What does HR actually do, and why does it matter so much in organisations that change lives? Mandy Cann is General Manager of Partnering and Employee Relations at Mission Australia. She leads HR partnering, employee relations, remuneration and organisational design for a national charity of around 2,700 employees and 1,500 volunteers.

Mandy’s path to the top of HR wasn’t a straight line. She dreamed of being a teacher, then worked through finance, marketing, local government, her own consultancy, a criminology degree and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, before returning to Mission Australia in a bigger role. If you’ve ever wondered whether a winding career can still lead somewhere you love, this one’s for you.

Mandy and Luella talk about what HR business partners actually do day to day, and how HR supports frontline teams working in homelessness, mental health, aged care and youth detox services. Mandy explains how she approaches employee relations as a collaborative relationship with unions rather than a battle, and why Mission Australia hires people with lived experience of addiction, knowing the risks that come with it. She also shares the hardest moment of her career, what being a middle child taught her about ambition, and why she went back to an organisation she’d already left.

00:34 - Who Mission Australia is and the communities it serves

07:02 - Do you need to be Christian to work at a Christian charity?

08:05 - What a General Manager of Partnering and Employee Relations does day to day

09:46 - What HR is really there for: walking alongside managers

13:31 - HR in high-risk frontline services, from aged care to youth detox

16:38 - Why Mandy’s role is all about managing risk and giving leaders options

18:45 - A childhood dream of teaching (and a blackboard from Santa)

20:12 - From finance and hotel reception to HR at Brisbane City Council

21:29 - Finishing a Master’s in Employment Law with a six-month-old

23:55 - Employee relations, enterprise bargaining and working with unions

30:02 - Building a lived expertise workforce

31:29 - The hardest time: leaving government and starting a consultancy

33:00 - A criminology degree and a career crossroads

33:54 - Working at the Royal Flying Doctor Service during COVID

38:08 - The strengths behind her success: strong women and middle child drive

42:56 - The best career advice she’s ever received

Mission Australia: missionaustralia.com.au

Mandy Cann LinkedIn

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