Executive Experience

Before founding WorkTheory Co., Phillipa was the Chief People Officer for a top multi-site hospitality organisation in New Zealand. She led HR governance and workforce design, implementing large-scale strategic programs that shaped operating models, inclusion frameworks, and employer branding at executive and board level. The initiatives below reflect large-scale strategic programmes delivered across distributed teams, shaping operating models, inclusion frameworks and employer positioning. 

Organisational Accessibility Transformation

Role: Chief People Officer
Sector: Multi-site hospitality and service organisation

The organisation identified the need to enhance accessibility across locations and required a structured approach aligned with brand and inclusion strategies.

Challenge
  • Inconsistent accessibility practices across sites
  • Limited workforce confidence in supporting diverse customers
  • Missed opportunity to strengthen inclusive employer positioning
  • Accessibility needed to shift from ad hoc initiatives to embedded governance.

Intervention

Led the design and integration of a formal accessibility framework across the organisation.

  • Established accessibility as a leadership and governance priority
  • Implemented the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme
  • Embedding accessibility into workforce training and SOPs
  • Aligned CX, workforce inclusion and brand narrative 
  • Strengthened partnerships with NZ accessibility organisations

Outcome
  • Consistent accessibility standards across multiple sites
  • Increased workforce confidence supporting diverse customer needs
  • Strengthened employer positioning as an inclusive organisation, reduced reputational and compliance risk & enhanced customer trust and brand integrity

external media:  Hidden Disabilities Sunflower 

Strategic Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

Role: Chief People Officer
Organisation: Multi-site hospitality group

Following the 'Great Resignation' it was crucial to design an EVP that attracted, engaged and retained top talent that enhanced the company's performance and employer brand

Challenge

The organisation faced challenges in recruitment and employee retention in a competitive talent market, where salaries alone were not sufficient to attract talent. Leadership recognised the need for a unified workforce value strategy aligned with the organisation’s purpose and aimed at long-term sustainability.

Intervention

Led the design and implementation of a structured EVP focused on alignment rather than cost escalation:

  • Clarified employer identity and leadership narrative
  • Aligned benefits to workforce lifecycle needs
  • Integrated targeted wellbeing initiatives into a retention framework
  • Embedded EVP messaging into recruitment and onboarding

Outcome
  • Strengthened employer brand positioning
  • Improved candidate quality and engagement
  • Increased retention stability
  • Enhanced executive clarity on workforce strategy

This work reinforced the organisation’s long-term workforce resilience and competitive positioning.

'Phillipa played a pivotal role in driving initiatives that champion workplace inclusion; her efforts have transcended local boundaries, influencing practices and policies on an international scale'

- CEO New Zealand Disability Employers’ Network

Culture Transformation

Led a multi-year cultural transformation aligned with the organisation's growth and inclusion strategy. Resulting in a transformation that strengthened employer positioning, improved workforce diversity and cohesion, and reinforced brand credibility across multiple sites.

Employer of Choice & Brand Alignment
  • Designed a structured Employer of Choice strategy 
  • Integrated culture metrics into leadership frameworks
  • Aligned internal brand experience with external customer promise
  • Oversaw workforce brand design, including modernised uniform strategy, to ensure consistency between identity, culture and customer experience

Design of inclusive talent gateways

  • Designed and implemented the Open Doors Internship, creating structured employment pathways for individuals with disabilities and embedding accessibility into workforce planning and operating standards
  • Established a Māori and Pacific Youth Scholarship to create targeted entry pathways for rangatahi not in employment, education or training, strengthening the workforce pipeline and advancing equity objectives

These initiatives were positioned as strategic workforce design interventions supporting diversity and inclusion, retention, brand integrity and long-term capability and talent development.

Look at the case study here

Research from the Journal of Business Strategy supports a competitive advantage through fractional executives

A fraction of an executive: new ways to save and compete | M. So and A. Teckchandani: The Journal of business strategy 2023 Vol. 44 Issue 4 Pages 211-218, DOI: 10.1108/JBS-02-2022-0024