Amanda Arrowsmith is people and transformation director at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), headquartered in Wimbledon, London. The 52-year-old lives with her husband in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and works on organisational development, transformation and people at the CIPD. She joined the association for HR professionals in 2022, bringing 25 years of experience in HR to the multifaceted role. Amanda also does volunteer work and is on the People, Culture and Inclusion panel at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations umbrella group.
I work on a hybrid basis, so for days I’m in the office I’m up at 5am and out by 5.30am to head into Wimbledon for 8am. Days at home are much gentler. I get up around 6.45am, let the dog out and make coffee.
When it gets light, I check on the chickens and give them their morning treat — cornflakes; these girls are spoilt. I have got into the habit of completing a Sudoku puzzle that we have on our employee benefits and wellbeing app every morning; we have an internal league and I’m trying, and failing, to get back to the top.
I get to my desk with a cup of coffee and a large cup of water, which I try to remember to drink. I’m not great at having breakfast, so try to eat something. As it’s winter right now, I turn on the electric heated throw on my chair and settle in.
When I travel, I message home to check in and listen to the Today programme. I’m so fortunate to live in the Cotswolds but spend around 12 days each month in the office in Wimbledon. I’ll either drive there or head in by train and tend to stay one or two nights locally to the office.
When I drive, I listen to Radio 4, catching up on world news, Farming Today then the Today programme. I’ll have a full hot cup of coffee, a bottle of water and either a yoghurt pouch or some fruit to eat when I’m in the queue at a standstill to get off the M25.
When I get the train, I’ll have my drinks and breakfast but take the time to read some fiction. It’s a real luxury and helps me reduce my — ever-growing — “to be read/TBR” pile.
At work, I start by checking (Microsoft) Teams and emails and reviewing my diary. I’ll check the plan I made the night before and make any adjustments.
My morning usually starts with admin — clearing the decks, responding to emails and messages and any quick tasks I can do — or have promised to. Then I’ll move into meetings, either on Teams, hybrid or face to face. These could be 121s with my team, mentoring meetings with mentees, operations or performance review meetings or project and programme boards.
There’ll be a second coffee before 11am, for sure.
I take a lunch break — at least 30 minutes away from my desk — every day. If I’m at home, I’ll head downstairs and check in with my husband and dog. If it’s dry, I’ll head into the garden for some air. When I’m in the office I’ll head out with a colleague to grab something to bring back, taking the opportunity to catch up and check in with them.
As we use technology, this allows us to better support our businesses to achieve their strategic and productivity goals. Over the coming years, HR will continue to really understand how the people in their businesses drive these goals and how providing a workplace that supports them is key. I think we’ll see a focus on personalisation, recognising that each person has different requirements and how HR works with them will need to be agile and flexible.
In the coming years, I think we’ll see a focus on personalisation, recognising that each person has different requirements and how HR works with them will need to be agile and flexible.
The advice I’d give to someone looking to advance their career in HR is to be curious. Ask questions, read reports and put yourself in places you might think you have no business being. Understanding the policies, procedures and employment law is essential but understanding this in context is key — make sure you really know what your business does and how it does it.
I try to keep the afternoons for focused work — fewer meetings and time to drive forward projects or focused co-working in smaller teams. I try to have “green time” each day — protected time to action work and it’s usually in the afternoon.
I make sure to never have coffee after 11am, and to stay productive during the day, I check my list of things to do and try to stick to them. I focus on celebrating good work in the moment — a thank you, well done and recognition goes a long way.
At home I have a standing desk and a walking pad. I make sure I spend time each day standing and/or walking. At the end of each day I look at what’s next – so review the plan for the day and what I did and didn’t achieve and then make the plan for the next day. Make sure I’ve read papers and prepared for any meetings and know what I want to achieve the next day, or that week. I don’t work set hours and appreciate the flexibility that working at the CIPD affords me.
Working in HR can often mean you’re doing that alone – keeping confidences and providing support, but without your own HR person to turn to. It can be a real challenge.
No two days are the same – trying to think about a typical day here was hard. But that’s what I love about working in HR. The best thing about people is that they are all different. Whilst we all work around the policies, procedures and rules, where HR professionals really make a difference isn’t in the black and white but the grey around the edges – treating everyone fairly but as individuals.
Working in HR, you’re there for the best times in people’s careers – new jobs, promotions, pay rises, celebrations of weddings, babies or life events like achieving an academic goal. But you’re also there for the hard times — illness, bereavements, exits and disciplinaries. You carry the joy of the people you work with but also the pain and sadness and sometimes those two things are not in balance.
It has taken some time but I now can truly say I have the work-life balance right.
Working in HR can often mean you’re doing that alone – keeping confidences and providing support, but without your own HR person to turn to. It can be a real challenge, so finding the right support for you is essential and finding ways to separate your work from your home is key. I haven’t always got this right – and at times in my career my home life has suffered. It has taken some time but I now can truly say I have the balance right.
I love to cook and cook each evening when I’m home with my husband. We tend to chat whilst I cook and he helps — talking about our days, the news, our families. We eat together every night, sometimes at the dining table but more often than not in the front room, in front of the TV.
We both love sport, so if there’s football, rugby or cricket on we’ll be watching that. The one appointment TV show we have is Only Connect and we celebrate when we get any right answers.
In the summer we walk the dog when I finish for the day — in the Cotswold countryside there are lots of lovely places to walk. It’s a great way to finish the day. In the winter I don’t get to do this. I really look forward to the days stretching out, but when it’s cold, the fire is always lit before I head downstairs from my home office so it’s always cosy.
I like to be in bed by 10.30pm, although ideally before. We’ll let the dog out, close the house up and head to bed. I’ll have a magnesium drink and read a book or listen to a podcast. When it’s time to sleep, I listen to a sleep meditation app but rarely get to the end.
I try really hard not to be on my phone but don’t always achieve it. I know it’s so bad for you and for sleep but I can’t help scrolling TikTok or Instagram sometimes.
I’m really fortunate that I do tend to get to sleep easily. Staying asleep for more than five hours is a different story. I make a real effort to switch off before bed so ideally all I’m thinking about is whether I’m comfortable or the meditation.