Imeet Robin Baliszewski, director for people, on the 9th floor of Pearson’s head office on the Strand, central London. She points out the fabulous view over the Thames. She has only been here for 4 months, having been invited to move to London from her home in America. We settle down in a huge office for a chat.
I start by asking about the job title. She explains that she is ‘director for people’, not the ‘director of people’. Her role is not to tell people what to do, it is to find ways of getting the best out of them. We discuss the widely used term ‘human resources’ and agree that it sends out the wrong message. She says: ‘The notion of humans as resources to be used doesn’t sit with us as a company.’ And she goes on to stress her desire to represent the people function as a ‘strategic business partner, not as an administrative part of the business’.
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