Humans of HR: The story behind the leading lights – their career, motivation and achievements.
Carolyn Miller’s career has always been powered by the need to make positive business impact.
29 January 2024
Story by
Simon Kent, Head of Content – The HR World
Firmly routed in business know-how and delivering clear impact, Carolyn Miller, Vice President, Human Resources at Capgemini ensures her work benefits both organisation and people.
Carolyn Miller’s career has always been powered by the need to have a positive business impact. Having gained a Business Administration degree with German, her first role was a temporary job working for a small UK construction company who were getting to grips with the opportunities created by the historical reunification of Germany. Thinking she’d be in place for six months, six years later she’d been involved with every aspect of the business, her German language capability opening up the door into new markets and revenue growth for the company. From engaging with prospects and clients to sales negotiation to resourcing projects, Miller gained first-hand experience of what it took to build and run a business and make it profitable.
Having benefited from this solid grounding, Miller decided she wanted to specialise in HR. To help set her apart from the competition, she completed an MBA in her spare time whilst working, delivering a dissertation on change management. Shortly afterwards she landed her first HR role with a global IT organisation where she took on diverse HR Business Partner roles for some large client accounts. “It was fantastic experience with considerable levels of accountability,” she says. “There was no question about the importance of the HR function for the business and this was also reflected in the high levels of investment in a bespoke HR Academy to enable us to deliver to the highest level of capability.”
Career moves
From there she advanced through HR roles at two other tech companies CSC and VMware, taking on increasing responsibility and positions with both EMEA and global scope, as each business drove its digital transformation. Two stand out areas that she lead on were Mergers and Acquisitions and she introduced a ground-breaking Mental Health programme.
These roles culminated in her joining Capgemini two and a half years ago. The French owned business and IT transformation company employs some 360,000 people globally with around 13,000 in the UK. Miller is the Vice President of HR for the country, giving her a seat on the UK Country Board. In this position her focus in on delivering an exceptional employee experience through all the “moments that matter” to provide both individual and business growth.
The importance of that experience has been demonstrated by some of her latest work for the business. In October of last year with Miller taking the lead, the UK was one of the first countries globally within Capgemini to deliver an HR transformation programme, deploying smart digital tools and harmonised processes into the business along with an integrated, agile new HR model and an elevated People Manager role.
Transformation for the better
The transformation work has seen the introduction of new technology which offers an enhanced user experience which is also mobile enabled. It has automated many routine activities, empowering managers and employees to do their work faster and more efficiently. The experience of the UK undergoing this change is already informing further roll-outs in other parts of the world. “We’re enabling our HR partners to step away from the administrative tasks and add value to the business in ways they haven’t done before,” says Miller. “If there is less operational work we need to do we can concentrate on more strategic initiatives that focus on getting the best from our people, delivering on their career and learning aspirations and driving enhanced organisational performance.”
Getting the best from their people is critical of course but the impact goes beyond the internal impact. Miller is very much aware that satisfied and engaged internal customers creates value for Capgemini’s external clients. Equally she recognises in turn that HR needs to look out into the external world of customers and partners to help inform and shape Capgemini’s people practices in the UK and places considerable worth on her external network to achieve this.
Scale and efficiency
On reflection, Miller identifies two elements to her work – driving economies of scale and greater efficiency in the business, and on the other hand developing and implementing strategies that enhance the careers of employees and drive the growth of the business.
In this way she takes a ‘helicopter’ view of the business while also retaining the ability to dive into how her work impacts on the employees and their everyday experience.
Staying relevant
“Fundamentally, HR has to stay relevant,” she says, “and that means we need to evolve in line with the business. We need to understand the political, economic, social and technological factors which impact our work and we need to know what to do to anticipate and respond to these within the HR function. It’s about understanding emerging trends around the future of work that are set to shape HR and the employee experience.”
Acknowledging this task alone has become somewhat more challenging and complex in recent years, Miller ultimately highlights the need for HR, like the business itself, to keep its skills up-to-date and be agile in its delivery. That agility is reflected within her own work too. She attends many external events and ensures she is on a continuous learning journey, connecting the latest ideas across HR and business thinking. “I need to keep up to date with trends like AI that have the potential to transform our business and meet the changing need of our customers,” she says, “and lean in and provide thought leadership on such topics to both my HR team and the business, adjusting our people priorities and investments accordingly.”
“The last two years have seen significant changes in the world of work influenced by macroeconomic and geopolitical factors,” says Miller “and HR has come into its own, increasing its visibility and impact within the business.
“2024 presents significant opportunities for HR professionals to reassess and revamp their strategies, aligning them with emerging trends and the unique challenges and opportunities of our times.”
Carolyn Miller
Vice President, Human Resources, Capgemini
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