Alice Burks, Deel‘s Director of People Success, is a leader with a mission: to make sure everyone at Deel thrives. With ten years of experience guiding teams, both within companies and as a consultant, Burks has worked with fast-growing companies like Danish tech giant Trustpilot, plus global clients in IT, manufacturing, and retail.
At Deel, she’s in charge of their entire people success plan. This means she leads programs that touch every part of an employee’s time at the company, from welcoming new hires and developing leaders to improving internal communication and keeping everyone engaged.
From Red Carpet to HR: A Unique Career Journey
So, how did Burks end up leading “People Success”? Her journey was anything but straight. “My career into the people space has been a ‘squiggly’ one,” she explained to HR Daily Advisor. After finishing her English degree, she started in advertising, helping publicists manage press for films, actors, and big events. From there, she jumped into production, working for different companies and agencies, and finally for a small brand consultancy.
It was in that last role that things clicked. “A lot of my work focused on translating brands into behaviors: thinking about how the people within organizations might bring a brand to life in its internal culture.” This work truly excited her. “I found this work some of the most interesting and fulfilling of my career so far and decided to explore the ‘people’ world from there. I was hooked.” She believes her early days in media were key. “I like to think that my start in media has helped me navigate the importance of strong marketing and communications for the work that I do now in the people space.”
Burks’s unique background proves that the best paths to HR often involve unexpected turns.
In our latest Faces, meet Alice Burks.
Who is/was your biggest influence in the industry?
My family has influenced how I operate. My dad works in retail, and I built a customer-focused approach in early jobs working with him on shop floors. There, the rules were: understand your customer, always create an exceptional experience, think about how you can best help them get what they need from your products and services. I’m also lucky to have an aunt who works in the industry, running her own consultancy business, who has influenced how I think about projects. Specifically, considering what tangible and practical results will be delivered as an outcome of the work (whatever the work!). She taught me the important distinction between work that is ‘interesting’ and work which is ‘useful’ – and to always start with the latter, then build the former. Outside of family, I am constantly inspired by my team. It’s a privilege to hire and manage people much smarter than myself and learn from them constantly.
What’s your best mistake and what did you learn from it?
Two stand out: Early in my management career I struggled to balance constructive feedback with positive encouragement. I was so focused on what my team members could improve, that I forgot to also give important airtime to what they were doing well. My intention was always to help them grow and develop, but I had a different effect sometimes. Now, I’ve built a stronger muscle of noticing the good, as well as identifying those areas where things could be even better, and my team are more motivated as a result.
The second is hiring. The saying goes “Hire in haste, repent at leisure,” and certainly earlier in my career I made rushed hiring decisions that were a mistake for me, the business and the candidate themselves. Now, I recognize just how important time spent on getting hiring right is. I spend a lot of time planning for the hiring process to help us get the best talent through the doors.
What’s your favorite part about working in the industry? What’s your least favorite part, and how would you change it?
My favorite parts of working in this industry are the variety, every day is different, and the scope of the work is ever-changing; the ability to make a real difference to people’s experience of work, through exceptional people programs; and, at Deel, the fact that we’re doing this as on our own platform while radically disrupting the traditional HR tech space.
My least favorite part is navigating an old-school view of people functions as transactional order-takers, or simply a blocker. I am committed to leveling up the experience people have when working with my team and demonstrating the end value we bring to business results.
It sounds like through your experience you really care about people, and you want to help them feel safe and comfortable, which is important in the industry. Please elaborate here.
Over the years, I’ve seen firsthand how investing in people’s well-being and development not only drives individual growth but also creates measurable business impact. For me, creating a sense of safety isn’t just about making people feel “comfortable,” it’s about enabling them to take risks, challenge the status quo, and innovate without fear of failure. All that drives a strong performance culture. When people know they’re in a safe, inclusive space where they’re valued for who they are, and what they can do – they will do their best work. And that’s when businesses truly excel. At Deel, in our hyper-growth, fully remote business, this work is even more important to help people connect with and feel part of our global community – as they work at what we call “Deel speed” to drive our business forward.
How can HR most effectively demonstrate its value to the leadership team?
We have to start with where they’re at, and what they care about the most. HR and People Strategy must be tightly connected to the business strategy – it’s crucial for demonstrating relevancy, acumen, and the people team’s ability to be in-step with the business direction. Typically, senior leadership are living in the data: so, HR must do the same, highlighting impact metrics and using data to tell stories of needs within the business and success stories from existing work.
Do you have any advice for people entering the profession?
Working at Deel and seeing the ongoing disruption within the people technology space means I have a first-hand view of the ever-evolving nature of our industry. This space is constantly changing, and success comes from continuously learning and adapting to change. Stay up to date on changes that impact your world, follow thought-leaders, read/listen to as much as you can – and then enjoy percolating and filtering that into your own relevant strategies.
I also encourage people entering the industry to maintain a clear line of sight on business results, while never losing sight of the human element. People teams aren’t just policymakers or process managers. We’re here to create environments where team members can do the best work of their careers. Building strong cross-functional relationships, listening carefully to stakeholder needs, and being empathetic and practical in your approach is key. We are partners to the business, not blockers (see above!) and so we need to understand and be closely connected to the business itself.
Lastly, remember that measurable impact matters. Be thoughtful about connecting what you do – whether it’s designing a learning program or implementing a new performance management process – to business outcomes. Storytelling through data not only drives credibility but also reinforces the value of the work we do every day.