Andy Hover, FCMI, MA, PGDip, Assoc CIPD, has hit the ground running in his new role as Area Director for Dorset at ourHRpeople. Based in Ringwood, Hampshire, he joins ourHRpeople after working in human resources for 28 years. For the last 18 years he has worked within Biotechnology and Chemical sector companies, providing pragmatic, collaborative and commercially astute HR advice and support in the UK, Europe and further afield.
Across his career, Andy has created successful people strategies, building HR capabilities, developing teams and best practice. His CV shows impressive numbers; he contributed to 15% CAGR in revenue over 5 years at Genzyme, and a strengthened One HR service across the EMEAI region at Afton. He enabled business growth and transformation at Bookham Technology through operations start up and extensive M&A, organisation design, talent acquisition, onboarding and training. He also delivered a 30% uplift in new business via the 4DX transformation programme, involving 300+ staff and realised $13 million cost savings from the integration of Genzyme, Sanofi and Merial in UK & Ireland
Andy lives in Ringwood with his wife and four children aged between 20 and 11. In his spare time – which he hopes to have more of as a franchise partner and his own boss – Andy runs a charity, called Batten Fighters Forever, to help families with Children with neurodegenerative disease. Has been known to do ultramarathons and was a talented table tennis competitor.
Andy says, “I’ve had the ambition for the last 15-20 years to work for myself at some point and now I have the opportunity. My last corporate role was in procurement so I could gain commercial experience to take me into general management or my own business. Restructuring gave me the opportunity and funds to take this big, brave step.”
Stephen Wright, managing director of ourHRpeople says: “I am so proud that Andy has chosen to work with ourHRpeople. It is testament to the hard work of the team over the early years and the successes our current franchise partners have achieved.
We have taken the strategic decision to maintain ourHRpeople’s culture and ethos of being a niche HR consultancy. We plan to keep the maximum number of franchise partners to around 12. Much larger than this we feel that ourHRpeople would inevitably lose its personal touch and become too corporate. After all, leaving the corporate world was one of the reasons we set up our businesses in the first place.
What we look for in our franchise partners is for them to be passionate about the business, together with being resilient and ambitious. We also look for those who communicate well and follow our proven methodologies – all of these attributes are vital and will deliver long-term and sustainable success.
Andy also brings with him a diverse business experience and I am confident this will directly benefit our business and that of his client base. I look forward to mentoring Andy and seeing the results of his efforts”
We caught up with Andy to chat about his life in HR and hopes for his future career as an ourHRpeople Area Director.
What area will you cover?
I’ll cover Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and the New Forest and am open to HR consultant opportunities across East Dorset. I also have an extensive personal network and will be working with businesses throughout the UK and EU.
What will you specialise in?
I’m pleased to say that I’m an HR generalist, working across the employee lifecycle and someone who is able to fulfil a wide range of commercially-focussed HR support. I enjoy and have added most value in organisational development and change management, but I’ve successfully worked across ‘everything HR’. After 28 years there isn’t much I haven’t seen and done, but equally I have to keep up to date with best practice, new legislation and ever-changing case law.
What do you bring to your clients?
I bring a breadth of sector knowledge and experience. I also have the ability to understand a company very well from my natural approach to business partnering and my academic studies, which were business focussed.
What are the hottest current HR issues?
Attracting, retaining and engaging talent – when are these not a hot issue for HR? More than ever organisations are challenged by inflationary cost pressures, economic uncertainty and a tight labour market. The pressure of the cost of living crisis has impacted employee financial, mental and emotional health. There is a need to revisit employee retention and attraction strategies and develop more progressive, employee centric, people practices covering financial wellbeing, employee mental health and wellbeing, more emphasis on Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI), upskilling and reskilling, reinventing performance management and improving the employee experience.
Also, Chat GTP and AI – I’m very interested in both the HR opportunities and managing the risks and limitations. At the recent CIPD conference they were discussing AI in detail. Essentially it won’t replace HR jobs but HR needs to play a pivotal role in adopting AI. Without HR input it would be easy to overlook some of the limitations and challenges of AI such as bias in algorithms, data privacy issues, adapting for minority and neurodivergent groups. The potential gains from AI for organisations are powerful and also the opportunity to use AI in the right way to be more inclusive.
What made you consider an HR franchise?
I’ve always wanted to work for myself but it is very hard to go it alone. With an HR franchise I can partner with someone who has been through the process, knows the mistakes to avoid and can help me to get ahead.
What are you most looking forward to as an ourHRpeople franchise partner?
I can’t wait to get more into the SME sector, working with a broad and diverse client group. I’m excited to learn about new organisations and have a direct impact on these organisations. I find that in SMEs every consultant has a bigger role to play.
What appeals to you about ourHRpeople?
I looked at a number of alternatives and ourHRpeople really stood out. I like the idea of being part of the early phase and bringing something to the table. ourHRpeople gives me more flexibility with the shape of business I create and I don’t have to fit into a preconceived mold. I don’t want to fit into someone else’s box.
I really respect that MD Steve isn’t keen to grow for growth’s sake, he wants to be hands on and grow the team. He responded personally and spoke to me directly and not having to go through layers really appealed to me.
What do you hope to achieve?
I want to build a positive reputation and through that grow a successful business that truly adds value to clients. Earning clients through referrals would be something to be proud of.
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in your career?
To take time to listen and absorb, and become informed about the company, the people and the situations we find ourselves in. Allowing others to share inputs and knowledge opens opportunities to provide better solutions.
Why is good HR essential to all businesses?
The most valuable and costly asset to any business is the people. Now, more organisations are understanding that. There is a war for talent, and we can’t just pay people to retain them anymore. Employee relations are crucial to deal with people in the right way – it’s important to protect the reputation of a business.
What are your top tips for employee engagement and retention?
Create a positive work environment – important in any organisation but especially critical in a small organisation is transparent leadership, open communication, collaboration, a sense of purpose and connection to the company mission and recognition of everyone’s contribution.
Offer development – providing opportunities for professional skills development, training and career growth to show employees that you are genuinely invested in their success.
Provide competitive benefits and promote wellbeing – offer attractive benefits, recognition programmes and encourage a healthy balance between work and personal life to prevent burnout and improve overall job satisfaction.
Listen and act on feedback – regularly seek input from employees and take actionable steps to address their concerns and suggestions for improvement
If you didn’t work in HR, what career would you have?
A commercial role in general management or running my own business. If not in a business or professional role, I would be doing something in the sporting field – I regret not continuing sports, football and table tennis.
Steve says: “Andy is part way through our comprehensive 1-2-1 onboarding process, and he is already putting into practice our proven methodologies – and reaping the benefits. With access to our HR document library, training course library, consulting tools, proven HR packages and marketing collateral, Andy is off to a flying start.”
ourHRpeople is here to assist Andy to find clients, learn how to manage them and how to maximise chargeable time. Indeed, we have been able to provide each of our franchise partners with their first client and Andy is no exception. There is 1-2-1 director level support and personal development from a team who has successfully built several HR consultancies.
If Andy’s story has inspired you and you would like to find out more, email Steve Wright, Managing Director at steve@ourhrpeople.co.uk for a no obligation chat.
You can also contact Andy at Andy@ourhrpeople.co.uk.
