Roy Martin

After leaving university I held several company administration roles and soon began to focus more on people management because of the amount of employment legislation being introduced at the time. I saw how people-friendly policies and practices led to higher commitment and better performance and decided HR was the career path for me. One of my career highlights was setting up a diversity function at Teesside Power Station. We had an agreement with the local authorities and unions to ensure the people we recruited to the new site represented the local population. This meant incorporating new elements into our HR policies and setting up a team of first-contact advisers to answer questions about how diversity should be applied across the organisation. It helped ensure the successful application of our policies without resorting to grievance handling.