Edenred welcomed experienced HR Director, Cristina Buonocore to the board in January.  Fellow board member Andy Philpot caught up with Cristina to ask about her ambitions for the company.

Welcome Christina, it’s great to have you on board. What attracted you to this role?

“ Thank you for the warm welcome Andy, I am delighted to be working with Edenred colleagues.  I developed my HR career in Financial Services.  First with Deutsche Bank and latterly with a few FinTech SMEs.  Although I loved the global reach that my role at Deutsche Bank offered,  I discovered that I also enjoy the fast pace of smaller organisations.

This role intrigued me because it covers both Edenred UK, an established business that’s part of a global brand providing HR services, and its subsidiary PPS, a Fintech that provides pre-paid solutions.  This means I can continue to enjoy the best of both worlds - a fast paced as well as a more mature operating environment.

We value the experience you bring Cristina.  What are your plans to develop Edenred’s people strategy?

“After a couple of months spent listening to people and understanding the needs of the business, my next priority is to finish building the HR team.  I am currently recruiting someone to lead Learning and Development and another one to lead Employee Engagement.

Together these two specialists will deliver the company’s employee engagement vision – to retain and attract talented staff with development and growth opportunities and to create a great employee experience. 

Longer term, I will progress the Group’s DEI, ESG agenda to have 40% of board positions filled by women by 2030.  We are making great progress toward this goal having achieved the Group’s 33% target by 2022.  

Another priority is to evolve the current employee benefits offer.  We have already made some steps forward as recently, we signed the menopause workplace pledge to support women experiencing menopause.”

That’s an exciting and full agenda Cristina.  What about Cristina the person outside of work?  What interests you?

“Well I am an Italian, who has been living in the UK for 17 years.  I am an anthropologist at heart, with a natural curiosity for people.  In my spare time I love to meet new people and experience how they live.  My favourite experiences so far have been in Colombia, Uganda and Mongolia – some fantastic experiences off the beaten paths!.”

Great to catch-up Cristina, I look forward to hearing how you plans are progressing later in the year.