ASDA Careers: Colleague Stories

Gavin
HR Manager in North London

I’m Gavin and I’m the People Manager at the ASDA Hatfield store. There’s a clue to what ASDA’s really like in my job title; some companies would have Human Resource or Personnel Departments, but at ASDA everything’s much friendlier and down to earth than that. I deal with people, or colleagues as we call them, so I’m the People Manager.

I’m responsible for the welfare and career development of everyone who works at Hatfield including organising training, helping with problems and generally being an understanding person to turn to.

Previously I was a Department Manager for a Fruit and Veg department in Scotland and then moved down south to the Beckton store. This was followed by a number of different roles in a number of different stores in London and the Home Counties, culminating in my current one in Hatfield.

I’m so used to the fast moving pace of working here that I doubt whether anywhere else could match it for enjoyment. I’d also say that the culture is quite unique.

Of all the opportunities I’ve had in the 23 years I’ve worked at ASDA, one stands out above the rest and that was taking part in an Open University programme about managing stress at work, which has been shown on the BBC.

Looking to the future I’d really like to be the People Manager overseeing the opening of a brand new store, with all the challenges that would involve, and then move on to be a Resourcing and Development manager at one of ASDA’s training stores or ‘Stores of Learning’ as we call them where all store managers are trained.

Gavin

Gavin HR Manager in North London

Gavin
HR Manager in North London