Executive Experience

WorkTheory is grounded in senior executive leadership experience. Before establishing WorkTheory Co., Phillipa served as Chief People Officer at a complex, leading multi-site New Zealand hospitality organisation, leading HR governance, workforce design and culture transformation 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 

Organisational Accessibility as Strategic Governance

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

Operating across multiple locations with diverse customer demographics, the organisation recognised both a commercial opportunity and governance responsibility to strengthen accessibility for customers and employees. Leadership required a structured, organisation-wide approach aligned to brand, compliance and workforce inclusion strategy.

Strategic Challenge

  • Inconsistent accessibility practices across sites
  • Limited workforce confidence in supporting diverse customer needs
  • Missed opportunity to strengthen inclusive employer positioning

Accessibility needed to shift from ad hoc initiatives to embedded governance.

Executive Intervention

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

This included:

  • Establishing accessibility as a leadership and governance priority

  • Implementing the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme as part of a broader inclusion strategy and action plan

  • Embedding accessibility expectations into workforce training and operating standards

  • Aligning customer experience, workforce inclusion and brand narrative 

  • Strengthening partnerships with national accessibility organisations

The initiative was positioned not as a marketing activity, but as operational and cultural infrastructure.

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

See external media Hidden Disabilities Sunflower 

'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

Employee Value Proposition

Designing a Strategic Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

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

Strategic Challenge

Operating in a highly competitive talent market, the organisation faced increasing recruitment pressure and retention volatility across multiple sites.

Remuneration alone was insufficient to differentiate in-market. Leadership required a cohesive workforce value strategy aligned to organisational purpose and long-term sustainability.

Executive Intervention

Led the design and implementation of a structured Employee Value Proposition that:

  • Clarified employer identity and leadership narrative
  • Aligned benefits to workforce lifecycle needs
  • Integrated targeted wellbeing initiatives (including Digital Wills) into a broader retention framework
  • Embedded EVP messaging into recruitment and onboarding systems

The approach focused on strategic alignment rather than cost escalation.

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.

Culture Transformation

Employer of Choice* Brand Alignment * Workforce  Inclusion* Talent Pathway Design

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

Strategic Challenge

As Chief People Officer, led a culture and employer positioning transformation within a multi-site service organisation. The objective was to strengthen workforce engagement, retention stability and brand integrity while securing future talent during a period of growth. It entailed 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.

Look at the case study here 

Employer of Choice & Brand Alignment

Executive intervention included:

  • Designing a structured Employer of Choice strategy aligned to organisational values
  • Integrating culture metrics into leadership accountability frameworks
  • Aligning internal brand experience with external customer promise
  • Overseeing workforce brand design, including modernised uniform strategy, to ensure consistency between identity, culture and customer experience
  • Embedding culture metrics into executive reporting

Workforce Inclusion & Talent Pathway Design

Executive intervention included:

  • 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.