The face of inclusivity: Hannah Barron, Assoc CIPD, HR Administrator
Hannah Barron supports the needs of the team behind Gateway Property Management and the company’s strategic ambitions. Good organisational and people skills are the key to her varied role. Since joining Gateway in October 2016, Hannah has been busy outside of work too, successfully studying for Associate Membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
Hannah brings broad experience of organisational management and support to her role as Human Resource (HR) Administrator at Gateway Property Management. “Moving to Gateway was a natural progression: the next career step,” Hannah explains. In previous roles, including at a London video production company, Hannah was increasingly providing essential HR support. “I really enjoyed the people part of my position and wanted to specialise in this area. It was clear at my Gateway interview that the company offered plenty of opportunities to progress and that has proved the case.”
Hannah joined Gateway Property Management in October 2016. Over the next year, she was supported by Gateway in her studies to become an Associate Member of the HR industry body, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). “I’d shown a keen interest in HR and the business saw the potential,” says Hannah. Studying, while also learning at work, has helped Hannah develop existing skills further and advance quickly in her position.
Hannah’s role is varied and she enjoys the diversity of tasks, alongside meeting people across the company’s nationwide operations. “I get to talk to everyone in the business, from senior managers to junior team members, which is really interesting,” says Hannah. “My involvement supports the company’s strategic and tactical decisions, as well as its people.” Day-to-day responsibilities include helping with recruitment and the candidate interview process, maintaining key personnel data, overseeing contracts, producing management reports and supporting in-house training. “Training is a major focus for Gateway Property Management. We are keen to share what we do here, so everyone understands the big picture and their important role in it.”
No one feels like a cog in a wheel at Gateway, adds Hannah. The HR Administrator puts this down to the positive, family culture. “Everyone is engaged, self-motivated and hardworking. We all want to do a good job and care about each other and the service we deliver. That’s an extremely valuable company culture, which is different from other places. This helps not only with recruitment, but retaining our people too.”
Good organisational and people skills are the key to success in Hannah’s role. Having a head for analytics also helps when processing personnel data. Reports here can support business growth in several ways, including identifying recruitment and training needs. “Helping people to learn and progress in the company, and seeing the business do well as a consequence, are extremely rewarding aspects of my role,” says Hannah.
As for Hannah, her ambitions are to carry on learning about HR and the property sector, both on the job and as part of her Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme to maintain CIPD membership. Hannah has also become part of a local HR group, which gathers quarterly to discuss industry challenges and share best HR practice. In five years’ time, Hannah has set her sights on reaching Chartered CIPD status and, after that, Fellowship one day.
