An inside view of HR at Harris and supporting people working in education

Human Resources is an integral part of an organisation; responsible for managing their most important asset, their people. From recruitment to retention, HR plays a critical role in creating and maintaining the culture and work environment. 

Eilidh and Jonathan are two of our HR Business Partners in the central HR team. They both have extensive experience of working in HR across different sectors and are committed to providing exceptional HR support to our schools.

 

 

The role of an HR team in the education sector

Education is centred around people, and that makes HR crucial to ensure everything runs smoothly. It's important to make sure that our people know that they have an HR team to support them. Eilidh explained, “It’s not like a nine to five sat at your computer in the office all the time, we’re often out at academies and being present”. 

She also emphasised the importance of recognising what is unique about working directly with schools, “You’ve got to be aware of the environment that schools are operating. You have to understand that these are places where people know each other really well, and get on really well, so you have to appreciate that when you’re giving HR advice, that they are sometimes like a little family and it’s important to be aware of that”. 

Jonathan also spends a lot of time in our academies, “It’s quite funny because my wife will ring me and ask what I’m doing and I have to tell her I’m sat in the Principal’s office, and it kind of feels like I’m in trouble”. He also recognises how much work goes into the running of schools that he didn’t see when he was a child, “You don’t appreciate at the time what goes into a school behind the scenes, and how much people are doing, it’s nice to see how I can make a difference and helping the teaching staff and leadership teams try to improve”. 

 

What does HR look like at Harris?

Harris is a complex organisation with over 50 schools across London and Essex, as well as a central office in Croydon. When people first join the Federation, it can be different to what they may expect. For Eilidh, she imagined the schools would have a lot less autonomy than they do, “The Harris schools I’ve been to so far all seem really different. I thought they would all be the same, almost like having the exact same identity but they’re not at all. They are all unique establishments but still have all that support in the background which helps to run the school effectively but the Principals are able to make their own decisions which is great”. 

Explaining what his role involves, Jonathan said, “It’s very varied. I try to get out to academies at least three days a week. But it’s good to show my face at head office too. But one day I could be in Science Academy East London, the next at St John’s Wood, and then at Tottenham, or supporting a new school joining the Federation, or helping a colleague with one of their academies, there’s always a lot going on”. 

At Harris, we have an HR network made up of people based in each of our schools someone who manages the HR queries and processes for that academy. In our larger academies, this might be someone who is dedicated to HR, and in our smaller schools, this person may also manage other tasks for the schools such as Finance and Administration. Jonathan explained how this network works alongside him and the rest of the central HR team, “Each academy will have some element of HR which is a blessing to have that onsite resource, and I’m enjoying developing a good relationship with them to understand what’s going on and providing them with support when things become more formal. It’s great to give them more confidence and develop their skill sets and knowledge. We have a Teams chat set up that we talk daily on, and it’s lovely to see them ask each other questions and also be able to keep an eye on what’s going on and communicate with them regularly, so they know they’re not on their own”.

 

Transformational projects

Whilst a lot of the role of HR involves advice and processes, there are also larger-scale project work that the team get involved in. The biggest in the coming months will be the introduction of a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software which will support the Federation to manage many of its day-to-day activities and will transform a lot of the current ways of working. When talking about the ERP project, Eilidh told us, “It’s going to be a very big change to how the academies operate from an HR point of view and everything will be more joined up which will be a big shift with different systems involved and moving away from what is more of a paper-based approach. So, I think it’s something that’s exciting to be involved with”. 

Jonathan also discussed some of the work he is supporting, “I’m focussing on the development of the new National Institute of Teaching as Harris is one of the founding MATs and this will involve the TUPE of staff. I’m also working with what will potentially be a new academy joining us soon so that is another exciting project”. 

 

The skills needed to work in HR at Harris

Working within the HR team definitely presents lots of opportunities to get involved in some exciting work but what skills and experience do the team look for? Eilidh highlights the importance of time management, “We have such a large group of schools that we work with so being able to manage that effectively and taking the time to develop relationships with lots of different people is very important. It can be challenging but it’s also a great development opportunity because operating in that way is quite common in HR, and thankfully everyone is really nice to work with”. 

Jonathan is in the process of recruiting an HR Advisor and emphasised the traits he looks for in someone joining his team, “I need someone I can trust. I don’t like to micromanage people, that’s not my style so I need to be able to trust someone to get on with the job but also identify when they need help and ask for it. Ideally, they will have some knowledge of HR processes and procedures but I’ll be mentoring them initially anyway. But a basic understanding of employee relations, what a disciplinary process looks like, and what an investigation looks like will be useful. Probably most importantly though, we want someone who is a team player, who will be willing to help out colleagues, and not scared to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in”. 

Being part of the central HR team is “really great and very supportive” concluded Eilidh who went on to say, “It’s nice being part of a big team because you’ve got this diversity of opinions and working styles”. Jonathan agreed with this and mentioned the people he works with, “We’re a very close team and all quite new. We come from different backgrounds but they’re a great bunch and we like to have a laugh as well as deliver our professional services. It’s important to be able to enjoy the work you do and the people you work with, they’re a great team and I’m very happy working with them”.