Kate Bacchus CMHRNZ

What led you to a career in HR/ the position that you are in currently?  

I work in a career that I never even knew existed when I was at school. I never aspired to be in HR when I was at school. 

I started out in Hotel Management, and that is still important to me as it's focused around customer service and experience.  After a number of years, I remember considering my manager's position and his manager's position in relation to my next career step, and realised that neither of them interested me.  What I was loving was the cross-training program I'd developed, the team members that were developing and moving into roles and departments.  What I was loving was around developing the team!   

So I transferred in the HR department and went back to uni, and did a Post Grad Diploma in Business, majoring in HR.  And the rest they say is history - 25 years of working in HR in UK, Australia and NZ from the railways to vineyards to professional services firms, and everything in between.  Now, I'm working as an independent HR Consultant and Coach. The key connector is people, and experiences! 
 

What do you love about working in HR?  

I love the connections with people, and watching on as they navigate new experiences, roles, leading teams, negotiating deals, etc that you helped support them in some way.  That being said, I'm pretty commercial too - and so enjoy the intersection between people experience within business and how the company is managed, their priorities, focuses, decision making, or a successful Collective bargaining round etc. 
 

Are there any specific highlights of your career that you wish to share?  

So many highlights but two to share. First, coming back from London and taking on a job in railway infrastructure during the short tenure that it was delivered by a public / private partnership.  I was working with these most amazing people from Westport and Hokitita to Port Chalmers and through to Helensville that maintained the rail infrastructure for the country.  We created a NZQA training programme, introduced and recruited new people to the industry, developed supervisors and managers, won awards and created an amazing team!  

The second highlight is with mixed emotions, and that is navigating the last 2.5 years during COVID with employees based in 3 States of Australia and NZ!  With the constant creation of 'new' everything, the uncertainty, being up on the details of what was happening, changing and needed and being the face and voice of communicating that to the managers, the people and at time their family members.  I'm immensely proud of what my team and I delivered in that time period, but at the same time, it was taxing on us collectively as with many HR practitioners globally! 
 

What are your thoughts on Chartered Membership? How do you feel about being a Chartered Member?   

Personally, I think Chartered Membership is important within the HR profession and as a professional knowledge worker. It is a recognition that you know what you do in HR but also that you keep up to play with continuous professional development. I think it is so important to be continuously learning, challenging yourself and then stepping forward with a growth mindset.   

What motivated you to work towards becoming a Chartered Member?  

For all the reasons above (albeit the professional development requirements were a bit different when I became a Chartered Member in October 2010), but also my father was a lawyer and he'd been a founding and chartered member of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of NZ.  Early on in my career I also worked with Chartered Accountants and Engineers, so I always saw it as an important step in being recognised as a professional. 
 

What steps have you taken in your career since becoming a Chartered Member?  

As I said, I've been a Chartered Member for 12 years in October, so - the steps are countless!  However, I continue to be involved (formally via HRNZ and informally) with mentoring HR professionals and also in being part of the assessment panel for Chartered Member applications.  I really enjoy meeting new people and learning about their HR experience and learning journey during interactions.  From my perspective, I think being or applying for Chartered Membership is well worth it!