Wellington Place is more than just bricks and mortar, it’s a thriving community powered by people. This series of interviews aims to highlight some of the people of Wellington Place, share their inspirational stories and find out why Wellington Place is much more than just a place to work.
Interview with Anna Crump, Head of Governance & Culture at Redmayne Bentley
We caught up with Anna Crump, Head of Governance & Culture at Redmayne Bentley, to talk about shaping workplace culture, balancing a career and parenthood, and inspiring the next generation.
Can you tell us a bit about your role?
I’m the Head of Governance and Culture at Redmayne Bentley, an investment management and stock broking firm. My role spans the strategic HR side of the business – including wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, internal communications and employee engagement, as well as embedding our mission and values.
Alongside that, I lead on governance, including board and committee structures, and oversee our professional skills and development team, including outreach work with local schools.
In your career, what is something you’re particularly proud of?
It has to be our wellbeing approach as a business. In 2020, we launched a dedicated Wellbeing Framework alongside the COVID pandemic. Before that, we’d never worked from home, so we had to adapt very quickly.
We wanted to create something that supported people across all areas of their lives – not just in the office – and that would work long-term with hybrid working.
We now have a wellbeing platform on our intranet, plus 10 wellbeing champions across the business who are all trained Mental Health First Aiders. We also received a Highly Commended award at the PIMFA Diversity & Inclusion Awards.
What’s been your biggest career challenge?
The transition into becoming a parent. It took around six years for me to have my son, which involved a lot of appointments and was challenging both practically and emotionally alongside work.
After maternity leave, I returned part-time and now work four days a week. That transition is really challenging – balancing your change in priorities while still leading teams and projects.
Work have been brilliant throughout. They’ve been really supportive and flexible, which has made a huge difference.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Focus on breadth of experience. You’ve got time to build your career, so don’t rush it. Learning how different parts of a business work and how departments interact with each other is really valuable.
I’ve been at Redmayne Bentley for nearly 19 years and worked across several departments before finding my specialism, which really helped.
I’d also say, take opportunities – even if they make you nervous. If you can cope with the absolute worst-case scenario, it’s worth giving it a go.
What’s a standout moment in your career?
Completing my MBA. I studied part-time alongside full-time work over four years, which was very intense, but it’s given me such a strong foundation for the future in terms of business strategy, strategic HR and more. When I finally had my graduation, I was over the moon.
How have you connected with the wider Wellington Place community?
Recently, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the Women of the Future event that was organised by Wellington Place alongside Ahead Partnership, and it was an absolute privilege to be involved in that day.
We welcomed 60 female year 9 students from local high schools to learn about the world of work, and I delivered the keynote speech. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it was an absolute privilege taking part.
You could see the girls growing in confidence throughout the day, asking more probing questions and feeling inspired. Experiences like that are so important in inspiring these young people for the future.
Take a look in full at Anna’s interview:
If you would like to tell your story, or wish to nominate someone to take part in the People of Wellington Place series please email info@wellingtonplace.co.uk.
