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Michelle Smith
What is your name? In which area and for how long have you been working for Linde/BOC?
My name is Michelle Smith and I work for BOC in Sydney, Australia. I joined the company in New Zealand in November 1991, where I held a number of Credit Management roles and was an SAP Coach. I moved to Sydney in 1999 to a management role in the National Revenue Centre.
I have always had a strong interest in helping people to reach their potential and get some fun and satisfaction out of their work. Therefore I leapt at the opportunity to join the Human Resources Team. My first HR role was Employee Services Manager, looking after the team, payroll, HR systems and reporting, and today I am the Learning & Development Manager for the South Pacific Region.
What are your main job responsibilities?
My role is very diverse, since I am responsible for the BOC Learning Centre, the management of our Graduate Programme and I am also the HR systems process specialist. I work closely with a global team of expert HR systems users covering our SAPHR, our Intranet HR knowledgebase and related enabling systems including the development and consolidation of our payroll system.
I am also Sustainability Manager for the Code of Conduct for the South Pacific region and chair of the global Code Sustainability Managers peer group.
What is the most exciting thing about your role?
The broad scope. There is lots of variety and the opportunity to work with many people across our region and the world.
I enjoy my service-orientated role where I can make a difference to how things are done - such as identifying opportunities to provide business managers with accurate, up-to-date information on their people, making development, reward and recognition information more accessible and supporting our departmental responsibilities to communicate effectively to all audiences.
I love being able to help people with their personal development and in my new role as Learning and Development Manager, I work with business and employees on training and development needs across the organisation.
I also enjoy implementation projects which are very busy, when things need to get done well, and quickly.
Why did you decide to join Linde/BOC?
The honest answer: it was the first job that became available in Christchurch when I returned after several years of travelling and working overseas! What I discovered was it was a great place to work, thanks to the people and the opportunities. This means that people are so proud of working for BOC that they stayed for a long time!
What do you like about Linde/BOC?
The people and the opportunities. I have had some great managers in both New Zealand and Australia who have put their faith in me and given me a lot of opportunities to do many different things. It is great to work in a global company that values the contributions of people round the world and is genuinely interested in developing best practice. I was involved in the implementation of the Code of Conduct, and the development of sustainability, which was a great example of a diverse global team working together to achieve a common goal. I am looking forward to the benefits of working for an even larger company with more people and resources.
Where do you see your career going?
I see myself in a leadership role where I can be influential across the organisation, in helping to make a difference to our corporate people culture – which relates to how people are treated, their development opportunities and the factors that make them want to stay with us. |