Daniel Younghusband, Human Resources and Organisational Development Business Partner
What is your job title and what year did you join the HRA?
Human Resources (HR) and Organisational Development (OD) Business Partner. I joined in 2020.
What motivated you to work in this field?
Like most people, I found my career by accident. I did Psychology at university because… well… it was the only course I had enough UCAS points for and only really became interested during a module on Occupational Psychology. That sparked my interest in HR and the rest as they say is history.
What would you like us to know about your work at the HRA?
Having worked in different HR environments, I really value working as part of an internal HR team and supporting and engaging with all staff. I’m the team’s HR policy lead, meaning that I have responsibility for all of the HR policies that we have. This involves keeping up to date with legislative changes as well as wider policy best practice from across the sector. Last year, we introduced our reproductive health suite of policies which included new leave if parents to be lose their baby, and we were the first arm's length body to match leave entitlements for father's too.
What are the interesting challenges in your work?
This year we’ve shifted our priorities to focus and support strategic workforce planning and resourcing in our digital directorate as we develop our digital services. It’s been interesting to learn the intricacies and complexities of recruiting people in the tech sector, as well as some of the market challenges.
Do you have any career tips to share?
I’d always recommend talking with the recruiting manager before applying and using that conversation not just to find out about the day-to-day job, but to find out whether the role is the one for you. There’s nothing wrong with asking about working patterns, your intended flexible working request, making sure that you can still drop the kids off at school for a couple of mornings. If it's important to you, make sure you can make it work. There’s nothing worse than applying for a job, hoping for hybrid and then being offered 5 days a week in the office (not that that would happen at the HRA of course!).
What’s your favourite part of working at the HRA?
We’re super family friendly. As a working dad I massively appreciate our culture around flexible working and what this gives me in balancing work and home life.
Outside of the responsibilities of your role, what is there to get involved in at the HRA?
There are several staff networks providing space for colleagues with lived experiences of various protected characteristics to talk and share and seek support. Our Staff Voices group (which meets to discuss issues that may impact HRA staff and raise questions, concerns and ideas on behalf of colleagues) does so much for our staff and never ceases to impress me.