Oliver Macphee - HR Manager - on his journey at Hovis so far.

What is your position at Hovis and some of your key responsibilities?

I am the HR Manager for our Glasgow and Bradford sites.?

My role is incredibly varied and unpredictable which makes it such an enjoyable role. Broadly I have responsibility for delivering and supporting the people agenda - this includes areas such as colleague engagement, recruitment and retention, learning and development and supporting the functions we have on site with their people plans. I take pride in working alongside the leadership teams to give our people the best environment to work in that we can.?

Tell us about your career journey.

I started my Hovis career in a placement capacity through my studies at University. Hovis supported me through my dissertation by allowing me to use the site as a case study. Following the completion of my studies I was given experience in a HR Administrator role with the intention of this being a short term position to assist the day to day in the department. I was then offered the role of HR Advisor for the Glasgow site. During this time I was exposed to our sites in Erith, Bradford and Belfast amongst others. Following this, I moved into the HR Manager role for Glasgow - this then led to my current role as Dual Site HR Manager for both Glasgow and Bradford. Quite a journey!

What do you enjoy the most about your job?

As cliche and obvious as it is for a people professional to say, it is definitely the interactions with the people across our sites. We have a diverse and talented colleague population and getting to speak with and learn from these people on a daily basis is a privilege.???

What’s your favourite thing about working at Hovis?

There is a real sense of community when you work for Hovis and this is the case across all our sites. The passion and pride our people have in their role is inspiring and makes it easy to strive to do your best each and every day. This is demonstrable in the average length of service we have as a business. Once you join Hovis, you tend to stay!?

Any advice to people wanting to get into the HR sector???

Go for it, if you love solving problems and supporting people then HR is the right place for you. The beauty of HR is it is transferable across industries. Fundamentally people are people, and whilst you may have nuances unique to the domain you operate in, effective people management and great leadership is universal.?

Favourite Hovis product?

Definitely our Seed Sensation loaf, absolutely delicious.