After arriving at the sports broadcasting company DAZN via an acquisition in 2022, Halima Sacranie has gone from overseeing HR operations for 300 people, to a strategic role in a business of 3,000. Passionate about relationship-led HR, she tells us about her career journey, and explains her vision for the future of the profession.
How did you get started in HR?
Pre-Covid, I led multiple teams in the restaurant and hospitality sector. I was an openings manager, and worked with teams of 30 and 50, so I was very much frontline.
The transition into HR came about purely through circumstance. I began working as a training and development manager for a restaurant group, and really started looking at customer and experience and employee experience.
Four or five months later, Covid-19 came, and I was made redundant. Trying to find a job was like finding a needle in a haystack. I went back to the beginning and started as an HR administrator.
When I landed a job at my current employer, five months in we were told they were being bought. I thought: “Oh my God, it’s happening again.” But because my HR director wasn’t moving across in the acquisition, they needed someone to lead. I naturally fitted into that role. I didn’t have much experience at that point, but I said: “Let’s do it.”
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What are your main HR concerns?
Transformation is on the tip of everyone’s tongue: the landscape and economy that we’re in right now means that all organisations are trying to change – not just from a people point of view, but from a cost standpoint too. There are tighter budgets, along with higher expectations.
With HR, it’s difficult because you’re supposed to be the intermediary. You’re trying to leverage the business need, but also engage and support people.
I naturally gravitate to organisational structure roles and responsibilities. Especially in the role I’m in, I’m at the front face of trying to get those basics right.
Over the next five years, what will be most important for HR?
It’d be silly not to talk about AI. Integrating it thoughtfully is going to become more important. It’s really about how we redesign our work and decision-making around it. We still need the human touch, but it’s about leveraging these tools so that you can work on the more strategic vision. Ensuring adaptability in complex situations is where the people side comes in.
Secondly, HR is, in some cases, probably still too rigid. There shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all approach. It’s about being adaptive and finding people practices that support the organisation, rather than prescribing what’s done.
For HR leaders, curiosity prevails over all. It’s like a superpower, and will give you the ability to ask better questions, understand the business, and challenge assumptions.
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What excites you about HR?
What makes it all exciting is that there’s always room to challenge, test new ideas and shape the profession. But you have to be intentional in everything you do.
We hear a lot about trends and tech, but I feel that strong relationships are what get you places. That’s where HR needs to be: focusing on relationships, and not being afraid to be out of one’s depth. We’re constantly moving.
Do you have a philosophy for HR success?
I’m a firm believer that while you have a certain scope in your role as an HR leader, you shouldn’t be afraid to do other things, whether supporting the facilities team in moving offices, or helping an exec with organisational structure. I’ve rolled up my sleeves and got my hands dirty, and it’s paid off.
This article was published in the May/June 2025 edition of HR magazine.
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