Tiffany Nayler
Consultant
What is it like to work at LACE Partners? We’ve got a regular series of blogs in which we talk to different LACErs to find out. Today we talk to Tiffany Nayler, who’s just joined LACE as a Consultant.
What has your experience joining LACE been like?
It’s been really great, to be honest. I have little onboarding experience – I’ve done a few internships, but my previous job was also my very first one. This experience has been really good because many people from different areas of the business have reached out, giving me a complete view of LACE.
L&D was important and meaningful as well; since the beginning, HR told me, “we’re here to support you and for you to grow in your career,” and with this being my second job, it was really important because I felt quite welcome and not every employer does that.
I feel LACE’s culture is really strong, which strikes me positively, as I’ve never had that before.
What has it been like moving from a large company to a much smaller one?
That’s a good question; because my previous organisation was such a large company, you don’t really get that personalised experience, whereas at LACE, the business is still small enough to make you feel looked after. With LACE having such a strong culture, it also means that there is a lot of control around the business culture itself, and as we are an HR business, we know what culture is.
Also, LACE is a lot more homogeneous in terms of employee demographics, as they’re all HR professionals, whereas, in my previous role, the business had to cater to a lot of different skills and roles. So, that impacted employee experience as well.
Are there any significant differences between your current job and the previous one?
I’ll see massive differences when I start working on my first HR consulting projects. When you do a consulting job, expertise lies in your knowledge and how you deliver it. A large organisation like the one I worked for would invest in its technology and retail, not necessarily HR. So HR is usually following, not leading and not always improving the way it works. We didn’t have the expertise in HR that LACE does, so I’m confident that LACE will give me the tools for a more advanced approach when working with my future clients. I can see a difference already with what I have been doing so far, and the wide range of tools and processes at the disposal of all consultants is something I’ve never seen before.
What are your career aspirations?
I would have said this was my dream job, but now we’re here! So I have to find another one! I’m one of the most junior people in the company so I know there’s so much progression in this role. I want to gain more experience in the whole realm of HR and explore all the different services we offer, and when I am confident enough, I’ll probably be a Manager, but we’ll see in the future!
How can LACE help you achieve your aspirations?
By putting me on different projects, allowing me to experience all areas of HR and ultimately obtaining a promotion! I feel like this is a natural progression anyway because that’s what LACE does: cultivate in-house expertise.
When I met Aaron and Cathy, they said that I wouldn’t be kind of cornered into one specialism, instead, I would try different things and gain exposure to everything. So, I have that confidence!
What have you learnt so far?
I’ve learnt that giving structure, putting in place clear processes and centralising everyone’s knowledge in one place is essential for a team. In my previous company, people would leave and take the knowledge with them because there wasn’t any documented process of transferring knowledge. At LACE, people are committed to making knowledge accessible and usable for everybody.
What are you looking forward to in the next months?
Definitely start on my first project and kind of understand how I fit, how I could contribute best and where I could improve. Also, I’m excited to be part of the team and not just an individual in a function that has to swim against the current. Because I’ve come from such a different culture and organisation, I struggle to feel part of one team; it’s not natural for me. So, I’m excited to feel as comfortable, included and thriving!
Interested in becoming part of our family? Find out about our latest roles here.
