An insight into the professional lives of our ladies
Celebrating Women's Day
In the spirit of Women's Day, this is an ideal opportunity to highlight some of the great ladies working in the Tugela People Team! Below you will find several contributions from team members that rose to the occasion and provided us with an insight into their professional lives.
Charlotte Edwards, Project Manager
"I started working in Human Resources after graduating, not really knowing what I wanted to do or the type of organisation I wanted to work for. Then, a few years in, I realised that whilst I enjoyed supporting businesses, their people and employee development, the company I was working for at the time wasn't where I wanted to be.
So, I took a leap of faith, leaving my secure role and network for a temporary maternity cover elsewhere. I had moved from a very well-known global organisation to a Management Consultancy of less than 100 employees that I'd never heard of. Whilst there were numerous challenges along the way, it felt like a much more suitable environment and culture for me and what I wanted from my working life. I remained there for almost ten years, and it was due to changes in the business and my personal life that led me to take that next leap.
This is where I found Tugela People and HR system implementation. While I had been a customer implementing a system in my previous role, I was now on the implementation side and what a change! I took the approach that I had valuable experience from my HR background to contribute to the role and that this was about enhancing my skill set and learning about systems and configuration.
My recent move into a Project Management role feels like it has brought together my background and passion in understanding and supporting businesses and their People function with my more recent knowledge of the Sage People HR system. I continue to develop my skillset - this time around, best practice to Project Management, with support from my team at Tugela People and my colleagues at Sage People.
I have tried to learn from my experiences over the years. When things have worked for me professionally, I look to see what I can do to get the most out of it; enhancing my confidence, supporting my personal development, and at the right time, I have taken the next step in my career. When things haven't been so great, I have been lucky to have supportive people around me, so reaching out to that network is key. I have also tried to learn from those experiences and what I would do differently if they were to happen again. This has also helped me identify what is important to me from my career at that stage of my life. Whilst I've always needed to enjoy my role, the organisation's culture and the support I get from my network has always been high on my list of priorities. I've also learnt that things change; companies and roles, along with my own needs, and when it has felt necessary, I have reappraised my priorities that have often led me to make the decisions I have so far in my career."
Susan Martin, HRIS Technical Support Consultant
"With a strong coordination background and having gathered extensive experience in my career, including legal contracts, compliance, systems and processes, people and training, this has enabled me to view the broader impacts and requirements that today's HRIS needs to deliver to businesses.
My natural tenacity and curiosity bring both positives and negatives to the table - negative in that my expectations are always higher than they need to be and positive in that what I deliver is robust with longevity in functionality to the client.
Working in the Tugela People Managed Services team has enabled me to bring all these skills together, with the ability to translate client requirements through the system, pushing it to deliver to their needs and beyond.
Working from home has given me a much-needed work-life balance. With the long-awaiting and upcoming addition of a four-legged furry to the home soon, I have found a role that challenges me and enables me to finally own a dog responsibly."
Sam Spink, HRIS Technical Support Consultant
"My role is to provide ongoing support to Tugela People customers who use Sage People. I came to Tugela People from a position where I implemented and developed an HR system for an IT company. Before this, most of my professional career was in recruitment-focused roles.
I have been quite fortunate to have been in positions where my team has supported me. However, I always felt that there was always someone who was one step ahead in training or experience, which kept me from progressing within the same company.
Approximately four years ago, I was diagnosed with dyslexia, which was one of the best things to happen to me. This diagnosis made me understand and learn how to absorb information and highlighted the areas that I needed to pay extra attention to, helping me gain further confidence as a working professional.
This experience enabled me to join Tugela People as a confident, knowledgeable employee. Although there is still a great deal to learn, I know that I have the skills, competencies and support to grow and further expand my horizons."
We are proud of our People
We recognise our strength lies not just in their expertise and deep knowledge of technology, HR and outsourcing, but also their commitment and care to our clients. Our international team of consultants and support staff are passionate and driven. They love making the complex simple and sharing their HR tech knowledge so ‘things’ work better.
