Arm Newsroom Blog
Blog November 7, 2024

Pioneering People-centric Leadership at Arm

Outgoing Arm Chief People Officer Kirsty Gill reflects on two decades of transformative impact at the company.
By Kirsty Gill, Outgoing Chief People Officer and Advisor, Arm

The dynamic world of technology has experienced incredible change in the last decade alone, and in this new era of AI is moving faster than ever. The pace of innovation is unprecedented, driven by companies like Arm which employs nearly 8,000 people who are doing inspiring, innovative and important work to deliver the foundational Arm compute platform. In the two decades I’ve been at Arm, including eight years as Chief People Officer (CPO), I’ve had the opportunity to navigate the complexities of a rapidly evolving industry, a dynamic geo-political landscape, widening inequity across the globe, an increasing climate crisis and shifting expectations around DEI, ESG and the fundamentals of what work means. All the while, being a champion of a people-centric approach to ensure everyone at Arm can do their best work.

Now, it is time to step away and pursue the next phase of my life. I am delighted to be passing the baton to Charlotte Eaton, who is returning to Arm as the next CPO.

A passion for people and purpose

I’ve always believed that people do their best work when driven by a sense of purpose, shared values, sense of community and solving challenging and important problems. I’ve had the opportunity to help people navigate some of the most pivotal moments in Arm’s history and define a culture built around high engagement and high performance embedded into how we work, our workspaces and how we operate as a responsible and sustainable business.

I’ve also had the privilege of building a world-leading People Group focused on ensuring, across our business, that people are seen as more than resources, and our culture, organization, processes, technology, workspaces and approach to sustainability reflect this. Transparency and authenticity are at the core of how our company communicates and engages, and I firmly believe that putting people at the center of our decisions is not only the right way to treat people, but drives a stronger and more valuable business outcome. People do extraordinary things when we create the environment for them to do so.  

Transformational leadership

I have served as CPO through some of Arm’s biggest changes, from taking the company public to private, then public again, through significant political and global challenges, the changing perception of what work means, a change in leadership and a step change in culture to enable a transformed business strategy. These transitions mean that two decades have been filled with new and interesting opportunities and the ability to deliver progressive people and workplace practices that ensure our people remain engaged, motivated and aligned with the company’s evolving goals and ambitions.

Together with my team we developed a shared culture and way of working, navigated periods of high growth, delivered thoughtful organizational changes, defined compelling reward propositions and implemented progressive policies around well-being, time-off and critical life events, so that people can perform to the highest level while also navigating life’s important moments.

And the success of these people strategies is shown across the organization. We currently have a growth rate of 15% per annum1, attrition at an annual rate of under 5%1, employee engagement at 84%2, with 95%2 of people being proud to work for Arm and 93%2 feeling their work is valued, having an impact and aligned with the business strategy.

Putting people first and creating a culture that is inclusive, supportive, challenging and that cares about the world we inhabit has propelled Arm forward. There is an incredible opportunity ahead for the company and I know Charlotte will bring her passion, expertise and commitment as an extraordinary business and people leader to ensure our teams are ready and able to deliver.

I love Arm, and it has been a truly extraordinary place to work. I will remain Arm’s biggest supporter and look forward to seeing what more extraordinary things are to come as our people build the future of computing on Arm.

1Data from Oct. 1, 2023-Sept. 30, 2024

2Data from Life at Arm Survey completed in October 2024.

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By Kirsty Gill, Outgoing Chief People Officer and Advisor, Arm
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