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Kerry’s regional EX lead for APMEA and Europe, Reena Talla, shares how "avoiding false consistency", listening to employees, and empowering local leaders are helping the company deliver a human‑centred, high‑performing employee experience worldwide.
In a business that spans from Malaysia to Germany and the Middle East, Kerry’s biggest employee experience challenge isn’t managing diversity – it’s avoiding "false consistency".
Rather than pushing a single global model, the company is shifting to be “globally aligned but locally activated”: anchoring on a few clear experience principles – simplicity, responsiveness, and focusing on the moments that matter most across the employee lifecycle – while giving countries the freedom to bring them to life in ways that reflect local cultures, regulations, and ways of working.
According to Reena Talla (pictured above), Employee Experience Service Lead for APMEA and Europe, Kerry Group, "The goal isn’t identical journeys, but experiences that feel fair, meaningful, and genuinely supportive wherever employees are based."
In conversation with Sarah Gideon, she talks about how her organisation is building a more human, business‑relevant employee experience across very different markets without falling into the trap of “one‑size‑fits‑all”.
Q Kerry spans multiple regions with diverse cultures. What’s the biggest challenge you face in creating a consistent and meaningful employee experience across APMEA and Europe?
For me, the biggest challenge isn’t diversity - it’s avoiding false consistency.
In a global organisation like Kerry, it’s easy to assume that one model will work everywhere. In reality, what resonates with employees in Malaysia won’t always land the same way in Germany or the Middle East.
So, the shift we’ve been making is away from a one‑size‑fits‑all approach, towards being globally aligned but locally activated.
At a global level, we anchor on a small set of experience principles - simplicity, responsiveness, and focusing on the moments that matter most across the employee lifecycle. Locally, we give countries the space to shape how those principles come to life, taking into account cultural expectations, regulatory requirements, and how people actually work day-to-day.
The objective isn’t identical experiences. It’s creating experiences that feel fair, meaningful, and supportive - wherever our employees are based.
Q How are you tackling this challenge, and how closely are you working with your leadership team & HR team on it? Any examples of what’s worked well?
In my experience, employee experience only works when it’s co‑owned with the business. It’s not something HR can deliver in isolation - it’s a collective leadership responsibility.
We’ve focused on three things:
- Strong governance with business leaders. Our EXS priorities are directly linked to business outcomes - whether that’s supporting growth markets, strengthening operational delivery, or improving customer impact.
- Close partnership with HRBPs, COEs, and regional HR leaders. They play a critical role in translating global intent into something practical and relevant locally. Their insight ensures we design with context, not assumptions.
- Using data to guide where we focus. Service performance, employee insights, and operational KPIs help us prioritise what will make the biggest difference. It keeps conversations grounded in impact rather than perception.
A good example is how our service delivery model has evolved. We’ve aligned core processes globally, but deliberately allowed flexibility in how regions engage employees — which has improved both efficiency and experience.
Q You’ve led initiatives that aim to make employee experience more than just a programme — how do you ensure these initiatives truly resonate with employees on the ground?
I’ve learned that employee experience only has impact when it’s grounded in real employee voice.
When we look at any initiative, I tend to come back to three questions:
- Are we solving a genuine problem for employees?
- Is it intuitive enough to fit into everyday work?
- Does it create a tangible shift - in clarity, confidence, or connection?
We use insights from ticket trends, pulse feedback, listening circles, and HRBP input to sense‑check what we’re doing and refine continuously. Over time, this has moved us away from large, standalone programmes and towards experiences that show up in everyday interactions - through manager conversations, service moments, and career pathways.
If it doesn’t change someone’s day‑to‑day experience, it doesn’t really move the needle.
Q With remote and hybrid work reshaping how people connect, how are you reimagining engagement strategies to keep teams connected and motivated across countries?
With hybrid work, I think engagement has become less about proximity and much more about intentionality.
We’ve focused on three areas:
- Manager capability: Managers remain the biggest driver of engagement, particularly when teams are dispersed.
- Digital enablement: Employees need simple, reliable access to tools, information, and support - wherever they’re working. Reducing friction is a big part of sustaining engagement.
- Purpose and belonging: Helping people understand how their work connects to customers, innovation, and sustainability makes engagement more meaningful.
We’re quite deliberate about creating moments of connection - both virtual and in person - so engagement is sustained over time, rather than driven by isolated events.
Q How do you maintain and nurture a strong culture across geographically dispersed teams while still allowing local uniqueness to shine?
I don’t think culture is built through campaigns or slogans - it shows up in everyday behaviours.
At Kerry, we anchor on our shared values - Courage, Ownership, Inclusiveness, Enterprising Spirit, and Open‑Mindedness - and allow regions to express those values in ways that feel natural for their teams.
What helps maintain that balance is:
- Clear global expectations
- Strong ownership from local leaders
- Consistent role‑modelling from senior leadership
That combination allows culture to feel locally authentic while still clearly Kerry.
Q Looking ahead, what trends in employee experience, engagement, or workforce wellbeing do you see shaping Kerry’s HR priorities over the next three to five years?
Looking ahead, three trends stand out for me:
- Employee experience as a performance driver
- More organisations are recognising the direct link between experience, productivity, retention, and customer outcomes.
- AI‑enabled, human‑centred HR
- AI will play a bigger role in simplifying processes and personalising support, but trust, governance, and accountability will be critical to getting this right.
- Skills‑based talent models
- Work is becoming more fluid and capability‑driven, which means clearer pathways, stronger mobility, and a shift in how we think about development. At Kerry, we’re already laying the foundations through stronger digital capability, governance, and experience‑led design.
Q Looking ahead, what trends in employee experience, engagement, or workforce wellbeing do you see shaping Kerry’s HR priorities over the next three to five years?
The biggest lesson for me is that performance doesn’t improve despite focusing on people — it improves because you do. When employees feel respected, informed, and supported, you see the impact in service quality, decision‑making, customer experience, and results. And it’s often the small moments that matter most — the clarity of a manager’s message, how quickly an issue is resolved, or whether someone feels included in a global conversation. Those moments shape culture far more than any single programme.
Q Finally, what advice would you give to HR leaders trying to elevate employee experience in large, multicultural organisations?
My advice would be threefold:
- First, listen before you design. The most effective solutions are grounded in real employee insight, not assumptions.
- Second, aim for progress rather than perfection. Culture and experience evolve over time. Fix one friction point well and build from there.
- Third, create frameworks, not rigid rules. Consistency matters, but so does local ownership. That balance is what builds trust and sustainability.
"Above all, keep people at the centre. As work becomes more digital and complex, humanity remains the real differentiator."
Lead image / Provided
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