Progress People: Rachel Tully, our talented Head of People

Leading the charge as Head of People for The Progress Group is Rachel Tully, a passionate and driven professional who is as dedicated to supporting our colleagues as she is her family. From her full-time role as People lead to completing a level 5 Chartered Institute of Personnel Development apprenticeship, there’s no stopping this modern-day superhero.

Outside of work, Rachel has her twin, 4-year-old boys to keep her on her toes, as well as her two French bulldogs, who she says were “my babies before my babies”. With a jampacked household, Rachel and her wife, Katie, often joke “our house is like Noah’s ark, there’s two of everything”.

When we sat down with Rachel, she discussed how she ended up at The Progress Group, saying “As I’ve gotten older, my career has evolved with my family. I’ve chosen to take roles that have allowed me to balance my life outside of work with my work, which is exactly what The Progress Group allows.”

With a strong background in retail that spans 21 years, Rachel has developed a solid understanding of HR and honed her people skills. Through working a variety of roles, from Checkout Operator to Administrative roles, to People and Operations, she solidified her skills and gained a multitude of experiences that she draws on in her current role. This breadth of knowledge has given Rachel the ability to see a different or unique perspective than most would have, “I think and react to things in a different way, which is great, diversity gives us strength.”

Rachel made the decision to leave retail as she wanted a role that would allow for her to have more time to spend with her family. Her wife, Katie, who worked at Progress Schools at the time, recommended a role within The Progress Group, which aligned with work she had previously done. The role also offered more flexibility and weekends off to spend time with her boys, making it, as Rachel put, “the right fit”.

Currently, Rachel is the Head of People, responsible for developing the People Strategy for the Group and its subsidiaries, she works closely with colleagues to create an environment where we can champion better working lives for all.  This means looking after the entire colleague life cycle from attraction to exit, alongside her team, which includes recruitment, payroll, assets, and more. She also ensures that we have policies and processes in place that support our colleague to be able to do their best work. 

Rachel really champions the work she does for the Group and discussed how she feels supported by her manager and colleagues, a must for her optimal working environment. Rachel gushed about those around her, saying “our colleagues are sensational, they work hard to ensure that our customers, students, and learners get the best possible service and experience from us daily, in what can be challenging circumstances, and they are all really nice people too, which helps”.

A big advocate for working at The Progress Group, Rachel says she “would and I have” recommended roles to others. She describes the work as “so rewarding”, even though originally this wasn’t a motivating factor for why she applied for the role. However, since working at The Progress Group, she says this is an added bonus to the role, saying, “it is really inspiring what our collective achieves”. And being the Head of People, she had to discuss our colleagues, stating “because of the people who work here” as her main reason for recommending the business to others, describing them as hardworking and genuine.

One for living in the moment, Rachel said she’s “never had a 5-year plan”, but her goals for the next year are to complete her level 5 apprenticeship. Afterwards, she wants to use the skills and knowledge gained to make The Progress Group an even better place to work for everyone. Her motto from day one has always been, “do a great day’s work today” and she lives by this, evident from the admiration of her colleagues and recognition received from external awarding bodies who recently awarded her with The Sue Thompson Level 5 CIPD Award.

When we quizzed her on how she felt when she found out that she had swooped the award, she said:

“I was astonished when I heard that I had been nominated for the award, I was and still am genuinely honoured that time was taken to consider me. When I won, I was elated! It’s a testament to everyone around me that’s enabled me to do great work; from my family who support me unconditionally, to my colleagues, who make it a great place to be, to my line manager, who understands what I need and supports me to be my best, but also to me, who works full time, who has a wife, 2 little boys and 2 dogs to keep me busy outside of work. I work hard to balance all of that, and the award just cements that I’m doing an OK job of it.”

And what’s next for this talented individual? Well, she’s already set her sights on going on to complete her Level 7 CIPD in Strategic People Management at some point in the future. Rachel is an asset to The Progress Group, a true leader who optimises our values in abundance, and we are so proud that she has received the recognition she truly deserves.