Katie Bannerman

Senior People Business Partner with more than 20 years' experience spanning operational leadership, HR and organisational transformation in complex, customer-focused hospitality, leisure and retail businesses. As a member of the Center Parcs village senior leadership team, I partnered leaders supporting around 1,800 colleagues and led a multidisciplinary People team of 11 across people partnering, talent acquisition and talent development. Previously, I held regional HR responsibility for approximately 2,500 colleagues, partnered 28 Tesco sites and delivered a People and Payroll transformation programme supporting more than 9,000 colleagues and 250 managers.

I bring practical expertise in organisational change, workforce planning, complex employee relations, leadership development, talent and succession, employment law, culture and organisational design. My earlier operational career enables me to combine commercial understanding with pragmatic, people-centred judgement. I build trust through integrity, fairness and consistency, challenge constructively and make difficult decisions in the best interests of the organisation and its people.

Senior People Business Partner at Center Parcs (2024-06 – 2026-08)

Senior People Business Partner and member of the village senior leadership team, partnering senior leaders across a workforce of around 1,800 colleagues. I aligned people activity with operational priorities, colleague experience, engagement and long-term organisational goals, while leading a multidisciplinary People team of 11 across people partnering, talent acquisition and talent development. The role combined strategic workforce insight with hands-on delivery across employee relations, recruitment, onboarding, performance, talent, succession, engagement, organisational change, policy, wellbeing and leadership support.

• Partnered senior leaders to understand operational priorities and shape people plans that supported workforce needs, engagement, colleague experience and organisational performance.
• Translated organisational and people strategy into clear, deliverable plans, priorities and actions for village leaders, ensuring strategic intent was converted into practical operational outcomes.
• Led and advised on employee relations, absence, conduct, grievance, capability, performance and change matters, supporting fair, consistent and well-documented decisions.
• Coached managers to take ownership of people issues, build confidence, improve leadership capability and resolve complex matters constructively.
• Used people data, ER trends, engagement feedback and root-cause analysis to identify risks, inform decisions and shape practical interventions for leaders.
• Led recruitment, onboarding, team structure activity and organisational change, including reshaping the people team, managing redundancies and strengthening the local operating model.
• Drove performance, talent and succession activity, helping managers set expectations, build capability and strengthen internal pipelines.
• Collaborated with Centres of Excellence (CoEs) and wider People teams to align policy, process, talent activity and leadership support with broader organisational priorities and deliver a consistent, joined-up people service.

Regional Senior HR Business Partner at Welcome Break (2022-01 – 2024-06)

Senior HR Business Partner for the Midlands and Southeast regions, supporting two Regional Operations Directors across approximately 2,500 colleagues and Head Office teams of around 150. Operated within a national HR function and complex matrix, collaborating with specialist teams to deliver consistent people support while balancing national priorities, regional requirements, site-level realities and practical manager needs across a large, fast-moving, multi-site business.

• Partnered Directors and operational leaders on workforce planning, organisational performance, talent, succession and engagement, influencing and constructively challenging people decisions.
• Managed a varied and complex employee relations caseload, including disciplinary, grievance, absence, performance, ACAS early conciliation and pre-tribunal cases, coaching managers through fair, consistent and risk-aware decisions.
• Maintained accurate ER records, case notes, decisions and outcomes to support governance, consistency and robust audit trails.
• Used ER trends, people insight and root-cause analysis to shape manager guidance, preventative interventions, targeted training and continuous improvement activity.
• Co-created the "Welcome Break Charitable Fund" and served as committee secretary, supporting governance, colleague assistance and values-led community activity; recognised with the "Doing Good in Our Communities" award.
• Designed and delivered leadership workshops with HR Business Partner colleagues, including HR for Operations, Absence Management and Recruitment Masterclasses.
• Led policy writing and updates across capability, disciplinary, grievance, appeals, absence, maternity and family-friendly policies, ensuring practical application for managers.
• Supported the deployment of the employee value proposition across the region, translating the central strategy into practical local activity, tracking progress and helping operational leaders embed the plan for a multigenerational and largely offline workforce.

HR Business Partner, Oxfordshire at Tesco PLC (2021-03 – 2022-01)

Partnered 28 sites across the central region, acting as a trusted adviser to leaders on people matters and supporting organisational change, engagement, talent, policy, workforce planning and inclusive colleague experience across a large operational environment.

• Coached managers on disciplinary, grievance, absence and performance cases, balancing colleague and business needs.
• Interpreted policy and employment law for leaders, supporting consistent decisions across multiple sites.
• Used people data and metrics to generate insight, inform decision making and support workforce planning.
• Led talent and succession activity to build inclusive and diverse talent pipelines.
• Supported wellbeing and engagement activity through manager guidance, colleague conversations and signposting support.

HR Project Change Manager, People & Payroll Transformation at Tesco PLC (2020-08 – 2021-03)

Led regional delivery of a major People and Payroll transformation programme, supporting more than 9,000 colleagues and 250 managers. The programme contributed to wider HR digitalisation and process improvement across a major national workforce. Delivery required disciplined implementation, stakeholder engagement, governance and operational change.

• Managed project delivery, stakeholder engagement, user acceptance testing, deployment activity and governance to strict timescales.
• Acted as a subject matter expert, coaching stakeholders to support behavioural, operational and system change.
• Delivered project objectives within scope and to agreed timescales, receiving senior leader recognition for the quality of delivery.

HR Change Manager, Restructure, Redeployment & Redundancy at Tesco PLC (2019 – 2020)

• Delivered restructure, redeployment and redundancy programmes, ensuring policy and employment law compliance.
• Led consultation, stakeholder engagement and sensitive change activity with empathy, pace and strong organisational discipline.

Line Manager and Operational Leadership Roles at Tesco PLC (2005-10 – 2020-08)

• Built strong operational leadership, people management and organisational planning capability in a fast-paced retail environment.
• Managed recruitment, performance, training, colleague development and communication of company policies and procedures.

CIPD Level 5