Mytime Active at 20: Our HR Director on why Communication is key
Rhona, is the Human Resources Director at Mytime Active. She has been an invaluable member of the team since joining in 2019. Mytime Active is the first time Rhona has worked in the leisure sector. She enjoys working for a charitable trust with its altruistic values, which allows her HR work to support Mytime Active’s goals of promoting better health, wellbeing and social inclusion through leisure activities.
With a wealth of experience in human resources, she has played a crucial role in helping to shape Mytime Active’s HR strategy by fostering a positive work environment.
Professional Journey:
Rhona began her career in banking, working for Barclays for 12 years. However, when her role became more sales based, she took an opportunity to change careers, this time in human resources. She began as an HR administrator, quickly advancing and upskilling along the way with her Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) qualifications, a degree in employment law, ultimately becoming a fellow of the CIPD.
Contributions:
Rhona says: “One of the trickier aspects of working in leisure can be the high turnover of staff and the number of part time and transient employees. However, I’m proud that I have secured a Learning and Development budget meaning we can better provide a career pathway for staff. We recently launched a management training programme, which helps and supports comprehensive succession planning; we want to enhance employee skills and foster professional growth. I want working at Mytime Active to be someone’s career, not just their job.”
Communication:
Communication is key to HR and creating a positive work environment, as Rhona explains: “We have a large number of young people working at Mytime Active and need to communicate with them in a way that is familiar. So I was really excited to instigate the successful launch of the internal communications platform, which allows for everything from CEO Bulletins, to celebrating work anniversaries and birthdays to be posted. As many of our staff aren’t based at desks, being able to access this kind of information from our phones has been hugely impactful.”
Employee Support:
Rhona’s open-door policy encourages employees to seek her team’s guidance, reinforcing a culture of respect within the company. This includes the Employee Consultative Committee, where staff reps get to meet with the Senior Leadership Team once a quarter. Rhona explains: “We want to put our people front and centre in developing our policies, this includes newly introduced mental health first aiders throughout our organisation and the initiation of new policies to support managers with wellbeing issues such as the menopause. We need to help our team managers manage, recognise and nurture talent.”
Future Goals:
Looking ahead, Rhona aims to mentor the next generation of HR professionals within the organisation. She currently has an HR team of six and she says: “I believe in the importance of knowledge transfer and I am eager to share my insights and experiences with upcoming HR talent.”
Personal Insights:
Rhona attributes her success in HR to her genuine interest in people and her commitment to continuous learning. Outside of work, she enjoys walking her dog and is currently learning to play golf.