Annabel Wheelans

Annabel brings broad people partnering experience across operational HR, employment relations, and recruitment, working with organisations including Ryman Healthcare, Generali, Selfridges, The Office Group and Foodstuffs. Her experience spans diverse workforces, from frontline healthcare and operational teams to retail, hospitality, insurance, and corporate environments. She has supported businesses through restructures, organisational change, recruitment, and operational people challenges, including leading Generali’s “Next Normal” flexible working project during COVID and supporting major restructure and change work at Selfridges.

Annabel is known for helping businesses navigate complex people situations with a calm, practical, and relationship-led approach. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with leaders on sensitive employment matters, mediation, restructures, and workforce change across frontline and corporate environments. Managers value her ability to build trust quickly, bring structure to sensitive situations, and help teams move from discussion into practical action.

One of Annabel’s proudest achievements was designing and implementing an employee benefits programme across New Zealand and Australia for more than 5,000 Ryman Healthcare employees. Working directly with suppliers across the business, she negotiated partnerships and discounts before creating a dedicated employee benefits platform and personalised benefits card system for staff. The programme improved engagement, supported recruitment efforts, and remains in place today.

Annabel enjoys helping leaders navigate people challenges so they can stay focused on delivering for the wider business. She enjoys practical, fast-paced work where she can support teams through change and complexity.

Calm, pragmatic, and highly adaptable, Annabel combines strong operational HR capability with a hands-on, low-fuss style. She quickly builds trust, follows things through, and focuses on delivering practical outcomes for both people and the business.