Day in the Life: Sally Nelson, Human Resources Director
Fidelity International provides investment products and services to investors outside the US. These include equity funds, fixed-income funds, money market funds and institutional portfolio management. Together with its separate US company FMR, Fidelity is the world's largest independent fund management organisation.
0700 I am not naturally keen on operating in a routine. However as a single working mother, from the moment I open my eyes I find myself thrust into a frenzy of organising and directing. This is to ensure that my two daughters, aged 11 and 8, are up and ready for school and we can leave the house on time.
0810 Today is one of the days when I don't have an early morning breakfast meeting and can take the children to school myself - a treat I always look forward to. We leave the house in a flurry of bags, homework, violins, recorders and swimming kits, busily exchanging information on after-school activities. I take the opportunity to mentally check whether I briefed Bridget, the nanny, the day before on which child to pick up first.
0820 I drop Imogen, my eldest daughter, at her school first and then drive another five minutes to Camilla's school, in the heart of the Kent countryside in southern England. From there I only have a 10-minute drive to work and for the most part this is spent meandering along country lanes. I never tire of this journey.
0840 Once at work at Fidelity's offices in Hildenborough, near Sevenoaks in Kent, I immediately switch on my PC to catch up on e-mails before my first meeting begins.
0900 The first meeting of the day is a conference call to the company's Head of India, discussing the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (personality test) workshop that I plan to run for his direct reports during my visit in August.
Since he is new to the company he is keen to run a team-building exercise to enable his team to get to know each other better and understand each others' motivations and differences. We talk about whether the UK Foreign Office advice of "only essential business travel to India" will be completely lifted by August.
I decide to go ahead anyway with my jabs in a few days time!
1000 Next is my fortnightly team meeting with the 10 recruiters and HR generalists who support the individual business areas that make up Business Support.
After updates on issues within each of the business areas, we review progress on the plan to set up a service-centre based HR Admin function within Business Support. We feel this is a more scaleable model that will enable us to cope with further growth within our business areas and will help us to improve the quality of our service delivery.
In the last half-hour we listen to a presentation from an outside expert in Autogenic Training . They describe a scientifically proven relaxation technique to help individuals control and alleviate their own stress symptoms, a topical issue within today's working environment.
1200 I attend a debriefing by the managing director for Business Support on the Global Operating Committee meeting that took place earlier. Marc Sylvain tells us that the main thrust of the GOC meeting was to reflect on the current market situation and to agree that although we don't see any immediate end to the bear market there are still some very positive actions we can take.
Great stocks can still be found and the investor can still make money if he opts for a stock-picking approach. Stock-picking comes into its own during tough bear markets and our Japanese stock-picking over the last decade has illustrated that point for us well.
1330 Time for a quick sandwich at my desk while I dip into my e-mails once again and listen to any voice-mails that have come in during the morning. I find keeping on top of correspondence when the day is spent largely in meetings is a constant challenge. I also catch up with Patricia, my assistant who gives me various invoices and expense reports to sign.
1430 Have a performance review with one of my direct reports. We review feedback from her business areas and talk about future opportunities. I like to get individuals to focus on any strengths they have that we might not be harnessing in their current roles and we get into an interesting discussion on ways that we might utilise these.
The role of an HR generalist at Fidelity is one that works in close partnership with business heads and is particularly instrumental in helping them to facilitate change management within their teams.
1600 Review the agenda for an Emotional Intelligence off-site course taking place later that week with Helen, the HR generalist for Fidelity-Wide Processing. We are keen for the participants to focus on how emotions can affect and derail relationships within the workplace and agree that there is growing interest to increase levels of self-awareness around this topic.
1700 Time to return calls and respond more fully to e-mails and general queries and to sit down with Patricia and review my diary for the next day. This is the time of day when I like to catch up more informally with any of my team who are about for a quick chat and an update. Where possible I try to respond directly to any enquiries by going on a walk-about around the office.
1800 After a five-minute journey to 'Mountains', my local fitness centre, it is time for an hour with Lynne, my personal trainer. I have been managing to go to the gym three times a week since January and find it is a great way to unwind, de-stress and have some time for me.
1915 I arrive at my daughter's end of term school concert - she is singing and playing in a recorder trio. It is a moving end to a busy day.
2100 We make our way home. I enjoy chatting about their day as we immerse ourselves in the evening routine, ending in bedtime.
2230 It is finally my turn to relax with a cup of camomile tea, 'Newsnight' in the background and a good book to read - if I can stay awake long enough!
