

• HR Manager

  Defra

  (Government Agency; Government Administration industry)

  April 2002 — March 2004 (2 years )

  • Delivered high quality Human Resources service to designated client groups totalling 3,000 employees
  • Managed a team of 8 HR advisors and administrators
  • Successfully recruited over 25 specialists by working with external consultants and heads of profession
  • Produced and implemented a Training Needs Analysis for HR advisors; maintained HR advisor training records and budget and instigated/facilitated a knowledge share forum
  • Facilitated 360 degree feedback workshops for senior managers and helped them produce development action plans

• HR Advisor

  Defra

  (Government Agency; Government Administration industry)

  2001 — 2002 (1 year )

  • Provided active first line HR management solutions on employee relations issues including sickness and performance management to a client group of 2,000
  • Managed and coached a team of 4 HR administrators in delivering payroll and HR administrative tasks - 3 of the 4 original team moved on promotion
  • Ran a ‘New Deal’ recruitment exercise with the local job centre and successfully placed 20 staff across the business.

• HR Administrator

  Defra

  (Government Agency; Government Administration industry)

  2000 — 2001 (1 year )

  • Provided HR administrative support to a client group of 700 covering a wide range of tasks including, sickness absence and appraisal monitoring, health referrals, references, payroll and management information reporting.
  • Organised work experience for twenty-four 16 year olds across Defra
  • Medically cleared 270 staff after a major recruitment exercise along with reference requesting
  • Monitored 78 probationers across Defra making recommendations for performance management or to confirm appointment.

Kay Smith’s Education

• University of Westminster

  MA , Personnel and Development , 2000 — 2003

  This qualification also awarded me Graduate CIPD Membership. I have now upgraded this to MCIPD making me a Chartered HR Practitioner.

• University of Derby

  2 (ii) BA Hons , Major Geography, Minor History , 1996 — 1999

  Activities and Societies:

  Trainer and Recruiter for the Student Nightline service

Additional Information

Kay Smith’s Groups:

•    University of Westminster Alumni Association
•    Changeboard
•    London, UK Performance & Talent Management Events & Networking
•    CIPD Central London Branch

Kay Smith’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch