Sophie
Brown

Who I help.

Family businesses. Large corporate businesses.

How I help

Employee lifecycle. Contracts. Operations. Employee relations. HR information systems management. Reporting. Policy & procedure changes. Legislation updates.

“MY NUMBER ONE FOCUS IS OUR CLIENTS”

Sophie Brown is a Senior HR Consultant based in our London office. Her role involves a variety of responsibilities and specialisms. One day Sophie might be supporting her clients with reporting while another she might be making policy and procedural changes. Sophie prides herself on delivering a high-quality service for her clients and ensuring that they are compliant in every aspect of their HR. How does she do this? By ensuring she continuously stays up to date with any employment legislation changes so she can ensure their policies and are up to date with the current legal position.

Building relationships on trust

“It’s so important to me that any relationship with clients is built upon mutual trust and respect. When we have those relationships, clients trust my judgement and my opinion. That means they will come to me with questions, no matter how small. I pride myself on being able to solve queries for my clients and find solutions that are bespoke to their organisations and their circumstances. I’ll never let not knowing the answer become a blocker, if I don’t have an answer I won’t stop until I can find someone who does.

That’s something that’s amazing about working in a team like AAB People- there’s no shortage of people I can turn to for help. Everyone is approachable, respectful and is so willing to answer any and every question I or my clients have. That’s so important when I’m trying to help clients to enhance their business and provide sound HR advice.”

Pushing for the right outcomes

“There’s a time and place to be assertive, of that, I’m sure. My clients trust me to provide them with expert advice. With over 11 years HR experience across multiple sectors, I’ve gained invaluable experience and knowledge that helps me to be flexible and adaptable to my clients’ situations. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that when you are confident in your knowledge and in what you’re telling your clients assertiveness will come naturally.

If I strongly believe that a policy change or operational tweak will largely benefit my client I will push for it. Especially if it’s something I’ve seen implemented in other organisations and I can show them the impact and outcome for that company. It’s something that my clients appreciate because they trust that I have their best interest at heart. Although the final decision making is down to my clients I aim to provide them with all the relevant information so they can make informed decisions with all the facts at hand.”

Keeping up with the HR landscape

“The HR landscape is constantly evolving and changing, whether its employment legislation changes to reporting, or anything in between we need to ensure that we’re appraised of what those changes are and what impact they’ll have on our clients. How we deliver that information will often change depending on the client. Some may way to have regular one-to-one chats about the changes while others might prefer to hear about those changes via email. No matter the client’s preference the important thing is that we’re proactive in giving them the most up to date information as soon as possible.”

Flexing to clients’ needs

“Finding the balance between virtual support and hands on support is key for a successful client relationship. I enjoy the efficiency of virtual and quick catch ups and thrive off the energy of face-to-face interactions. Our number one focus at AAB is our clients, so it’s important to take the time to find out what they are most comfortable with, what they need and then create an approach that works for them.”

A culture of learning

“I love the camaraderie we have at AAB People. In every interaction across our team and the wider AAB group you can tell that we have a lot of respect for each other and trust. It’s provided me with a safe space to grow professionally and learn from others with different experience to me and expertise in other sectors. Learning from my colleagues has been so beneficial for me and has in turn helped my clients as they’re able to benefit from my increased knowledge.

I have already learnt so much at AAB People and I am thriving. It has made me really excited about my future here, I can’t wait to expand my professional and personal development in this amazing firm.”

The opposite of misconceptions

“There’s a common perception about HR, that we’re the fun police and that we don’t know how to have fun ourselves. To those people who think that what do I say? Spend just one hour with the team at AAB People and you’ll see that is absolutely not the case.”