Donna Obstfeld (BSc, FCIPD) has over 25 years’ experience in Human Resources (HR) and management. Her HR expertise covers a mixture of in-house, interim and consultancy roles. Past employers include Dixons Stores Group, TK Maxx, Metronet SSL, Securicor, West Herts College and Hewitt Associates. Her skills have allowed her to assume a wide variety of roles including Human Resources Management, recruitment, project management, compensation & benefits specialist and consultant.
Key HR projects have included recruitment & selection initiatives, HR systems, pay reviews benefits and bonus reviews, job evaluation frameworks, design and delivery of benefits and communications, the establishment of HR departments and their operational processes, redundancy and TUPE, HR advice for internal changes and strategic policy & procedure development.
Donna’s clients and employers span a variety of sectors including retail, transport, security, education, finance, pharmaceutical / medical, media, technology and professional services.
Donna does not use the term HR Consultant or HR Manager when describing herself; she is a businesswoman first and foremost and her specialisation happens to be Human Resources (HR) – the management of people within a business and for the success of that business. As many of Donna’s clients have discovered, this expertise and approach brings their business significant added value.
Donna Obstfeld Coaching
Donna is now an EC certified business coach. In this capacity she utilises her years of experience in running her own company to offer one on one support for clients tailored to their specific business needs.
In February 2022 Donna released her first book, The Elephant in the Room: Practical Solutions to 26 HR dilemmas.
Written based on a series of her blogs, the book takes business owners, line managers, HR professionals and colleagues through some of the signs to look for and the initial conversation starters when managing the most difficult of conversations.
It’s possible that the book you are now reading is the single most practical book ever written on the management of people in the workplace.
Nigel Botterill
CEO, Entrepreneurs Circle
Donna Obstfeld graduated from the University of Hertfordshire with a joint honours degree in Business and Psychology. She is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD) and an accredited mediator.
Donna now writes on Human Resources issues for a number of publications and is a regular subject matter expert on radio.
In 2012, Donna was voted among the top 100 business mums in the ‘Expert in their field’ category.
In July 2014, Donna was interviewed by Viv Oyolu of Dream Corner and you can find out more about Donna by listening in here.
Get to Know Donna In her own words
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Length of time in HR: |
30 + Years in HR and Management |
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Favourite part of the job: |
Trouble shooting and finding innovative solutions |
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3 words which your team would use to describe you: | Determined, Highly Organised, Eloquent |
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HR Qualification: |
Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development |
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Favourite Film: |
Harry Potter Films |
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Favourite Meal: |
Friday Night Dinner |
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Favourite Music: |
80’s |
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Perfect Holiday Destination: |
The Maldives |
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If you could spend your weekend doing anything, what would it be: |
Spending time with family |
Pet hate(s): |
Dogs, Arrogance and Incompetence |
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Something no one / very few people know about you: |
As a child I made adverts for Boots and road safety. |
In February 2015 DOHR were named HR Consultancy of the year by the HR community at the HR Distinction awards and in 2017, Donna was recognised by Sage as one of the UK’s top 100 Global Business Influencers.
You can follow Donna on social media by clicking the links below:
Holly Bradshaw
Graduate Trainee
HR Assistant
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