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HELEN MATTHEWS | INTERVIEW
HELEN MATTHEWS CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER, OGILVY UK
INTERVIEWED BY JASON SPILLER & PHOTOGRAPHED BY STUART THOMAS
Helen, tell us about your early life and how you strayed onto the path for a career in HR? I graduated in the early 1990s - this was slap bang in the middle of the recession, so not what could be termed great timing. Nevertheless, armed with a degree in business studies and a strong leaning towards media management I set out to start my career. In terms of interest at this point, HR was not a driving factor of my career ambitions and with a somewhat ambiguous objective, I began by taking just about any job - and some could only be described as terrible. Unperturbed, I was keen to experience as much as I could and almost subconsciously, I could see the impact on organisations where there was a strong learning culture, could see the benefits and I often found myself taking on a learning element within some of those roles, often quite organically. So, fresh out of uni and in my early 20s, I started to gain a clearer idea of what I wanted to do and a career path of sorts began to form. Sure enough, a role in L&D came along which galvanised everything, along with some exposure to personnel, as was then. It's a personality trait of mine that I don't like busking, playing it by ear, I want people to be convinced that I know my stuff. I wanted to strengthen my credibility, so I self-funded to study for the CIPD at night school. With qualifications gained, suddenly opportunities began to open up, and a clearer understanding of the people element of business began to take form in my mind, and along my first generalist role came with the NHS. Ironically, to date, it was the hardest and most rigorous selection process I’ve faced. As a place to start, you'd be hard pushed to find one that tests your mettle so vigorously as the NHS, and in retrospect I have the greatest respect for the resolute stoicism that everyone in the health service demonstrates, no matter what level or role. I really earned my stripes there, and I was working with a highly intelligent and challenging management team, together with a high volume of employee relations issues, and strong financial and commercial rigour. I look back at this earlier
exposure and testing times and realise that it was the sort of grounding that would set any practitioner up for life. However, there was something niggling me that I couldn't ignore for long, and that was the allure of and passion for, media. It was an itch I simply could not scratch and I knew that I would have to change track.
Tat is unusual, most people that start in the NHS are sucked in for life. Yes, despite the rigour and relentless pressure, the length of tenure in the health service is a testament to people that enter that world as a calling, for most it’s truly vocational, and those who stay are a hundred percent behind its purpose. I value our NHS deeply, however, I’d always been interested in media and creative industries, so for me it was all about a passion move. I joined MCPRS (the music and performance copyrighting company) which was a short-term step that, luckily for me led on to ITN, one of my dream jobs. News broadcasting was an incredibly dynamic world to be in and in the two years I was there, I began to work at a more strategic level, partnering with the resourcing management team. This was when the industry was on the cusp of several new technologies - from faster, easier ability to self-shoot video, to the early days of digital. There were significant challenges to both, from cultural change, to embracing these new ways of working, through to ensuring robust development of existing staff, and talent acquisition with these new skill sets. I’ll never forget the mentoring and support that I received there. The fast pace and the very nature of breaking news every day, was both exhilarating and challenging, and I loved it. I also experienced how technology can challenge people with existing skill sets and force the necessity to adopt new ways of operating. That of course has been a compelling and unavoidable narrative of our time and I learnt of the important role that employers must play to enable people to stay relevant and skilled in the face of change.
Tell us about your next career step? As the new millennium dawned - as much as I loved ITN - I made a move to SAP to take up a role as HR Consultant. This was Y2K, and after a time where technology was dictating a hectic pace, suddenly all industries were readying themselves for the potential IT crash, and a complete reversal of fortunes for many. Suddenly and surprisingly, nobody was investing in new software and for SAP and many other tech-based businesses, staying afloat was all about stabilisation and consolidation, whereas before, it had been all about acceleration and growth. Unquestionably, it was an odd set of circumstances that was unnerving. It must have been such a shock for tech players that knew nothing other than meteoric rise in living memory. There was a challenging task ahead and first up, we had to gain a grip on some cultural issues, if we were going to adapt to the new landscape at that time. Initial focus was on behavioural change and cultural shift, to drive the next phase of growth. As with all large scale change, not everyone was on board for that, and that brought its own challenges, from a talent retention and acquisition point of view. But the change simply could not be side-stepped or avoided, we needed to adapt and embed new ways of operating, it was great experience. It was intense and absorbing work, but the experience of working under such pressure was invaluable to me. Once this project had finished, a role came my way with a new tech business that really intrigued me, and it couldn't have been more different from the corporate culture of SAP.
The new role was with the pioneering online holiday booking company called
Deckchair.com which was owned at the time by Bob Geldof. It was a frenzied, fizz of energy - right at the heart of those so-called duvet days and new ways of working… the dotcom bubble. There was only a base level of personnel support, so my role as Head of HR was a new entity in the organisation. The
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