Tom McAtee

Data tells us everything… except when it doesn’t. From boardrooms in Oman to mines in Australia, I’ve learned that future success needs both high tech and high touch. Modern HR isn’t about choosing between data and human connection – it’s about mastering both. The sweet spot? That’s where the magic happens.

Try building a plane while flying it – that’s what creating CleanCo’s HR function felt like. Starting from scratch in a high-risk, heavily unionised environment, we needed everything from basic policies to complex union agreements, all while keeping the lights on. Sometimes the best way forward is to build while flying!

Watch Australian mining evolve: from 8-hour shifts in company towns to 12-hour FIFO rosters in modern camps. We transformed not just how people worked, but how they lived. From local pubs being community hubs to air-conditioned control rooms running digital operations – it’s still about people making a living from the earth, just with better technology.

Picture this: 1981, walking into Copper Refineries, a subsidiary of then MIM Holdings – Australia’s largest company – to find HR still running on foolscap ledger cards. As the only degree-qualified HR person, my job was dragging us into modern times. These days, you’re not a rock star without Workday, but back then, suggesting computerised records was revolutionary stuff!

From recommending microfiche systems for the State Library to analysing processes in the Homicide Squad – talk about a career curve! With Tom Tolhurst’s mentorship and a Governor’s Warrant in my hand as a Public Service Inspector, I learned about power and influence. My rapid rise even led to changing Queensland’s Public Service Act. Not bad for someone who started out researching office machines for the library!

One evening at Perry Park changed everything. A chance meeting, a few handshakes, and suddenly my career took an unexpected turn. From a quick chat with Roly Livingstone to meeting Ted Love, then Leo Pitt and Ken Shea – three months later, I’d left Education for the Public Service Board. Sometimes the best career moves happen at a AHRI event.

Imagine the irony: a former school rebel who’d been twice asked to leave for questioning authority, now working in the most hierarchical place imaginable – the Education Department’s Personnel Section. No computers, just old wooden desks and endless paperwork. That building’s now the Treasury Casino in Brisbane, which perfectly captures how far we’ve come in HR.