With the belief that his purpose on this planet is to make work “work” for people in a meaningful way, a visionary business leader has disrupted the HR space. We are talking about Nick Holmes, an ambitious personality who is in a constant process to ensure that his employees grow professionally and personally. He is in a continuous cycle to adapt and evolve the employee experience to live up to the title of an Industry Leader.
Nick is the Vice President, Employee Experience at Avalere Health, a purposefully built commercialization partner for the biopharmaceutical, medical technology, wellness and investment industries. A team of 1500+ global experts, combine their knowledge and expertise across its core disciplines — Consulting; Medical; Policy; Value, Evidence, and Access; Marketing; and Digital Experience Technology to unify behind their core mission: “We imagine a healthier world and create the connections to make it happen.”
Let us have a deep look into Nick’s Professional Journey, which is a learning lesson for all aspiring HR professionals out there!
Pathway to Become an HR Leader
Nick begins, “My journey to today has been more rock-climbing wall rather than ladder!”
Nick left university with the vision to be a professional actor. He moved to London to live his dream and had numerous jobs, ranging from a children’s entertainer to working in advertising. He then started traveling the world with the company, training people to go beyond selling by elevating the guest experience, and was able to grow a team and become the Global Head of Learning and Development.
From there, he moved to the north-west of the UK to become the Head of HR for a B2B tech company in Manchester before moving to Avalere. His route into the people profession is deliberate, and while finding his clear purpose along the way. Nick has seen first-hand the impact on people when work is not good – the people around suffer when work is bad, relationships deteriorate, stress looms large, and life can lack meaning. He is on a quest to change the narrative and become a leader who can guide employees on the right professional path.
In October 2023, Nick and his team retired 10 heritage brands and debuted the new Avalere Health brand, inspired by the foundational belief that better health happens when we connect. By taking the innovative step to unite under one name and go to market as one brand with a single ethos, vision, and united service set, Avalere Health demonstrates to its colleagues, clients, and industry that it truly operates and moves as one.
Inside Avalere Health
Avalere Health is a dynamic organization continually looking to develop, integrate, and grow. Externally the working environment and expectations around work are evolving too – especially around diversity and inclusion and flexible and hybrid working. As the global lead in employee engagement, there is always work to be done to help all its employees deal with and embrace internal and external change, develop current and future talent, and build brand-new leadership capabilities across the business, with a particular focus on human-centric leadership competencies.
Nick Holmes continues, “Personally, I’m looking to elevate my voice across the HR industry in one way by putting on a brand-new event for the HR world called the HR Troublemaker Festival, where I plan to bring together people leaders from around the UK who want to innovate the people space and change the way we’re working! I’m also a finalist for HR Leader of the Year and Learning Leader of the Year 2024 at the British HR Awards – so I’m hoping for some silverware there!”
Nick Holmes has a very clear purpose: “to change the way we think and feel about work.” It starts with the 1500+ humans that exist within Avalere Health. The company adopts a ‘fail-forward-fast’ approach with people initiatives and employee experience design principles: employee voice, the business strategy/purpose, and the future of work. Nick will continue to adapt and evolve the company’s employee experience.
Avalere Health: Make Better Health Happen
Here are the 5 Values of Avalere Health:
- We value difference.
- We are authentic.
- We act with integrity.
- We enjoy the journey.
- We play for the team.
Nick explains, “Our values tell the world and our people what we believe in. To make our culture come alive, our values are then fused with our behaviors, which are:”
- I am accountable.
- I am customer-focused.
- I am empowered.
- I am connected.
- I am purposeful.
Nick shares, “Our behaviors guide our people and show them how we intend to work together. And We recognize people against our values. Our culture is centered around our purpose to make better health happen. But for us, better health needs to start at home. That means we look to craft a culture where people can be the healthiest version of themselves, that means healthy minds and healthy careers.”
HR tech is in an incredibly exciting place. AI is becoming embedded throughout the employee lifecycle and UX is improving the team. Nick opines, “The next advance I’d like to see is in HR health tech. Apps like Headspace, Calm, and EAP support are available, but we are very much in a burnout pandemic, and tech has had a part to play in that. My challenge to the industry is questioning how we make tech healthier. How can we get people tech in organizations that actually improve wellness at its core, rather than just layering another thing on top of already heavy tech stacks?”
Advancements Based on Tech for the Future
Nick Holmes believes that HR tech or any other tech used to transform the business or industry, is just an enabler but does not replace human expertise and knowledge. HR tech allows HR professionals to be more informed, and agile and drive future work practices. But that does not mean it should take away the human element of HR! HR leaders are needed more than ever to embed the change and ensure that their expertise and vision come to life.
The technology that is in use is only as good as the data that’s in there and the adoption from the end user. A company can have the greatest user experience in the world, but if its use makes no sense or has errors, the effectiveness will fade quickly. Avalere Health partners with CultureAmp for its listening, performance, and employee engagement technology, and it is leveraging this technology relationship to understand the key data points across the employee lifecycle to zero in on to make a difference. At Avalere Health, the team is exploring new ways to bring better outcomes to patients through AI and big data.
Nick concludes, “It’s simple – be different. Everyone has adopted AI in their tech, it’s not a unique selling point anymore. Focus less on being reactive to the market, and focus more on the bigger problems the people profession are trying to solve…how can we make work more human through tech? How do we improve the working lives of our people? And how can we make work not suck?”
