This month we spoke to our Senior People Advisor, Zoe Hetzel. She chatted to us about her advice on how to excel in HR, how her role brings different worlds together, and how whatever the future holds, her aim will always stay the same: to impact positive change.

I studied HR at university, and I love it. I feel lucky, because I know lots of people struggle to know what they really want to do, let alone get the chance to do it – I’ve managed both!

What I find so interesting about my role is the coming together of worlds; of people from different lives and different backgrounds joining together to create incredible work, with us there to help facilitate and create an environment that allows people to thrive.

It seems obvious, but my favourite part of the role is the people. You get to meet such a varied bunch in my role, and it is fascinating and really rewarding to get an insight into different people’s lives. Sometimes it can be hard, as people’s lives are unpredictable, but often it’s wonderful – it’s a real emotional rollercoaster. It’s great to be able to facilitate change and show how the business can help people. I’m also lucky enough to be surrounded by a brilliant team, who are there to share knowledge and offer support.

Another highlight for me is when you see changes we’ve implemented make real impact across the business. Seeing positive results and getting insights into how people are actually feeling at work is a real buzz.

I started working at DDB UK in 2022 and now solely focus on looking after the team at adam&eveStudios. The agency world is very different to my previous roles, but I love it. It’s fast-paced and fun, and it’s brilliant to work at a place where people are genuinely passionate about what they do. When it comes to motivating people for work, if it’s boring that’s often your first hurdle, but that’s never an issue here.

When it comes to advice on excelling in an HR role, I would say: don’t be afraid to make mistakes and get to know people. Sometimes it feels that, because of our position within the company, if you say something wrong it can have a big impact, so people say nothing at all. I’ve always tried to avoid that and to make sure I build strong relationships across the agency. It’s easy to get stuck behind your desk or view people as just names on a screen, so I think it’s important to get out and properly get to know the people we support.

Thinking about the future, the core of what I want to achieve will always stay the same: impacting positive change. But it’s exciting as I take on more responsibility to see how that impact can affect wider groups of people. I love a bit of research (I like to read employment law updates and HR best practice in my spare time) so I’m always thinking about what changes we can make and how we can continue to create an environment that helps people excel and grow.

Outside of catching up on the latest HR news, I’m also a newly converted runner (training for my first half marathon) and a big football fan (would be remiss of me not to mention Arsenal).