Case Study

H&S Holdings – Placing two Talent and Reward HR roles

In Summary

Established in 1824, Hill & Smith Holdings PLC (H&S) is an FTSE 250 engineering manufacturing company employing c.4,350 people worldwide. Having grown significantly during the last 10 years predominantly through acquisition, H&S recognised that they needed to invest in HR, people and talent by building HR capability from an HR perspective across the business as a whole.

The Challenges

Andrew Park joined H&S as Chief People Officer in October 2021 and identified the requirement for two new HR roles – Group Head of Reward and Group Head of Talent. Whilst there were pockets of talent legacy programmes, there hadn’t been a strategic focus on reward at group level.

The Head of Reward role incorporated governance, renumeration committee and policies, executive renumeration and comms, long-term incentives, salary benchmarking alongside HR KPIs, systems and strategy. The successful candidate would have prior exposure within reward, and the drive and ability to step up into a more senior role.

A more strategic, forward-thinking role, the Head of Talent required the appointed candidate to look at capability, succession planning, and leadership and management development of the future, areas which hadn’t been invested in previously. This was also a step-up role for an individual working in talent already with a generalist HR background, who could drive these initiatives forward.

H&S was looking for diverse individuals with a breadth of experiences, perspectives and backgrounds. There were additional challenges around the budget and the location in Solihull which made it harder to source talent. As it was a confidential search, BIE couldn’t advertise the roles and prospective candidates needed to sign an NDA.

The Solution

In conjunction with the client, BIE developed job specs and role descriptions and ran both searches in tandem. The process involved researching and mapping the market to create a long list of candidates which was narrowed down to a short list through regular calls with the client to exchange feedback on candidates.

The final interview stage involved deep dive interviews and psychometric tests to ensure the appointed candidates had the required intelligence and capability to be successful in the roles.

The Outcome

BIE placed Hannah Drimer into the Group Head of Reward role and Helen Bellamy into the Group Head of Talent role.

Hannah bought a wealth of Reward knowledge with her, whilst also showing clear career progression within her previous company. She had experience of engaging with senior stakeholders and of conducting salary reviews, benchmarking and of supporting mobility and talent from a Reward perspective. With her ability to form strong relationships and her friendly, engaging personality, BIE knew she would fit in well with Andrew and the
team at Hill & Smith.

Helen had an impressive background in Talent & Development, having led on this nationally for her previous company. Prior to this, Helen was a Business Partner which gave her a broader focus within talent including OD, change management and organisational effectiveness. With her personable style and impressive work ethic, BIE knew that she would be a great addition to Andrew’s team and would work well with Hannah.

Candidate's View

"I would whole-heartedly recommend BIE to candidates considering their next opportunity. Amelia Black was supportive throughout the selection process and always kept me updated. Dealing with someone authentic, I felt I could be myself with, made the process feel natural and inviting. I would like to thank BIE for their help in placing me in this role.”

Hannah Drimer, Group Head of Reward, Hill & Smith Holdings PLC

BIE Executive are everything that a candidate wants from a recruitment business. They arranged an initial call to talk me through the opportunity, establishing if I was a good fit and if the role fitted with my aspirations. I was fully supported through what was a smooth and slick selection process. I’m highly impressed with the whole experience and want to say a huge thank you to Amelia Black and the BIE team for their professional and friendly approach throughout.”

Helen Bellamy, Group Head of Talent, Hill & Smith Holdings PLC

Client's View

"Amelia Black and Maja Markovic were a pleasure to work with and very proactive. If I had thoughts or questions, they were always at the end of the phone; you weren’t waiting for people to call you back. It was a great working relationship and wouldn’t hesitate to use BIE again."

Andrew Park, Chief People Officer, Hill & Smith Holdings PLC