Laing O’Rourke appoints Rae Avatar Barnett as Head of People for its Europe Hub
10.11.21Laing O’Rourke has appointed Rae Avatar Barnett as Head of People for its Europe Hub, furthering its commitment to deliver certainty to clients and stakeholders through the power of experience.
She joins the company from Centrica, where she worked in commercial transformation, HR delivery, and talent management.
Rae has worked in “start-up” environments through to FTSE 100 organisations, developing and delivering organisational change and culture programmes, reviewing and operating HR infrastructure and building effective teams. She has also been a chief of staff to executive leadership.
Starting with the company on 8 November, Rae said: “In meeting Laing O’Rourke, I’ve been excited by the genuine commitment to the ‘Trades to Technicians’ approach to respecting the workforce, delivering sustainably through modern methods of construction, and helping us all thrive at work and home.
“I’ve been impressed with the leaders I’ve met to date and the genuine and caring approach taken to the people who make it all happen.”
Rae will draw on her experience in organisations with large operational teams and work with the already established People leadership teams in both Hubs on Laing O’Rourke’s operating model, talent programmes, inclusion, performance, reward and resourcing strategies.
Rae is also an active speaker on diversity and a mentor with the 30% club and Career Accelerator – areas that will support Laing O’Rourke’s diversity aspirations, including its sustainability commitment to employ equal numbers of men and women across its 5,500 global staff by 2033.