Cherry O'Sullivan is the Global Culture & Engagement Manager at Experian Ltd – ranked among the World's Best Workplaces™ 2024. Below, she shares her journey into HR; using Trust Index survey insights to help drive culture forward; and how this award-winning tech company fosters innovation by all, for all.
What was your dream job as a teen, and are there any aspects of that dream which relate to HR when you reflect on this?
Cherry: When I was really young, I wanted to be a midwife. I’d love to say that my inner nurturer knew all along that 'people' was my calling, but it was mainly driven by wanting to get on one of the cool midwife TV shows.
Whilst HR feels a world away from this dream, both careers centre on having an impact, and the importance of creating a supportive, positive environment – during good times, but especially when things are challenging.
What was the turning point that sent you down the path to your current role? And is there any advice you would give to your younger self?
Cherry: During university, I studied social psychology. I’ve always been intrigued by people and the way they function – I find it fascinating that you can put 100 people in the same situation and all of them will react slightly differently. I fell into an HR placement during my degree and saw first-hand the versatility, pace and challenge of the world of HR and never left.
As the world of HR continues to grow and develop, I truly believe there is a HR role that would suit almost every skillset – from the infusion of tech via automation, analytics and insights, to the deep specialist centre of excellence roles, to the empowerment of people leaders to enable organisational growth – HR truly continues to surprise and offer endless opportunity for progress.
You’ve been with Experian for nearly seven years. What is it about Experian that, for you personally, makes it such a special place to work?
Cherry: Nearly seven years, wow – it’s gone by so quickly! It doesn’t feel like that long, and that’s probably because I’ve had so many different roles that it feels like I’ve done lots of stints here.
Starting as a graduate in 2018 to my role today has been a steep learning curve. Experian has truly prioritised my career growth and from day one trusted me with leading and getting involved in large-scale projects – that level of stretch and responsibility has kept me motivated and constantly feeling like I have more to learn and to give.
Alongside that, I’ve been so lucky to be surrounded by great people, not even just in a work sense but more holistically – just great people who support and look after each other. Makes seven years easy when you have great people around you.
What initially brought you to Great Place to Work? And how has your Trust Index survey data been used throughout the years to inform your People Strategy and achieve organisational goals?
Cherry: Experian has been on quite a transformation over the last few years. Central to this has been a repositioning our employer brand and becoming a data and technology employer of choice .
Great Place to Work was a great tool to help us initially assess our employee experience versus other tech organisations, set stretch targets, and achieve external recognition to boost our stake with candidates externally. Since then, our relationship with Great Place To Work has blossomed strategically – the insights from the survey are truly embedded across the organisation.
We use the insights to inform the projects and programmes we invest in; the feedback helps us to represent the voice of the employee during initial discovery phases of key programmes of work; it helps us to spotlight processes to improve and importantly enables us to celebrate and scale where something is working well across the organisation.
The Great Place To Work survey has become a way for us to not just check in on our culture but to drive it forward and we’re so proud that this is being recognised externally through many awards – including landing a place on the top 25 World’s Best Workplaces™ List for the first time in 2024!
‘Innovation By All’ is an area that really stood out to us when analysing Experian's culture. What has the impact has been (for employees and the organisation) from your recent global hackathon on GenAI?
Cherry: Innovation is a key part of life at Experian; it’s a pillar of our EVP and one of our Experian Way values, so naturally we aim to embed it across everything we do.
Our global hackathons are one way to do this, they help us to develop innovation prowess whilst empowering all of our employees to put themselves in the mindset of our customers (including our own employees) to help fuel new ideas and cutting edge solutions to address their needs.
During the last financial year, we had more than 5,800 employees engaged in our global hackathons which were focused on the role of GenAI in solving customer problems. Winners were chosen based on best ideas and best working code, and received a cash price (an opportunity to donate to a charity of their choice) plus an extra cash price for those that use GenAI in their solution, so we can really unlock the potential of the latest technology.
Central to Experian’s overall purpose is innovation as a force for good in the world. What’s been the impact of your Social Innovation Programme, and why do you believe it’s been such a vital component to your success at Experian?
Cherry: We are developing new products and services specifically designed to support and improve the financial health of our customers. Our United for Financial Health programme, which focuses on improving financial education among underserved communities, has connected with over 200 million people since its launch in 2020, and 54 million people this year alone.
Globally, over 200 million people use our free credit reports and scores to access products and services that can help them understand and manage their credit profiles. Our social innovation programmes bring Experian’s purpose to life, they help our employees connect with the communities that we support, and supports our broader mission of creating a better tomorrow.
It feels like there are always tons of wonderfully creative and innovative ideas being encouraged, shared and many times then implemented. How do you ensure your people don’t become overwhelmed with constant change and improvements whilst moving the organisation forward?
Cherry: Our unique combination of smart minds, complex data and sophisticated technology drives our leading-edge innovation and enables us to do things that others can’t.
We are passionate about innovation being a part of everyone’s role at Experian, from making products to helping customers to critical support functions – we embrace the uniqueness of our minds and potential of ideas to break the mould.
We do a great job at listening to our people and our customers, and through these feedback loops we’re able to ensure that innovation is connected to problems to solve – this helps a great deal when positioning changes to be made. It’s all about being brave enough to make incremental change to drive us towards our business ambitions.
Middle managers are often expected to drive innovation from the ground up while navigating existing systems and top-down pressures. How do your leaders empower managers to be catalysts for change without overwhelming them or their teams?
Cherry: At Experian, we are defined by our capacity to learn, adapt and innovate at speed. As the drivers of change and business transformation, leaders play an integral role at Experian in creating the right environment for managers to flourish.
Great leaders attract, inspire, develop and retain talent. They display the behaviours and characteristics that help support and create the right conditions for our company and our people, leading us to achieve high performance, innovation, improved employee retention and great customer experiences. All of this is wrapped up in our Characteristics of Great Leadership.
One key area of these characteristics is “Disrupts and Innovates” – this is all about being curious and bold about the future, staying ahead of the game and having the confidence to try something new and keep learning. These characteristics are embedded across our leadership programmes and support, meaning that our leaders are equipped with the skills and resources needed to drive this innovation throughout their teams, including the positioning of open communication channels for managers to share ideas and collaborate freely; and innovation workshops and hackathons to bring people together to solve common problems.
Congratulations again on earning UK’s Best Workplaces™ recognition (Top 50 Super Large) for the fourth consecutive year! How would you say Experian has changed since your first year on the List, and how do you maintain excitement around the survey and List internally when the novelty has worn off?
Cherry: We’re really excited that our culture continues to be recognised externally, not only in the UK but across many of our countries and globally. Since we started taking part globally in 2021, the Great Place To Work insights have become embedded across everything we do – we often say that it’s more than just a survey, because it is! It enables us to check in on our progress against our people strategy and the insights help us to improve how we support our people to be the best they can be.
We’re really lucky that we have a high-trust, people-first culture – people are truly willing to share their feedback and want to actively help in making Experian a great place to work. We have moved beyond the awards being the key motivator behind the survey, and so we always have a tangible impact that we’re able to share with employees to get them excited to share their thoughts with us.
As a senior leader in one of the UK’s top-performing tech organisations, what do you think is the biggest workplace or HR challenge facing leaders in tech in 2025? And what should employers in your sector keep top of mind for the next 12-24 months?
Cherry: I think the natural thing that springs to mind for most will be the use of AI. I am really excited to see how we can further unlock the potential of our HR teams with AI. Most tech organisations have such a wealth of data and insights around their people that I’d love to see AI start to predict and inform trends that may help us to tackle some of the issues tech organisations are facing – like a highly competitive fight for talent, retaining top talent, ensuring we have the right skills across the organisation to meet business growth ambitions.
What is a quote/motto/mantra that you live by which has always been a guiding light in your career or role as a people leader? And where did you first come across this saying?
Cherry: I actually asked my wife what she thinks I use as a motto when it comes to work – she said I’ll often give her and myself the advice to 'bring your full self to work'. I think this likely originated as a light-hearted saying if I felt I’d shared too much, but I do firmly believe that it’s so important that we bring authenticity and transparency to how we work, both from a collaboration, relationship-building perspective but also from a human-to-human perspective. We are all unique individuals with different wants and motivations, and understanding that helps navigating work a little easier.
More personally, I saw a quote on a wall in Australia when travelling for the Women’s World Cup in 2023 that stuck with me: “It’s a good day to have a great day” – it’s a little cringe but if you move past that it’s a great reminder to influence your own mindset. Control the controllable and try to bring little bits of joy to every day.
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