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Virgin Atlantic Hr Interview

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HRDIRECTOR
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Life is never easy in the airline industry… then again,it’s never dull
HRD INTERVIEW: Jill Brady Director of HR - Virgin Atlantic Airways

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Issue 83

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100

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It’s very similar for the HR team and I found that what I knew from managing the legal team could help me in leading the HR function. An airline is a complex, highly regulated and very commercially volatile organisation. The HR team has to understand the business and the challenges it will face, getting the right people in place and knowing what skills and capabilities those people will need in the short, medium and long term. I know there is a lot of debate in HR circles about HR’s seat on the board, and it baffles me that there has ever been need for such a debate. What could be more important in any organisation than its people? I already had my seat at the board, but when I took on HR, I knew I could use that seat to get the right conversations going about our people, and what we needed to do to make sure we could deliver a successful business through our people. Commercial airline business is arguably the toughest sector of all, and in recent times, it has been rocked by so many challenges. Life is never easy in the aviation industry but then again, it’s never dull! When I took responsibility for HR we were just coming out of a very tough time in 2008/9, it was probably only the second time we had had to downsize the business significantly, and many people and managers in the business had never been through that kind of

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