Capita’s Scott Hill Leads from the Ground Up

Scott Hill has spent most of his career focused on the practical side of leadership.

As Chief People Officer at Capita, an outsourcer supporting primarily UK and European clients, he’s responsible for shaping the experience of tens of thousands of colleagues across multiple countries and functions. But his starting point is rarely policy or process. It’s the business outcome the company is trying to achieve and working backwards from there.

Hill traces that mindset back to an early moment in his career in his twenties. He recalls being told: “Whatever you do, always ground yourself in the reality of your business. It’s critical to have a true understanding of what the business does, how it delivers that service and who you’re serving. Also make sure you appreciate how the decisions and changes you make impact what your business does and those people who do it.”

Decades later, that principle still anchors how he leads.

An Accidental Start That Stuck

Hill didn’t plan a career in HR. He trained as a solicitor, completed his law degree, and qualified through the Legal Practice Course, only to realise just before entering practice that law wasn’t the right path.

“I decided I was never going to practice,” he says. “I left university but hadn’t got any idea what I was going to do.”

What followed wasn’t a carefully mapped plan, but a willingness to explore. He moved into recruitment in the late 1990s, working in the fast-moving IT contracting market during the run-up to the millennium. A few years later, he faced a defining choice: continue in contracting or take a risk on a more structured HR career.

The decision to move into a HR generalist role at Capital One proved pivotal, pushing Hill out of his comfort zone.

“That was probably the decision that then put me on the path to where I am now,” he says. “It was a bold thing to do, but it helped me understand the impact that HR can really have on a business.”

Leading Through Constant Change

When Hill joined Capita in 2019, the organisation was starting a multi-year transformation.

By the time he became Chief People Officer in 2022, Capita had spent years navigating financial pressure, divestments, and restructuring. Resilience had become essential, both for the organisation and for its people.

But it was more than a checkbox. “It’s very easy to believe that if you put a wellbeing hub out there or an employee assistance programme in place, you’re done from a people perspective,” he says. “It isn’t like that.”

Instead, the focus has been on creating an environment where people know they can seek support when they need it. “One of the biggest detrimental impacts to resilience is when you feel you can’t talk to somebody,” Hill explains. “Creating an environment where people feel it’s okay not to be okay sometimes is really important.”

He also aims to remove friction so people can focus on meaningful work and have a better employee experience. If a system or process doesn’t make life easier for colleagues and managers, it doesn’t move forward.

Making Sense of AI, One Step at a Time

With the global disruption of AI, the transformation and change Hill encountered when he started at Capita continues today. He sees AI as a defining force in the future of work.

“I don’t think any of us have worked out the answers yet,” he says. “This is still relatively new and it’s changing almost on a daily basis.”

At Capita, AI is already reshaping how work is done, particularly in contact centres and operational roles. What has stood out most is the shift in mindset. Early fear has given way to curiosity and skill development.

“I have been pleased to see people genuinely describing AI as a tool that enriches what they do,” Hill says. “People have moved, by and large, from fear to genuine curiosity and a want to learn.”

That curiosity is reflected in the demand for learning opportunities, with AI apprenticeships and internal data and technology academies heavily oversubscribed.

“There is no escape from AI,” he says. “You can’t escape it in your personal life, and you can’t escape it in your work life. So go and learn it. Go and master it.”

For Hill, this cultural shift matters as much as the technology itself.

Writing Culture Together

A focus on culture and mindset is also at the heart of one of Hill’s proudest moments as Chief People Officer. It came in 2025 when Capita launched a new set of company values.

Rather than turning to external consultants, the organisation co-created the values with its workforce. More than 12,000 colleagues across eight countries contributed directly.

“They are amazing because they were written by nearly half of my workforce as opposed to the executive team or my function,” Hill says.

The values landed quickly and embedded themselves into everyday decisions and communications. Leaders adopted the language. Teams referenced it naturally. Even investment proposals now require clear alignment to the values.

“I’ve never seen a change like that land so quickly in an organisation. Our values have been the guiding tool to transform our culture,” Hill reflects.

Still Grounded

Despite the scale of his role and the complexity of the environment, Hill’s leadership philosophy remains consistent. Stay close to the business. Stay close to the people. Measure success by real-world impact.

As Capita continues to evolve, that grounding continues to shape how the organisation approaches culture, technology, and the future of work.

Interested in learning more? Read this customer story to find out how Capita is reinventing people experience at scale with Workday.