What’s your job title and how long have you been at Loughborough?

Director of Human Resources. I joined the organisation almost a year ago.

Tell us what a typical day in your job looks like?

I’ve worked in the HR and Organisational Development profession for almost 16 years. I can honestly say no two days are ever the same. I am fortunate in my role that I get to be involved in a whole range of things, from recruitment, providing advice around a policy, helping to develop staff wellbeing initiatives or discussing our future people strategy. It’s a role and a profession with a huge amount of variety, which I’m very grateful for. I have a fantastic team in HR who work with me to provide the HR service to colleagues across the organisation.

What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on?

So far, the work that we did to introduce the Loughborough Real Living Wage supplement to enable us to come up with a local solution to address primarily pay compression within the University salary scale structures, particularly in the lower grades. When I started, it was a common issue that was fed back to me and a solution didn’t seem readily available. Working with colleagues from within my team and across professional services, we were able to come up with a solution for colleagues at Loughborough. We were pleased to receive a lot of positive feedback after its implementation.

What is your proudest moment at Loughborough?

So far, it’s been attending Graduation week and seeing all of the students, their families and friends celebrating their collective achievement and the start of the next stage of their lives. The same week we received an email from a graduating student sharing how grateful they were and how every single member of staff across the campus had made a difference in their journey. It really was a great summary for me of the huge difference we make each and every day, working together in our roles.

Which University value do you most resonate with and why?

Collaborative is the value that resonates most with me. It links in to my favourite quote because I believe what we can collectively achieve together, with all the skills, knowledge and experience we have is far greater than anything we can achieve alone. In the years ahead, collaborative working is going to become more essential, and after all, our University Strategy is Creating Better Futures. Together.

Tell us something you do outside of work that we might not know about?

Everyone in my team knows this already but I’m a huge Star Trek fan and have been ever since childhood. Probably one of the lesser known facts about me is that I’m a qualified musician. When I was growing up, I studied my diploma in music, playing the organ and piano. I sadly don’t have time to play much anymore between a busy work and social life.

What is your favourite quote?

No one of us is as clever as all of us.

If you would like to feature in ‘5 Minutes With’, or you work with someone who you think would be great to include, please email Lilia Boukikova at L.Boukikova@lboro.ac.uk