Everton’s new office, which it moved to last July,
is also an important part of the Club’s quest to
attract the best talent. Healey explains that the
purpose of the move was to bring all employees
under one roof in a state-of-the-art modern
workplace that balances paying homage to the
traditional stadium with offering a space centred
around wellbeing and flexibility.
“We were all over the place in the stadium –
because it’s very old there were little pockets
everywhere. We were sitting under the rafters,
people were squashed in like sardines,” she recalls.
“It wasn’t conducive to good work or getting the
best talent.”
And yet employees said they still felt siloed from
each other after the move. Which led
to one of Healey’s most quirky ideas, ‘Pass the
Battenberg’, where one member from each team is
taken for a coffee and Battenberg to meet different
colleagues, then they get another Battenberg and
have to pass it onto another team member who
then goes the following week.
“I must have led a very sheltered life,” laughs
Healey. “But it has integrated people more. And I
think even people that don’t like change have
grown to love the new office now.”
Healey is confident it will be a similar story
with the new stadium, with proposals revealed in
July for a 52,000-capacity stadium at Bramley-
Moore Dock. It was also revealed that the current
stadium site will be used for a community legacy
project – the People’s Project – including homes,
health facilities and education amenities.
“If planning permission goes through it will
probably be a three-year timescale to build the
stadium and it will be such an exciting project to be
part of,” says Healey.
Which for HR will mean more changes in terms
of strategy, she says: “We’re looking now at what the
key priorities will be. It will be a bigger stadium so
we will be looking at expanding recruitment and
succession planning and making sure we have the
right skills around catering, hospitality, pitch
provision and so on.
“Then we need to look at what the new stadium
team needs to look like, how it will expand, what
skillset we will need… so that if and when the
shovel hits the ground we’re ready.”
Before leaving Liverpool HR magazine is taken to
a giant inflatable dome in the office canteen to ‘see’
how the new stadium will look. It’s a virtual reality
experience space for employees and their friends
and families to stay up to date with the plans – a
fitting symbol of the modern direction the Club is
heading in and the family spirit Everton is keen
to maintain.
Healey says she’s proud of how much football has
changed in recent years. And she’s incredibly proud
of how much HR has now achieved at Everton, with
the team contributing to the Club’s history of firsts
– and making good on Barrett-Baxendale’s original
aim – by becoming the first (and still only) football
club to make The Sunday Times list in 2017 and
again in 2018.
“That was the brief I was given in my first
interview and we did it,” she beams, adding that the
Club is aiming for a hattrick this year. There have
been other wins too, with Healey’s team winning
HR magazine’s Reward and recognition award at
this year’s HR Excellence Awards, and Healey
shortlisted for HR director of the year.
“I’m now in my 16th season in football and I’m
proud to see the change in the industry from where
it was in 2004 to where we’re going now, and to be
part of that change,” says Healey.
“We’re now seeing how the presence of HR
in football can make a difference, and that the
business side of football can work with the
football side… towards one common goal.” No
pun intended. HR
Profile Strategic HR
Five things
thingsI can’t live without
Wonderful carers
My husband has FHS
muscular dystrophy,
and without his daily
carers I wouldn’t be
able to come to work
knowing he is being
well looked after
Cheese
I’m a cheeseaholic. I
say I have blue blood
but it’s probably blue
Stilton. I need a
cheese fi x every day
My lovely people
and safeguarding
team
I wouldn’t be where
I am without
their ideas
and enthusiasm
Nice shoes
I’m a size two, so whenever I
see a nice pair that fi t (which
is rare) I have to have them
My giant wall planner
It’s nearly two metres wide
and sits on my offi ce wall
to help me visualise the
season ahead
hrmagazine.co.uk November 2019 HR 27
/hrmagazine.co.uk