Claire Holmes

Role:Director for Organisational Development and Workforce

What I do

I am the Executive Director for Organisational Development & Workforce and I lead the Human Resources (HR), Organisational Development (OD) and Communications teams. My role is to ensure we provide a positive working environment where our staff are – and feel – valued, developed, and engaged.

How I contribute to improving the experience of service users and carers

It’s an old cliché to say our staff are our greatest asset, but that doesn’t make it any less true! Part of my role is to listen to staff and service user feedback and use it to influence the direction of the HR & OD strategy. I want to make sure we give people development opportunities at work to help create a skilled workforce which is able to deliver quality specialist mental health and LD services.

 

My experience:

I fell in love with HR from the start of my career and 17 years and 2 degrees later I still feel just as passionate about it and the value it can bring to an organisation!

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, I was formerly the Group HR Director of the NPS Group – a national multi-disciplinary property design and consultancy company wholly owned by Norfolk County Council.

I have worked across a variety of sectors including professional services, financial services, retail and the NHS.

From University, I joined Aviva (then Norwich Union Insurance) on its fast track HR graduate programme based in Norwich. Two whirlwind years later, and having gained a master’s in Strategic HR Management, I took a permanent role delivering major change programmes nationally for Aviva and a host of its subsidiary companies including the RAC, Auto Windscreens and car checking service HPI.

I left Aviva to become Strategic HR Business Partner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Mental Health Trust and supported its successful journey to Foundation Trust status, eventually moving on to further my career by joining the NPS group.