“Understanding people is the foundation of every good benefits decision.”
During lockdown, I did something unexpected. In my early 40s, balancing a full-time job and life as a single parent, I studied a crash Higher in Psychology – just a few hours a week – and came away with a B.
It wasn’t a career move it was curiosity. But it reinforced something I already believed. Understanding how people think and communicate sits at the heart of everything I do.
I’ve worked in employee benefits for over 25 years, starting out in administration before progressing into an employee benefits consultant role around 10 years ago. Along the way, I’ve built experience across group risk, healthcare, and flexible benefits, including time in the motor trade and retail. At its core, it’s always been about people.
Today, I partner with employers to design and manage benefits programmes that genuinely work – covering group risk, healthcare, health and wellbeing strategies, and online benefits.
Technical expertise matters in this field, but equally important is the ability to explain it clearly, without jargon, and to adapt your communication depending on your audience. Some clients want detail while others only want the headlines. I can work either way.
One project that stands out is a major platform launch I led for a client whose previous consultant had left just months before go-live. With tight deadlines, complex HR and payroll integration, and a workforce that needed to engage quickly, there was a lot at stake. We pulled it together as a team – and afterwards, the client described us as the “Dream Team”.
Three years on, they’re still with us, still growing the relationship. That’s what I’m proud of.
I’m not a sales-y person. I never have been. However, I am honest and I won’t promise something I can’t deliver. I’m also patient so if something isn’t landing, I’ll find another way to explain it. That approach, combined with being genuinely invested in the businesses and teams I support, means much of the new business I write comes from existing clients asking what else we can do together.
Alongside client work, I support training and development for newer colleagues. It’s a natural extension of how I work – clear communication, patience, and a belief that when people truly understand something, they make better decisions.
Outside of work, life is just as people focused. I’m a single mum to my daughter, and between carting her around to clubs and social activities, and the unpredictability that comes with raising a child (and managing a larger-than-life puppy we’ve recently added to the mix), I see those same principles play out every day.
The psychology qualification may have started as a lockdown project, but it’s stayed with me – not in a textbook sense, but in how I listen, explain, and adapt. Understanding people isn’t just something I studied; it’s something I live, both in and out of work.
