Martin Percival, Global HR Director
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14754390780001005 |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| Pages | 6-6 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Martin Percival
is global HR director at
StepStone, where he is
responsible for 620 people across 15 countries. He has
astrong background in the technology sector and was
previously HR director at Progress Software.
6Volume 6 Issue 6 September/October 2007
PRACTITIONER PROFILE
,
HR executives share their experience in human resources
Martin Percival,
global HR director
M
artin Percival’s HR background is
firmly rooted in the technology
sector, in which he has 12 years’
experience. He has worked with
companies such as Amazon, Microsoft,
EMEA at Progress Software, Xerox and
Yellow Pages and is currently global HR
director for StepStone, a provider of
talent-management services and
technology solutions.
This background includes time spent
with technology organizations during
periods of great – in some cases,
pioneering – innovation. Percival joined
Yellow Pages, the UK-based telephone
directory provider, in the late 1980s and
was with the company when it launched
an electronic database that customers
could access via a modem. This was
groundbreaking as it was in the pre-
internet days, and laid the foundations
for what would become the yell.com
internet service. Similarly, Percival was
present at the early stages of online
retailing, and in 2000 he moved to the
Netherlands with Amazon as head of HR.
It was with Amazon that Percival
went through a very steep HR learning
curve as the technology climate changed
in 2000, leading to the difficult job of
laying off 267 people from the Amazon
team. He explains: “The boom became
the bust in 2000 as analysts changed
their focus to profitability. By 2001,
technology companies started to
implode. It was a verytough time for me
and a very steep learning curve.”
The role of technology in HR
In addition to exposing him to the fast
pace of organizational change in the
technology sector,Percival’s background
has given him a keen understanding of
the role that technology plays in HR. He
sees technology as playing an enabling
role in the transactional side of HR, as it
can free up time for HR professionals to
interact on higher-level and more
strategic issues. He says: “The nuts and
bolts of HR have to be right, and
technology can make a massive
difference. I believe in having a strong IS
HR intranet, as this can deal with many
transactional enquiries – for example,
through a well-designed FAQ section.”
Percival believes it is still too early to
gauge the impact of social media, but he
does see some risk as the lines between
professional and personal lives begin to
blur: “Google and MySpace searches are
becoming part of the reference process
for recruitment in some companies. No
one is policing this space, people need to
be sensible and discrete about the
information they share.”
HR in the international arena
Another recurring feature in Percival’s
background is the international nature
of many of his roles. In his current role
at StepStone, a company that is growing
rapidly,organically and through
acquisitions, he is responsible for 620
people across 15 different countries. He
says one of the challenges of managing
HR internationally is the different
jurisdictions in place across different
borders. He cites age discrimination as
an example, saying: “On 1 October last
year, age discrimination legislation came
into force in the UK and it was very
newsworthy and high profile. In the
States, similar legislation has been in
place for over 40 years.”
Percival says the way that legislation is
interpreted differs across countries, with
different words used and different
standards as to what is acceptable. This
can cause problems when you are moving
resources across borders. Data, in
particular, can be difficult to manage for
international organizations that need to
transportit across borders. Percival says:
“It is about knowing the legislation and
how it is interpreted locally.Thereare
three things to remember – do not
assume anything, have a good network
of people doing similar roles to yours in
different countries, and you need a good
international network of legal advisers.”
The challenges of acquisition
At StepStone, Percival will be tackling
these challenges head-on and also
dealing with those stemming from the
fast pace of growth at the organization.
In the last two and half years, it has more
than doubled its number of employees; it
has also moved into another four
countries this year through acquisition,
merging highly diverse operations.
Percival comments: “In some countries
there are great HR operations; in others it
is a blank sheet of paper. We need to
establish consistency across all countries in
terms of HR service, while at the same
time taking into account that one size
does not fit all. This requires a very
delicate balance that will be achieved by
talking to the HR teams and business
leaders to find out the business and
people issues and translating them into
HR service delivery. With acquisitions,
companies are acquired because of their
strengths – we do not want to crush the
life out of them.”
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