Spotlight on Sue Pardy

Sue runs face2faceHR; a small franchise and she looks after the Milton Keynes area. She has been doing that for five years. She helps small businesses with their HR. Most small businesses need HR, but they don’t need a permanent full-time resource, so Sue can be that resource. She can be the outsource support; supporting MDs or finance managers who sometimes get lumbered with HR! She can help with recruitment through to terminations, if that’s what’s needed; and everything in between – the good, the bad and the ugly!

How did you come to be doing what you're doing today? I fell into HR. I didn't do a degree in HR - there wasn't a degree in HR when I was graduating. I did English literature, which is a really lovely subject. But it doesn't necessarily specify a career that you could go forward with. I struggled with getting a job and went back home to Blackpool, which is where I was living at the time with my parents. And my mum said, “Well, you need to get a job. So how are you going to do that?” I went to a postgraduate secretarial course, and I learned shorthand and word processing skills. I had 100 words a minute shorthand at one point!

I came out with a postgraduate, secretarial verification, and still didn't have a job. I was lucky enough to become secretarial assistant at the National Trust. I was known as a “floater”! That was the term that they called us, because there was about six of us and we floated around the building, covering for absence, and holiday. It was a really good and interesting job, because the National Trust is very interesting, and it has lots of different departments. I used to get the gigs in personnel.

And because I'd been in there a while, they always asked for me and I realised that I quite liked personnel and I then applied to become the secretary to the personnel manager. I learned a huge amount from her. I did a diploma in personnel management at night school at the University of Westminster a couple of nights a week which took two years.

After five enjoyable years with the National Trust, I went to work for the National Health Service in Bedford. That was a baptism by fire! All the niceness of the charity world, then suddenly I learned all about disciplinaries and grievances. I was very lucky, I had a wonderful manager who said you’re going to decide if you're staying in the NHS and make it your career, or you need to get out because you'll be pigeonholed and other companies will be very nervous about taking you on, because of your public sector background.

So I left and I went from the NHS to KPMG. A fantastic opportunity and that was when I came to Milton Keynes. This was the first time I'd worked in a big corporate. I’ve stayed with HR and worked for some very big companies. I even worked in Australia. I got to the stage where I was doing a part time job as an HR manager for a small business in Milton Keynes, but it wasn't enough to fill my week. As I really enjoyed providing HR for a small business, I thought why not give it a go on my own? I can’t remember how I found face2faceHR, but as I was scared about going out on my own, I thought that would overcome the nervousness as I would be supported by the franchisor and other franchisees. The back up would be there. So, five years ago I took the plunge!

I'm very lucky with my brand because I feel quite independent, a lot of people don't realise that I'm a franchise. But equally, I feel quite independent - the franchise lets us have quite free rein, as long as it is all within the brand parameters. I like the brand. I like our colours and all those sorts of things that you have to be appreciative of when you go into buying a business.

What's the driving force behind your business? I suppose it was a basic need for finance and security - to fill my week with more HR work because I couldn't get another part time. But my “why” has developed over time. I know it sounds corny, but it is about making a difference. I found when I work for corporate companies, I was just a person - they didn't know who I was. If I left, my team would have been bothered! Working with small businesses I know that my advice, or my training that I've worked through with them, is making a difference. I know that because I'm talking to the business owner, or the MD, that I've got their ear. They ring me just to bounce something off, because they know they might have got the idea; they might have the answer, but they just want to double check it. And that makes me feel good. It makes me feel motivated that I am doing a good job and making a difference within their business.

I think one of the things I really do sort of harp on about is most people think HR is about processes. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of processes, but it is also about human beings – “H” stands for “human”! Even if you're following a process, that's fine, everybody can follow that process. But it's about how you do it, it's about putting that respect and dignity in place if you are dealing with a redundancy for example. You can still talk to the people as they're humans. You've worked with them for years - just because you've followed a redundancy process doesn't mean you lose that humanity. It is one of the things that I try to instil as much as possible with what I do. That's my take on it and what you do is important, but it's how you do it that is absolutely critical.

What makes you different from your competitors? I think my experience has helped me. I haven't just worked for one organisation - I've had about 15 different roles. That brings a richness to my experience from all the different cultures, I've experienced; all the different ways of managing all the different cases that I've had. I've worked in education, retail charities, professional services, financial services, a whole raft of different industries, and all of them have their little nuances and their cultures. It sounds a bit trite but my style won't suit everybody. For me, it's about finding that right fit. Most of my clients find that I'm very practical. I've got a lot of common sense because HR is about common sense. A lot of it is understanding people and how you deal with those nuances. Personality does come into it and I try to have fun. It's important if you're dealing with a difficult situation sometimes - it's important to have a laugh.

Some cases must be harrowing for you, so how do you personally cope with that?

It's an interesting one isn't it? Emotionally I try to distant myself because it is not my business. From my point of view, you do come across the stress and the tears with some of the jobs I do with clients, but you do become a broad pair of shoulders and then almost a counsellor for some people. People want to offload their problems sometimes. I have learnt over time to switch off. My husband sometimes comments that he doesn’t know how I deal with it. I try and move on – take a break, listen to music, go for a walk or watch some rubbish TV to take my mind off things. I have lots of good friends for support too. We've got a WhatsApp group for our franchisees and if somebody's having a bad day, there is that option for an offload in that private space with people who understand.

What would you say is the biggest challenge that you have faced in your business to date? For me personally, just learning about business. When I started the franchise, that was probably the biggest learning curve. The HR “stuff” was obviously all right, but I had to learn about accounting, marketing, and so on. I’d also never networked - I'd heard about networking but had this vision that it was all very cultish, with people rolling up trousers and silly handshakes and things like that! Delving into the world of networking was an eye opener and now I see the benefits.

It's just meeting other people that were in exactly the same situation and hearing about their stories and their journeys - I've made some great friends. I look back at it and think how nervous I must have been at the start.

If you could give one top tip for any business owner out there, what would that top tip be? I think it would be to always bear processes in mind always bear employment law in mind. However, don't let it stop you having honest discussions with your employees and get to know your employees and care about them. You know, particularly in small businesses, it's really, really key that people do get on. And that will start from the top. So if you lead by example, with having open and honest communications, then hopefully that will feed down into the rest of your workforce and will become your culture.

Watch the interview

This is an extract of a video interview – to watch the full session, visit: https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Y7nBgEweec0