Romy Hobson
Community Marketing Manager
In our latest life@LACE we speak to Romy Hobson, our Community Marketing Manager, to find out what her experience has been like and what she values the most at work.
What is your role at LACE?
Great question. Although my official title is ‘Community Marketing Manager’ I sit at the junction between Marketing, Sales, Partnerships and Events. This means that an average day includes anything from project managing our latest event to onboarding one of our latest tech partners.
For the last few years, I have worked hard to build our community of HR professionals by sharing LACE’s expertise via great events and content.
How would you describe LACE to someone new?
Imagine a small but powerful team of experts who really care about their clients and their employees. Clients get market-leading guidance and support in their HR Transformation and Tech projects from teams they enjoy working with; and our team enjoys working with each other too.
What are the best parts of your life @ LACE?
The role:
There’s a huge variety to the work that I do, which creates an opportunity for continuous learning and skills development. Conversations with Chris Howard, who has the pleasure of managing me, are often along the lines of ‘what do you want to learn how to do’ or ‘what do you enjoy most and want to be better at’. As a result, my role develops around my interests and the needs of the business rather than sticking to a preconceived idea of what a BDM does.
The culture & ways of working:
Many businesses boast about a great working environment which allows employees to be truly flexible. However, when I speak to my friends or peers, there are often caveats or cultural restraints on how people can flex their work to achieve their ideal working environment.
A great example is through the ‘work from anywhere’ concept. The pandemic shifted many businesses towards remote working but working at LACE was always designed to be flexible. Many businesses are now embracing WFH conceptually, but would they be open to you spending an extra week in the South of France after your holiday and working from there? In my experience lots of line managers would be nervous about that, which is where LACE stands out to me. We are told that we are measured by our outputs and are trusted to get our work done no matter where we are.
This flexibility doesn’t just extend to location, but also when and how you work. If you have children to look after in the morning, you can start later. Currently it’s getting dark before 4pm, so we are encouraged to take a double length lunchbreak to get out and enjoy the daylight while we can. While it’s not breaking news that employees will do their best work when they feel good, it’s great to be a part of an organisation where you can feel that employee wellbeing is one of their top priorities.
What have LACE done internally to tackle the challenges brought about by COVID-19?
I’m a part of our CSR and Engagement team who volunteer to come together every week to find creative ways of keeping everyone motivated as well as raising money for charity. We have pulled together to facilitate open discussions and provide resources to support the team’s mental health, whilst also keeping everyone entertained. My favourite ideas so far have been our virtual origami lesson, yoga, a potato rösti cookalong and the LACEPace step challenges. We made it all the way to Ibiza and back in the summer; watch this space for our trip to the North Pole for Christmas.
Like what you heard? We are hiring full time employees and associates at various levels. To find out more contact Danielle, our Resource Manager, on danielle@lacepartners.co.uk.
