Our experts on the world of work

Ben Willmott, Head of Public Policy and Practice

Ben leads our public policy team, which works to inform and shape public debate, government policy and legislation to champion better work and working lives. His personal areas of interest include industrial strategy, skills policy, labour market regulation and enforcement and employee relations and wellbeing. 

Ben led the design and development of our regional People Skills pilots, which explored the value of HR support for small firms and how it can be delivered effectively within a local skills system. His published research includes reports on the Apprenticeship Levy, line management capability, zero hours contracts and the gig economy. He is also a member of the Government-sponsored Flexible Working Taskforce and has given evidence to a range of select committee inquiries on our behalf. Before joining the CIPD, Ben was news editor and employment law editor at Personnel Today magazine. He has an LLM in employment law from Kingston University.

Marek Zemanik, Senior Public Policy Adviser, UK Nations

James Cockett, Senior Labour Market Economist

James is a quantitative analyst with experience in a variety of aspects of the world of work, including low pay, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), flexible working, social mobility, wellbeing and education and skills. James uses both publicly available data, and our own surveys to gain insights and he has a keen interest in data visualisation. 

Before joining the CIPD, James was an economist in the policy team of the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) where he completed labour market research and evaluation of employment programmes designed to support people into work. He has also led the design and analysis of numerous workforce surveys and has presented to several government departments and key stakeholders. James has also worked as a consultant, completing evaluations on the subject of social policy for public sector clients.

Esmeralda Bon, Labour Market Analyst

Esmeralda recently joined the CIPD as a labour market analyst. She has extensive experience analysing survey, interview and social media data, focusing on public opinion at a macro level and individual preferences at a micro level.

Before joining the CIPD, Esmeralda worked as a research associate at the University of Manchester's Cathie Marsh Institute, where she contributed to a European-funded project on digital democracy and electoral campaigning.

She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Nottingham and MA and MSc by research degrees from the University of Amsterdam in Applied Linguistics and Communication Science, respectively.

Rebecca Peters, Senior Policy and Practice Adviser, The People Profession

Rebecca joined our research team in 2019, specialising in the area of health and wellbeing at work as both a practitioner and a researcher. Before joining the CIPD, Rebecca worked part-time at Kingston University in the Business School research department, where she worked on several research-driven projects. Additionally, Rebecca worked part-time at a health and wellbeing consultancy where she facilitated various wellbeing workshops, both externally and in-house. 

Rebecca has a Master’s degree in occupational psychology from Kingston University, where she completed research on prison officers’ resilience and coping strategies. The output of this research consisted of a behavioural framework which highlighted positive and negative strategies that prison officers used in their daily working life.  

Lutfur Ali, Senior Policy and Practice Adviser, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Lutfur has dedicated more than 30 years to championing social justice, equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI) and change in the public, private and third sector. He strongly believes in the importance of effective EDI leadership in driving sustainable improvements and delivering organisational vision, mission and goals. 

Before joining the CIPD, Lutfur led consultancy practice and held several high-profile roles in the public, private and not-for-profit sector, including the Tribal Group PLC, the Department of Health and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. As assistant chief executive at Tower Hamlets Council he led a transformation programme to reshape the workforce, secure partnerships, generate income and improve overall service delivery. Lutfur has served on a number of judicial public inquiries and government advisory bodies, including the Zahid Mubarak Inquiry, the Prime Minister’s Prevent Task Force and the International Ministerial Working Group on Illegal Working. Lutfur is also a non-executive director for the Business Continuity and Resilience Institute. 

Claire McCartney, Policy and Practice Manager, Resourcing and Talent Management

Claire leads our policy work on flexible and new ways of working and resourcing and talent management. Claire also works in the area of equality, diversity and inclusion and leads policy work on carers, working parents and compassionate bereavement support. She also works with colleagues on menopause and menstrual health workplace policy support.

Previously, Claire ran her own research and consultancy organisation and was acting head of research and principal researcher at Roffey Park. Claire has worked on several international projects, is the author of a range of reports, has responded to numerous Government consultations and has given evidence at a range of parliamentary groups and committees.   

Charles Cotton, Senior Policy and Practice Adviser, Pay, Reward and Performance

Charles is a senior adviser and directs our reward research agenda. He recently led a project focusing on how HR teams can help tackle in-work poverty, how workplaces can be more transparent about reward, and how employers can support their staff during the cost-of-living crisis. 

Charles is also responsible for our public policy work around pay and benefits and has given evidence to several government select committees, including topics such as executive remuneration and ethnicity pay reporting, as well responding to consultations on pensions, the national minimum wage, and corporate governance.

Before joining the CIPD, Charles worked for the Industrial Relations Services Department and the Local Government Management Board. He has a degree in economics from Aberystwyth University and a Master's in HR from the London School of Economics. He is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.

Rachel Suff, Senior Policy and Practice Adviser, Employee Relations and Wellbeing

Rachel joined us as a senior policy adviser in 2014 to help shape the public policy debate and champion better work and working lives. Rachel is a policy and research professional with over 25 years’ experience in the employment and HR arena. An important part of her role is to ensure that the views of the profession inform our policy thinking on health and wellbeing and employment relations.

Rachel leads a range of policy and research studies about health and wellbeing at work, and represents the CIPD on key advisory groups, such as the Council for Work and Health. She is also a Trustee on the Board of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine.

Rachel is a qualified HR practitioner and researcher with a Master’s in human resource management from Portsmouth University and a post-graduate diploma in social research methods from Sussex University. Before joining the CIPD, Rachel worked as a senior policy adviser at Acas.

Lizzie Crowley, Senior Skills Policy Adviser

Lizzie is our employment and skills policy and research professional. She is experienced in developing high-quality research to inform organisational practice, policy and shape the public debate.

Before joining the CIPD in 2016, she led youth labour market research and policy development for The Work Foundation and developed research for public and private sectors. She has published several influential reports on skill policy and youth unemployment and appears regularly on national and regional TV and radio.

Lizzie is a sociology graduate with a Master's degree in social science research methods, both from the University of Glasgow.

Hayfa Mohdzaini, Senior Policy and Practice Adviser, Technology and Analytics

Hayfa joined us in 2020. Hayfa has degrees in computer science and human resources from University of York and University of Warwick respectively.

She started her career in the private sector working in IT and then HR and has been writing for the HR community since 2012. Previously she worked for another membership organisation (UCEA) where she expanded the range of pay and workforce benchmarking data available to the higher education HR community. 

She is interested in how the people profession can contribute to good work through technology and has written several publications on our behalf, as well as judging our people management awards, speaking at conferences and exhibitions and providing commentary to the media on the subjects of people and technology.

Jake Young, Senior Policy and Practice Adviser, Employee experience, OD & L&D

Jake joined us in 2018, having completed a Master’s degree in social science research methods at the University of Nottingham. He also holds an undergraduate degree in criminology and sociology.

Jake leads on the Good Work Index, our annual benchmark of job quality in the UK. Jake has also contributed to many Evidence Reviews, providing a critical and evidence-based view on many different organisational areas, including employee engagement, digital work and mental wellbeing, and what works in diversity management.