Move of the Month

Home Retail Group wants some of what Ella Bennett is selling – they’re appointing her their new HRD for the UK and Ireland.

Previously at Fujitsu in various roles, she is credited with turning around their ailing HR department during the financial crisis. In recognition of that she was presented the CIPD award for Building HR Capability in 2012.

Their UK CEO at the time commented that she opened his eyes to how HR contributes to the bottom line of their business.

Before Fujitsu, Bennett worked in the voluntary sector, for charities such as Mind and Family Service Units. There, she says, she learnt the fundamentals of how to bring about change to an organisation’s structure. She also developed a deep admiration for those who successfully help others.

Her new employer, Home Retail Group, is probably more familiar to most of us as Homebase, Argos and Habitat, and is one of the UK’s largest retail groups.

It is currently undergoing a big shift from the traditional high street and catalogue platform to an online one, something that Bennett’s experience should come in handy with, as she oversaw a similar transition at Fujitsu.

Home Retail Group will probably be looking to emulate the successes of other high street retailers like John Lewis and Next who capitalised early in adapting to the web. In doing so, they’ll be changing the makeup of their employee base, which will bring with it a number of HR hurdles.

When she isn’t vaulting said hurdles, to relax Ella says she enjoys running, cycling and swimming, as well as the theatre and opera. That certainly sounds a lot healthier and more cultured than ice cream and re-runs of 90s sitcoms, but we can’t all be perfect.

About the author

Jerome Langford

Jerome is a graduate in Philosophy from St Andrews, who alternately spends time writing about HR and staring wistfully out of windows, thinking about life’s bigger questions: Why are we here? How much lunch is too much lunch? What do you mean exactly by ‘final warning’?