Genevieve Glover

When I arrived at AEG 14 months before the O2 opened in June 2007 it was a company of 70 staff with few HR systems in place. Following an audit to establish the status of HR within the business, I started from scratch. I worked with the senior leadership team to develop a vision for the O2 and produced an HR strategy that would support this. I recruited my initial team of five and by January 2007 we had implemented all the systems and processes to support the day-to-day HR and were ready to commence the operational recruitment. Early on we adopted a strong local labour policy through the pre-employment training programme, which we set up with Greenwich Local Labour and Business (GLLaB), part of Greenwich Council. This aimed to get local people job ready through externally accredited recruitment and training schemes, which offered residents practical skills to help them into employment. Those who passed were fast-tracked into our selection process.