Bernadine Goosen’s passion for the wine industry leads her to extend a helping hand.
After 10 years of working at Beck Family Estates, former chief HR officer Bernadine Goosen says her business focuses on farms and wineries in need of HR support.
“It was time,” Bernadine says about her departure from Beck Family Estates. “When I started at Beck Family Estates, there was no formal HR structure, no HR policies or procedures in place. Over the 10 years, I have managed to put all of it in place. This included designing an incentive scheme for sales representatives, revamping the payroll structures and moving everyone to-cost-to- company,” she says.
Why the move to HR in Wine?
Bernadine said a lot of smaller farms don't have the luxury of an HR department and need to outsource many of the traditional HR functions.
“Although there are many consulting businesses out there, my focus is specifically on smaller wineries where I can add value with my 10 years of experience in this sector. HR in wine’s approach is by first facilitating a free HR audit to identify the gaps and then consulting and assisting the farms on how to address these gaps.”
The wine industry, she says, is also subjected to ethical audits, specifically by Wieta (Wine and Agricultural Ethical Trade Association) and BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative), in which she has a lot of experience and can assist wineries to achieve a positive rating.
“I have a passion for the wine industry and the farming community and hope that my knowledge and experience will make a difference in this challenging environment,” says Bernadine.
