Harvey Francis
EVP & CHRO
Skanska UK
Harvey Francis is the Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Skanska UK. He is a member of both the Executive Management Team and the board at Skanska, a company he has worked at for the past 16 years. His specialities include Inclusion & Diversity, Business and Culture Transformation and HR Transformation.
Learn more about the UK & Ireland CHRO community here.
Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.
My career has been two-fold. I started in the retail space but was encouraged to join the HR team during my time BT Group whilst heading up the BT Shops national training function (which I moved into having previously been a regional retail manager with full P&L responsibility). Since then, I have continued my career in HR, moving next to Pfizer as the Head of HR Operations & Reward.
I joined Skanska in 2007 as Divisional HR Director to set up shared services capability, having set this up at Pfizer, before being promoted onto the Executive Team and Board.
What is one of your guiding leadership principles?
Always do the right thing.
With disruption being a key theme of recent years, where do you see the CHRO role going in the next 1-2 years?
CHROs will be dealing with more complexity and more of the unexpected, including navigating the challenges and opportunities presented by AI. Also, CHROs will need to navigate the organisation through increasingly complex societal changes.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out as a CHRO?
Be yourself, make sure you fully understand how the business operates, and recognise the difference that you bring to the business agenda.
Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself.
- I play in a local band.
- My favourite colour is blue.
- I was in New York on 9/11.
What is the value of joining an Evanta community?
The value is being able to listen to and learn from others’ experiences and views.
Evanta Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.
by CHROs, for CHROs
Join the conversation with peers in your local CHRO community.