Camilla Arnett has built her career on helping fast growing businesses develop the people strategies needed to support expansion. As group people and HR director at Connective3, a Leeds-based digital marketing agency, she oversees the company’s HR function while supporting the wider group’s growth ambitions across its marketing and content production operations.
At 35, Arnett has spent more than a decade working across HR roles in technology, legal services and professional firms. Her career began unexpectedly through a temporary administrative role that introduced her to the profession, eventually leading to international HR work, involvement in mergers and acquisitions, and senior leadership roles shaping workplace culture and people strategy.
Living in Leeds, Arnett balances the demands of leading a group HR function with family life alongside her husband Johnny and their 2-year-old son, Henry. With a compressed four-day working week and regular commuting between nursery drop-offs, train journeys and the office, her days revolve around careful planning, strategic leadership and a constant effort to balance business priorities with life at home.
I usually wake up at around 6am, and I need a cup of tea. If my husband is not away with work, he makes me tea first thing. If not, it’s my first job of the day. I don’t really have a morning ritual, but I’m obsessed with my Emma Bridgewater mugs, and I particularly like morning tea in one decorated with chickens.
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I try to do as much work prep as I can the night before, so the mornings are as easy as possible. I often get dressed and do my hair and make-up in semi darkness, trying not to disturb my little boy who loves his morning lie-ins.
Once I’m ready, the next step is getting my son ready for nursery. Henry breaks the mould of toddlers, preferring later nights and lazy mornings. Despite our best efforts to get him to fall asleep earlier, as we put him to bed around 7pm, he is still often awake at 9pm, happily chatting away to himself in his bedroom. As with many other parents, I’m regarding this as a phase.
We aim to drop off at nursery for when it opens at 7:30am, but if Henry is resisting getting up and dressed, that can push our timeframes out. If Johnny’s at home, he drops me to the train before nursery. If I am solo-parenting, I drop Henry and then head to the station straight after.
I catch the train if I’m working in the city centre. If I’m heading to the studios at Powerhouse, I drive straight from nursery. On the train commute, I will look at my diary for the day, my emails and Teams messages. I read through the news headlines for the day. I also respond to WhatsApp messages and any personal emails during this time too.
I have a few podcasts I like to listen to. If I want to get some HR ideas or inspiration, I listen to HR Disrupted. If I’ve worked late the evening before, I sometimes listen to something else to help me be more efficient when I start the day. My go-to choices for non-HR listening are The Rest Is History podcast or British Scandal.
I always get a coffee on my way to the office. I am not a breakfast person; I might have breakfast one day out of five. I’ve always been this way. I’m never hungry in the morning. Caffeine, however, I cannot go without.
I think HR is one of the most varied roles in a business. I’m not sure many of my days in the last 13 years have been the same. I have key meetings throughout the month with my stakeholders, who need different things from me.
Between these meetings I will be working on delivering what I need to. I try to actively pull back from ad hoc meetings, or getting pulled into daily matters that pop up. I empower my team to focus on delivering where they need to, and I trust them to loop me in as they need me. I ask myself if I am needed in this meeting, before I accept.
As a full-time working mum, my working week is compressed over four days. I need to be as effective and as efficient as I can with my time, and it’s not effective for me to do what I regard as busy work. I need to strategize, focusing on important vs urgent, determining my priorities and structuring my day and focus accordingly.
I think one of my key responsibilities is to be a leader. I take role modelling the behavioural and performance expectations we have seriously. I live the values we ask of our people, and I think that one of the most important responsibilities I have to deliver is calmness.
I have breaks during the day, but they don’t always work best as a lunch break for me. I might recognise that I’m too focused on something, and need to step out mid-morning or early afternoon, to have a better perspective. So instead of a lunch break at a typical time, I might take myself for a walk and have a coffee, and often I find this time away has enabled me to form a better perspective and fresh ideas. I usually have seasonal foods. In winter, I like soup and crusty bread or jacket potatoes; and in the summer, I like wraps and salads.
I try to truly embody and live flexible working. The flexible working I operate personally works for me and my family. It sometimes takes a while to work out how flexible working fits into your life.
I want HR to be part of a shift in our society to make flexible working the default. With the increased cost of living, more families require a dual income to support their families. Single parents are some of the strongest people in our workplace, and I’m in awe of how they manage work and children. School and nursery hours, holidays and the typical working hours and holiday provisions are totally mismatched. I would like to see HR being part of driving wider societal changes about how work and life can blend better.
HR can sometimes be lonely and feel overlooked. The reality is that without this core business function, the business doesn’t have a connection to its people and is unable to truly support people effectively in the workplace. It’s a role where you are privileged to support people through wonderful times, and very challenging times too. Know that what you do makes a difference and try to remember this on the hard days too.
If you want to get ahead in HR, take every opportunity you can. Take on the tough meetings, the challenging stakeholders, the projects which feel way out of your comfort zone. As daunting as things might feel, breaking things down into incremental steps enables you to tackle large obstacles, and you will come out the other side with learnings, experience and skills which enhance your value in the workplace.
My afternoon isn’t hugely different to my morning. The main difference is that I am on a countdown. I must make the train, to pick my son up before nursery shuts.
I often think about some of the standout leaders I have worked for or interacted with, if I feel I’m getting sucked into something or spending too much time on something and not progressing. I start to work through what I’ve seen leaders do or deliver, and then apply it to what I’m focused on.
My pet peeve about HR is something being referred to as a “HR problem”. Good HR underpins a business; I sometimes refer to HR as the business spine. HR partners the business, understanding how it ticks and provides a people lens across the landscape. “HR problems” is not a term I acknowledge. Together as a business we identify areas of focus, and we strategize the best route forwards and then deliver.
At 6pm I pivot straight into mum mode, being the provider of snacks and organising what’s needed for the next day. Ensuring my household is fed and watered, weekend plans, clothes laundered and back in the right places.
One of the best parts of my day is sitting on the sofa with my son after 6pm and having snacks, hearing about his day with his friends at nursery and what the nursery staff have helped him with that day. Then we will usually sit and watch one of his favourite programmes: Highway Rat or Snail and the Whale.
After Henry’s in bed, my Johnny and I will chat about our days. In the summertime, our favourite way to relax is to spend time in the garden on an evening. I am a very keen gardener, and we have an allotment. I don’t like cooking at all. If I don’t have to cook, it’s a perfect evening for me. I regularly stock up on M&S meals, as they have such a good range of options.
With such a young family, I must be fluid. I know each week the expectations of my hours of work, and I ensure they’re delivered, but how it looks may vary slightly week to week, depending on my schedule, the needs of my family, the needs of my team and business requirements.
I like to work in the evenings, especially if I have tasks that require a lot of focus or consideration. I don’t have this expectation of anyone in my team or in the wider business.
I go to therapy every month. It’s a long-term commitment and a crucial part of my monthly routine. Therapy enables me to protect dedicated time in my schedule to place a different perspective on the month before. It has provided me with a set of tools and resources which have empowered me to understand myself better, and I truly believe it has elevated my operating ability at work and at home. I don’t intend to ever part ways with this element of my routine; it’s part of who I am.
I am not blessed with the ability to fall asleep easily. Since having Henry I’m aware that I sleep lighter. I have accepted that I take the sleep I can get, when I can get it, and I don’t worry about it.
I often think about the future before going to sleep, whatever is coming up for us as a family. If I’m reading a book, I sometimes think about the story and try to predict what’s going to happen next.
