A bit about me

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Hello. I'm new to blogging so bear with me while I get the hang of it all.

I'm Lucy and I've been with the FT for coming up to 5 years. I started out here at Financial Times Business (FTB) while they were still a stand alone organisation of around 200 employees. My background is generalist HR and I've been working in magazines and publishing for 14 years and HR specifically for 12 of those.

In 2007, FTB fully merged with the FT and we moved into the same building at One Southwark Bridge. My meagre team of 2 integrated into the much larger team of around 20. We're a really supportive team who are working very hard to deliver an effective HR service to the organisation.

In May 2007 I went on maternity leave and my full time role was covered. In April this year an opportunity came up for me to work just 2 days a week in the Learning & Development (L&D) team for 6 months while the team temporarily reorganised to accommodate another maternity absence. I lept at the chance. Being a new mum I didn't feel ready to leave my bundle of joy all week but was desperate to start feeling like me again and to get my brain thinking about something other than dirty nappies and pureed food. Another great plus point was the fact that this role was in L&D. I'd always loved this aspect of my work and was really excited to get a bit more involved.

The idea was that I was going to project manage a number of projects as well as getting involved in an ad hoc way as and when I could be useful to the whole team.

I'll update again to let you know how it was returning from maternity leave and some of the challenges I've faced working part time for the first time.