Gareth - Human Resources Business Partner
I joined Nestlé in May 2004 as a Business Partner. Previously I had worked at Ford Motor Company for three years on their graduate scheme, working initially in Dagenham Engine Plant as an Employee Relations Officer and then in the Head Office as a Personnel Officer for the IT function. Whilst I enjoyed the responsibility immediately given to me on the Ford programme, I decided to join Nestlé as I felt that my studies and interest in development and psychology would be better placed in a business where this had a greater focus.
My initial role with Nestlé was working for one of the HR Directors within the Beverage Division. Due to the importance of the division and my relative inexperience, my manager worked with the MD and board as a group, while I worked with each board member and their respective teams. I really enjoyed the variety of this role as it allowed me to work with sales, marketing, finance, supply chain and production, all of whom had different styles and requirements. My role allowed me to focus on the more progressive (and interesting) elements of HR and I quickly began taking an organisational development approach to my work with these functions. Strongly supported by both my boss and the teams I worked with, I received a great deal of classroom training and experiential learning and had some great successes in developing individuals and teams within the business.
After 6 months or so, I was asked to support some of the corporate sales teams and began some additional project roles working on the re-introduction of a sales intern and graduate programme, and a company-wide leadership development programme. This was all fantastic development for me and I really enjoyed the stretch of the various projects and initiatives I became involved in. I was also supported to undertake my MSc in Occupational Psychology by Nestlé which meant giving up a great deal of my personal time over the following two years, but proved to be of great benefit to both me and the businesses I have worked with.
During the summer of 2005, I was given the opportunity to take on the role of Business Partner for our Chilled Dairy business, whilst continuing my role with Beverage. This was a big stretch for me as I now had to report to the Chilled Dairy MD (as well as my HR boss) and now contribute as a member of the board within this business. After only six months in this position, a decision was made at our corporate head office to put the business into a joint venture, which meant I had to manage an enormous project involving TUPE, trade union negotiations and visits to Europe to discuss our progress. Whilst it was a lengthy and challenging project, I learnt a massive amount and played a key role in successfully transitioning the existing business into the joint venture.
Following this position, there was a restructure within my HR team and I was given another opportunity to take full responsibility for HR within the Beverage division. This was also a challenging position to undertake. The Beverage division is very important to our business and had previously always been supported by a HR Director but I was now to report to the MD of the division and the first key objective I was given was to merge our Food Business Unit with the Beverage Division… thankfully, my learning from Chilled Dairy paid dividends here!
Over the three years or so with Nestlé, the positions and responsibilities that I have had, have developed me enormously. It has certainly been tough at times, especially trying to complete my MSc alongside, but the rewards and support that I have received have always made it worthwhile and enjoyable… most of the time! I’m not sure what’s on the horizon for me, but I’m sure it will be a challenge and I’ll continue to learn a lot from it.
