Meet Matt Robinson, HR business partner at Thornton & Ross – our newest network chair! Here he shares his thought on current challenges facing HR professionals and how being a member of the network has already benefitted their business.

Please tell us a little about yourself:
I’m Matt Robinson – HR Business Partner at Thornton & Ross. We are one of the UK’s fastest-growing, leading producers of household pharmaceutical products, and own some of the country’s most loved brands such as Covonia®, Hedrin®, Cetraben® as well as the leading disinfectant Zoflora®. I’ve been a proud member of the T&R team for the last 12 months and currently look after the central services HR team. Before T&R I spent 13 years with Asda in various roles in stores and in the home office.

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing HR professionals?
The last 18 months have been challenging for many reasons and will impact HR professionals for a long time to come. The first challenge we are already facing is flexible working, closely followed by employee turnover either through redundancy and restructures linked to the pandemic, and now as the labour market reopens and new opportunities become available. Thirdly, I see the recruitment and attraction of talent to be a big challenge in the next few years. Salary costs are likely to increase and the labour market could become a much more competitive market.

How can the group help to address these challenges?
The group is a great tool for us all to voice our opinions, share our stories, and support each other in our decision making with the aim of supporting and growing business across Yorkshire and the Humber. Already we have seen positive and constructive discussions taking place in the last 12 months that have improved employee benefits across many of our members.

How has the HR Yorkshire group benefitted your organisation so far?
We have been able to review and benchmark our current employee benefits with other businesses. Usually, this is done to gain a competitive advantage, but with the support of the other group members, we have been able to align ourselves with other great companies across Yorkshire and the Humber as well as help us think outside the box with different initiatives.

How should I get involved?
Contact Lisa Buck at CATCH – lisa.buck@catchuk.org