2020 Influential Businesswoman Awards

Acquisition International - 2020 Worldwide Finance Awards 29 orcestershire-based Cherington HR is dedicated to working with growing businesses, particularly within the professional, scientific and technical sectors to provide practical HR support and advice, particularly in managing Critical People Problems. Founded and managed by award-winning HR consultant, Helen Astill, Cherington HR has provided services in managing performance issues, psychometric profiling and more to over 250 businesses in the last fourteen years. Having originally trained as a physics teacher, Helen’s career path evolved towards generalist HR, leading her into roles as Personnel Manager and Employee Relations Manager for the UK Atomic Energy Authority in Culham, Oxfordshire. Following this, she worked for four years as HR and Support Services Manager for engineering giant GKN plc at their Corporate Centre, prior to striking out on her own to begin Cherington HR in 2006. Combined with her experience as an HR Associate of the EEF and Committee Adviser for the Remuneration & Governance Committee of a regional Housing Group, Helen was armed with ample expertise to provide advice and support as an external HR consultant. After working in large corporations, setting up on her own was a daunting prospect for Helen, yet by doing so, she was able to prove the doubters wrong. All those who had said she only knew about HR, soon saw that Helen was well versed in finance, marketing, sales and that she had the ability to run a successful business. Being a strong problem-solver with scientific attention to detail, occupational psychology training combined with knowledge of business and employment law, as well as some apt analogies born from her passion for sailing, Helen is exceptionally suited for the HR profession. Having spent much of her working life in male-dominated environments, Helen has learned the best ways to make her voice heard, principally through active listening and demonstrating her value rather than simply singing her own praises. Although a predominantly female environment, HR still suffers gender inequality, as women often take on the lower paid roles while men are promoted to senior management roles. However, this is changing, with greater awareness of the implicit bias towards men in the workplace and greater support for women who speak out against adversity they have faced at work, which would previously have been dismissed. Since the #MeToo movement, Helen has dealt with more sexual harassment cases and produced more materials to expand employees’ understanding of what acceptable behaviour in the workplace is. While wanting to avoid tokenism, Helen is supporting the increased availability of career development opportunities to all, irrespective of gender, disability, ethnicity etc. Over Despite being a typically female-dominated sector of any business, Human Resources is still a haunt for gender imbalance in the workplace, as many women take on the lower levels while men often transcend to senior management roles. Helen Astill, Founder of Cherington HR, is changing the perceptions of HR and bringing the focus back to what the industry is really about: people. HR Professional of the Year (West Midlands): Helen Astill W the years, Helen has provided informal and formal advice through networking events, as well as coaching to women who want to set up their own businesses or build confidence to pursue or maintain senior management positions. The HR sector is changing, and not only for women. Growing out of the old-fashioned perceptions that used to surround ‘Personnel’, staffing issues are being dealt with from a business perspective, yet this is not always a positive adjustment. Dealing with employees as numbers on a spreadsheet as businesses do with operations or finance, is insufficient when it comes to managing staff. Instead, employees must be engaged and inspired if business productivity is to flourish, thus HR is more important than ever. As the profession becomes more competitive with degrees in HR becoming more popular, experience of business and people management remains vital for any HR consultant. Helen is therefore proactively looking to keep her business fresh and relevant, including participating in a business support and challenge coaching group and benefiting from structured feedback from colleagues. She was also recently appointed as a Lay Member in the Employment Tribunal, enabling her to stay up to date with her knowledge of employment law. With many businesses making adjustments in how they operate as a result of the global pandemic, the HR sector remains busier than ever. Helen has been developing toolkits to help employers with recruitment and performance management that she hopes to launch over the next year, while simultaneously helping business owners survive the challenges of Coronavirus and adapting to systems of working from home. Helen is continuing to help employers benefit from treating their staff ethically and retaining morale and motivation, even in uncertain times such as these. Contact: Helen Astill Company: Cherington HR Limited