Aine Crilly, Managing Director of The HR Elephant

Monday 13 September 2021

HR is a service area which has really come to the fore during the pandemic. From furlough and redundancy to employee health and wellbeing, Aine Crilly is forging ahead in supporting organisations with these services.

‘I’ve always had an interest in people’s issues and making sure people were treated fairly. Unsure about where to take this interest I studied Law at University of Ulster before getting the opportunity to work in a number of different roles in the Northern Ireland Civil Service. It was while working in the Equality and Strategy Directorate that I started to get a sense of People Management and the very many challenges and opportunities this presented. Seeing the impact that people’s actions can have on others, it really affirmed my decision that I wanted to work in a job that helped people.

After three years in various roles, I spent 18 months working on the World Police and Fire Games project before moving to Canada to take up a role in Recruitment and HR. On my return home I joined Deloitte in Dublin before commencing lecturing in Southern Regional College while studying for my Masters in HR over two years. This was one of my biggest challenges to date as I had two babies aged one month and eleven months. Yet my children made me more determined to push ahead and find a role that suited not only what I wanted to do in my career but my family life too.

Back in 2017, working from home was virtually non-existent. With that The HR Elephant was born. I knew that by setting up my own HR consultancy, I would be able to forge my own path. I can’t say it is easy running your own business to get a good work life balance, but I know I will never miss the important things in my homelife.

People often ask me where the name ‘The HR Elephant’ came from - I love Elephants. They are amazing creatures and so much of the study of traits in elephants, I believe, resonates with people trying to manage and look after other people. The HR Elephant is built on the concept of the intelligent and in-tune Elephant leading its herd. I have built a ‘HERD’ around me with a fantastic list of clients. We now have offices in Newry, Dundalk and Newtownhamilton to help deliver our vision of being a leading cross border HR Consultancy.

We are collectively working to try to make HR more about what you can do, using open communication and employer/team member relationships built on trust and mutual respect. The HR remit has changed dramatically during the pandemic. Mental Health and wellbeing have come to the fore and many organisations are relooking at their policies and culture. It is a challenging but exciting time to be involved in the HR Industry and we are looking forward to many more busy years ahead.

You can get in touch with Aine via email: Aine@TheHRElephant.com or visit the The HR Elephant website

Monday 13 September 2021