HR that Delivers

“HR and people and culture gives me an opportunity to influence change and create more authentic, human workforces,” she says, adding that following the usual structures and approaches of HR practice left her feeling conflicted – “Was I really fulfilling these people’s aspirations?” she asks.

It was while working for digital advertising platform The Trade Desk that she feels her people work started to change and evolve. She realised she could do things differently and create the conditions where people – herself included – could get more from work. “If you do it right you can have an impact on how people feel about work and that affects how they work for the business,” she says.

At the centre of her work for The Trade Desk, was the design and global rollout of a comprehensive career pathing & competency framework – ultimately covering more than 1,500 employees across every role family. The work included executive role definition, technical and behavioural capability mapping, compensation benchmarking, and global career progression standards.

When HR fully embraces its role as the architect of how work actually works we can unlock far more impact, clarity, and performance.”

On a similar scale for her current employer Apeel, she’s re-written the way work is arranged and approached. Having overseen a full leadership reset including onboarding a new CEO and hiring & integrating a new executive team, she worked to reshape company culture to be more candid, commercially accountable, and execution-focused. “This was delivered during a period of major restructure,” she says, “ensuring clarity, alignment, and stability at a pivotal moment for the organisation.”

An executive level role certainly gives Jenner the oversight and influence required to make real change and difference for organisations. “This position makes it easier for me to say we’re going to do something – or not – and it’s enabled me to really challenge things,” she says, “both why we do things a certain way and my own assumptions. As a result we can create more connection between people and results.”

Alongside her HR work, Jenner is also innovating in the world of AI. She is a collaborator for 100Facets – an award-winning AI platform which aims to improve and reshape organisational effectiveness through personalised, human-centred insights. It is clear that Jenner is of the opinion that this type of technology will enhance inter-human relationships at work rather than being detrimental.

In some ways Jenner’s involvement in AI is curious – she doesn’t appear to be naturally drawn to technology, favouring human connections over an understanding of an HRIS. But while AI may get pitched as complicated and something that only specialists can deal with, she feels HR needs to be able to drive the technology so it delivers practically and isn’t scary for those who need to work with it. “The discourse is always about how AI is going to take jobs,” she notes, “So it’s much better if HR has control of that.

“With the acceleration of AI, I’m energised by how much opportunity there is to reshape work in smarter, more human ways,” she says. “When HR fully embraces its role as the architect of how work actually works – especially in an AI-rich world – we can unlock far more impact, clarity, and performance than most organisations currently realise.”

Jenner’s AI interest is then, part and parcel of wanting to do things differently, and to deliver maximum value from the HR function. It is from the perspective of questioning why things are done as they are, and the desire to be certain HR remains in the driving seat of the future workplace.

“I think it’s time to start questioning HR ‘best practices’,” she says. “Most were designed for workforces that no longer exist. Instead of protecting outdated playbooks, we should be redesigning workplaces that prioritise human-centred leadership, real development, and business results in equal measure.”

Jenner is doing just that.

• Carly will be a panelist at the upcoming HR World Insights Session: Strategy to Reality: Can HR be a Business Leading Function? Click here to register and attend for free.