Human Resources Business Partners

Antonia: "We provide professional HR support and advice to the various teams, departments and faculties across the University, as well as to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and The College Merthyr Tydfil. Some of us also lead on specific people initiatives, such as employee recruitment, engagement, learning and development, health and wellbeing etc."

Julie: "We work with people at all levels across the business to look at ways we can continually improve USW and make it a great place to work. We work with managers to keep asking the question “How can we do things better?” and then helping to get that done."

Ceri: "There’s no such thing as a typical day in HR, which means the role brings variety and challenge."

Alison: "The best part of the job is making a difference – whether this is to an individual, team, or the University strategy. Managers often come to us with ‘problems’ or when things are complex and they are unsure of the best way forward. It’s good to be able to provide solutions and coach managers to resolutions that work for them and their teams."

Julie: "We can't always talk about the positive things we do because of individuals’ privacy: behind the scenes we do a lot of constructive and supportive work and, due to confidentiality, we’d never spread that wider. But we can be proud knowing we’ve supported colleagues going through all kinds of challenging situations."

Rebecca: "Over the past two years we’ve had the opportunity to be key drivers in endorsing and encouraging working more flexibly. We believe it’s really important to adopt more flexible working practices as it underpins a culture based upon trust, autonomy, and inclusivity. We also believe the University’s approach to hybrid working for many roles will also be a crucial factor in attracting and retaining talent."

Julie: "We support a lot of very difficult and sensitive conversations. And however long you've worked in the job, that still isn't always easy. We are human too!"

James: "Juggling the diversity of the role; being able to dedicate enough time to everything we do is a real challenge but one that provides a lot of job satisfaction too."