Meet the People
Peter Thompson
HR Manager
Managed Services Division
I have worked for Northgate since May 2006 and am the HR Manager looking after Northgate’s Managed Services Division. I look after a team of 3 Senior HR advisers and also have responsibility for the Employee Relations Manager.
My role is based at the Peoplebuilding office in Hemel Hempstead where the Group HR function is based. As the Managed Services Division is predominantly based in Belfast, the majority of my team is based there which means my role does involve regular travel to Northern Ireland. The Managed Services Division also has a number of sites across the UK that I try to visit regularly
Before joining Northgate I have worked as a Business Partner for T-Mobile, and held other HR Manager and Specialist HR roles in different industries.
There have been some interesting challenges since I joined Northgate. The pace within the Managed Service Division is fast and our customers require a range of HR support from relatively simple coaching and advice to working on bids and implementing new outsourced solutions. Operational deadlines are often tight and my team’s role is a balance between providing excellent support to the business units as well as rolling out and embedding central HR initiatives.
Managed Services is a very geographically disperse organisation so this adds a level of complexity and a key challenge has been building relationships and improving communication across the group.
Overall, Northgate offers a friendly culture, with a high degree of change so you need to be flexible and have plenty of energy. People in Northgate are hard working with high expectations – you need to show initiative and take the lead!
