Macmillan Meets… Eva Harmati, Human Resources Director Europe & UK at Azumi Restaurant Group

In our next instalment of our ‘Macmillan Meets…’ interview series, James Roberts talks to Eva Harmati, Human Resources Director Europe & UK at Azumi Restaurant Group. Eva is an experienced HR professional within the retail and hospitality sector having worked for organisations such as Tesco, Moss Bros, Inditex (who own brand such as Zara and Bershka) and now Azumi. She spoke with James her career to date, shared her thoughts on how HR has changed over the last decade, and the effects the pandemic had on the profession, and shares details about the two core skills she feels all HR professionals need.

Can you tell me about your current role?

I joined Azumi Restaurant Group in June 2022, which is a global fine-dining restaurant group with famous brands such as Zuma, ROKA, ETARU, Oblix at The Shard and INKO NITO, all of which provide a different twist on Japanese inspired cuisine. If you haven’t been to one if the restaurants yet, I highly recommend it! The group is headquartered in London but is constantly opening restaurants all over the world. For example, in June there were four openings one after another. The company is continually expanding, and we are delighted to be celebrating our 20-year anniversary in October this year. They’ll be a huge party – it’s very exciting.

What made you decide to pursue a career in the field of HR?

There was never a point where I made a conscious decision to pursue a career in HR, but it was meant to be. I finished university as an economist, I need a job and I knew I couldn’t start straight away as a ‘Head of’ or a Manager, so applied for several admin jobs. I was fortunate enough to receive two job offers that arrived on the same day. The first was for construction-equipment manufacturer, Caterpillar, as their finance assistant, and the second was at Tesco Head Office as their Retail HR Assistant. I accepted the role at Tesco and the rest, as they say, is history and I have worked in HR ever since. Even though I didn’t have a lot of knowledge in the beginning, I enjoyed the challenge and constantly wanted to learn.

I have always worked in the retail or hospitality sectors, never within in the corporate world. It’s different, it’s fun, it’s fast-paced and a lot of things happen so you have to learn to adapt and multi-task. After Tesco, I moved to SSP, Inditex, Moss Bros and then onto Azumi. Even though not every role has been a positive experience for me, I wouldn’t do it any differently, I learnt so much from every company I’ve been in.

What are some of the core skills you feel HR professionals need to really add value and help organisations progress? And what skills do you look for when building your HR team?

The two key skills I feel HR professionals need, particularly when working in retail and hospitality, are patience and the ability to listen – a lot. The rest you can learn. A good role model or line manager to mentor you is a bonus. In my first HR assistant role, my line manager was absolutely everything, they weren’t always lovely, but I learnt so much from them. They taught me that HR will always be about following procedures, but you also need to adapt and listen to people. Don’t say something is impossible, compromise and come up with ideas.

The younger generation are used to the ‘on-demand’ culture, if you want something, you can get it tomorrow. I’ve seen this when recruiting HRBPs or HR Managers who didn’t have realistic timescales for progression. When you’re starting out you need to be humble and patient, particularly when you are starting out and have little experience. HR is involved in every aspect of the business, and you should be too. Role up your sleeves and help in any way you can, whether that’s helping operations or finance, or other functions – absorb everything and gain advice and knowledge from different people across the company. Be involved, don’t say that’s not HR as you will learn from it, and you may need that knowledge later in your career.

This way of working should continue throughout your career. In the restaurants I’ll chat to the Chef or the receptionists – this is how you get to understand what is ging on in the business, build connections, humanise the HR function and ultimately, understand their role so you can use the knowledge more effectively within the business.

The pandemic has taught businesses a lot about the value of HR, but is there still a way to go until the full potential for HR as a function is realised?

Absolutely. I still feel like many companies have a long way to go to realise the value of the HR function, many recognise the need for the function – particularly through the pandemic, but not so much the value. Everything happened so quickly and a lot of that landed on HR - I don’t think I spoke with anyone in HR who enjoyed the summer of 2020.

Having spoken to others in the profession, I don’t feel there was the recognition of how much HR professionals went through, they were looking after everyone else, but who was looking after them? That’s why I don’t think the value was recognised – HR is still worth more.

How do you think HR has changed over the last 10 years and where do you see the HR function of the future?

If I look back to how HR was when I started (which was way over 10 years ago), no one was as open minded, it was very black and white. If you saw HR, it was because you were in trouble, or someone was going to be dismissed today. Now, HR is softening, not everything is black and white, and we need to be able to guide people and consider different options to support the workforce.

Yes, HR is still policies and procedures, but now, you also support - rewarding the good, as well as the bad. The workforce is changing, and the HR function must change with it. Today’s generation has different expectations; they’re more sensitive, they need a stronger induction, a career plan, and an understanding of how they can get to that next role. They’re also more willing to share their opinions, knowing that someone will listen to them and take ideas into consideration more than they would 10 years ago. HR has to adapt with that – becoming more people focused to meet the changing expectations.

Working in hospitality, you have a split workforce: those in the restaurants that can’t work from home, and those in the office that could. What are your thoughts on the hybrid working debate and how do you create a fair environment for everybody?

At Azumi, everyone is here or in an office five days - and I enjoy it. We celebrate birthdays, have interesting discussions, and share funny stories – you feel like you’re alive and you don’t get that when you’re stuck between the same four walls.

After the first lockdown, some people didn’t want to be in the office full-time, but since then, everyone accepts the fact that we are here five days. Our restaurant workers are there every day – how can we support them fully if we are working from home all the time.

When you work in HR, working from home full-time can be dangerous. You lose the contact and connections with people. If you want to grow in a role and gain experience and get promoted, you need to be in the office and meet the people who are there. You cannot separate yourself from everyone.

For me, your home should be sacred, where you watch TV, eat, spend time with your children, and you need to be able to disconnect home life and work life. Going to the office keeps your mind healthy; you need to get up and ready to leave the house, go and buy that overpriced coffee and be annoyed that everyone is hot and sweaty on the tube. Maybe not every day, there is a balance to be had. Four days a week, gives you the chance to sort out stuff – get the boiler fixed etc. However, those who have dependants – children or sick parents – that’s a different category and should be treated as such.

Do you think it’s the employer’s responsibility to create an environment where people are happy to be at work or in the office?

I think having a nice working environment does make a difference - you feel you are valued. If you come into the office, you should be provided you an environment where you are happy to work.

At Azumi, our offices are clean and immaculate, we have air conditioning, a balcony, a nice coffee machine, fruit, filtered water – If you want people to come in, you need to make it appealing for people.

What is the best piece of career advice you have received?

For me, it’s to have the same two skills I mentioned before – to be patient and to listen. Everything stems from there. Just because you are HR Director, or the Head of HR doesn’t mean you always have the answers – you can always learn and ask questions.

Each week we have an induction – we always say to those starting, even if you the same question three times in the first few days, keep asking – if you don’t, you’ll make a mistake that could have been avoidable – create a culture where people aren’t afraid to listen and ask those questions.

The Owner of Azumi comes into the office regularly and the CEO comes in all the time. Their office door is always open, they listen and always interested in ideas, last week they were walking past HR and just grabbed someone from HR for a chat. Even though they own a massive company, they are still down to earth and ask others for ideas. This makes people feel they are welcomed and valued. I haven’t always had that. In one of my previous workplaces, we had our values plastered over the walls, but they were just words. You need to live you values rather than just shouting about them – they should be genuine and authentic. My piece of advice for business leaders to be open-minded and understand actions speak louder than words.

Get in touch

Should you wish to have a confidential chat with James Roberts to discuss the current HR market and where we can help with inclusive recruitment or your search for work/recruiting into your team, please contact him directly at jroberts@mdhr.co.uk

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