HRTech Interview with Caroline Drake, Chief People Officer at Zellis

Caroline, welcome to HRTech Cube! Before diving in, can you please share your professional journey of becoming Chief People Officer at Zellis?
Thank you for having me! I’ve had the privilege of being Chief People Officer at Zellis Group since 2018. During this time, we’ve transformed the company in many ways—enhancing our culture, people, products, and customer service to deliver exceptional experiences for our customers and their employees as well as driving growth. Before joining Zellis, I spent eight years at Worldpay in several HR leadership roles and prior to that, much of my HR career was spent in the retail sector.

Considering your experience, what would you say are your proudest achievements in driving sustainability and people programs to date?
The thing that truly stands out in all our achievements—whether in people, culture, or sustainability—is the incredible partnership with our colleagues to drive meaningful change. From establishing our company values in 2019, which laid the foundation for the organisation we aspire to be, to the numerous colleague-led networks that foster engagement and inclusion across the group, it’s been a remarkable journey. More recently, it’s been inspiring to witness the working groups that have come together to advance our sustainability and impact agenda. So, the thing I am most proud of is seeing colleagues from across the organisation coming together to make Zellis Group a better place for colleagues, customers, and the communities we operate in.

Zellis Group operates across diverse regions: the UK, Ireland, India, and the Philippines. In your experience, how important is it to embrace cultural differences while maintaining a unified sustainability strategy?
It’s very important. Understanding the unique context of each region is key to engaging people in the strategy and what it means for them. Working across different regions and communities presents a wonderful opportunity to learn about other cultures and strengthen our organisational culture. This approach not only strengthens our sustainability efforts but also fosters a more inclusive and cohesive environment for everyone involved.

What initiatives or programs did you introduce to encourage employees to take part in sustainability, and what impact have these had on overall engagement and wellbeing?
As part of embedding sustainability and wellbeing into our organisational culture, we’ve established cross-functional working groups that break down traditional silos, enabling colleagues to collaborate and drive meaningful change more effectively.

It’s been great to empower employees through colleague-led networks like our Wellbeing for All Champions and networks to promote diversity and inclusion. We’ve also facilitated a dynamic series of talks and masterclasses on topics ranging from net carbon zero to mindfulness to inclusion and awareness celebrations, with many being led by our own colleagues as well as external speakers.

The results have been transformative – with increased knowledge sharing, deeper colleague involvement, and a significant improvement in our employee net promoter score (eNPS).

Tell us some of the biggest challenges you faced at Zellis Group in pursuing its sustainability goals and how you integrated them into every aspect of its operations.
The scope of different options for driving sustainability can sometimes mean you’re pulled in so many directions. The key is to focus on what is material to the business and where we can have the biggest impact on our colleagues, customers, and the communities we operate in. It’s also a changing landscape externally and each time you hit one goal you need to reset to a higher level of ambition, which keeps us on our toes.

What metrics do you use to measure the impact of sustainability efforts, internally and externally, and how do you ensure these metrics drive meaningful changes with the company’s long-term vision?
We’re tracking our senior leadership diversity and have clear ambitions to increase this over time. We also monitor our carbon emissions to ensure we’re on track for our target of being operationally net carbon zero by 2027.

These measures are our core targets within the sustainability framework. They challenge us to think about how we do business so that we can fulfil our purpose: to power exceptional employee experiences so you and your people do better.

We also look closely at uptake and usage of our financial, physical, and mental wellbeing products and services, to see how many employees are taking advantage of the support available, and how we could help expand that further.

Can you discuss how you have integrated diversity and inclusion (DEI) into Zellis Group’s sustainability strategy?
DEI is core to what we do at Zellis Group and is embedded in our ambitions through our ‘Diversity of Thought and Experience’ pillar. We want everyone to be themselves at work and believe that everyone, irrespective of any personal characteristics, should be supported to achieve their ambitions equitably.

We’ve published three reports on how high-quality data can better enable businesses to embed DEI in their organisations. We foster an inclusive environment by developing colleague-led networks, educating leaders on diversity practices, and participating in national awareness campaigns. Our recruitment processes are carefully designed to attract diverse talent, with enhanced training to mitigate unconscious bias. We actively engage with local communities to provide employment opportunities, and work to ensure our recognition and performance systems celebrate individual differences. Through regular policy reviews, industry group participation, and ongoing measurement of diversity metrics, we’re dedicated to nurturing workplaces where every colleague can thrive.

Zellis Group has a long history of innovation and adaptation. Can you share the company’s key sustainability priorities and goals for the upcoming years?
Our sustainability strategy is centred around four areas where we feel we can have the most impact for our colleagues, customers, shareholders, and the communities we operate in:

• Wellbeing for All
• Diversity of Thought and Experiences
• Strong Communities
• Protecting our Environment.

When we set our sustainability and ESG strategy in the summer of 2022, we set out a number of ambitious targets to achieve by the end of 2027:

• Help 5 million people with financial, mental, and physical wellbeing
• Be 50% women-led
• Help 50% of our customers reach their DEI goals
• Be operationally net carbon zero

We further aim to be fully net zero across all activities by 2040. We’re also launching a volunteering programme, engaging colleagues to volunteer in their community on causes close to their hearts.

What advice would you give to other leaders in HR and people functions who are trying to integrate sustainability into their organization’s culture and operations?
Seek colleague input early on in your journey and ensure that your plans and ambitions are owned by the whole business rather than the People or Sustainability function. You can do this by establishing cross-functional working groups who are actively involved in shaping and delivering your plans.