A day in the life of Meabh Hogan
This month we catch up with Meabh Hogan, Senior HR Manager UK & Ireland, to talk through her career and life at Paysafe.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and a typical day in your job at Paysafe?
The first question everyone has is probably how to pronounce my name! It is an Irish spelling, Meabh (pronounced as ‘Maive’).
I work in the HR team and have been with Paysafe for nearly two years supporting the London, Dublin and Gibraltar offices. I am currently the chapter lead for Women@Paysafe in the London office – a network that focuses on D&I related activities aimed at supporting women.
In HR, every day is different. I might be working on improving HR policies and processes, supporting people managers or executing on people strategy.
What have been some of the challenges or hurdles you have faced as a woman in the workplace?
Until I joined Paysafe, I worked in HR teams in male-dominated environments. Oil trading in Dubai, Industrial Relations in Dublin and Property & Asset Management in London – so I have often had to challenge some presumptions these environments might have about women in the workplace.
Particularly as a younger female, in some previous roles, people have sometimes assumed that I am there to take a drinks order or take notes and I have had to explain otherwise! I have personally found that using humour to highlight that this is not the case (and put people in their place a little bit) has worked for me. I have found that the best way to build respect in these situations is to ensure that I portray myself as competent and confident, so people quickly forget their presumptions.
What advice do you have for someone who has witnessed sexism in the workplace, but doesn’t know how to call it out?
It is important to call it out – the longer you leave it, the more difficult it can become to deal with. There is always someone you can speak to, whether it be a manager, a colleague or someone in the HR team.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
Quite recently I was nominated for our Extraordinary Leaders programme – which I was really chuffed about! Extraordinary Leaders is an internal rewards programme that recognises the best talent at Paysafe; colleagues who go above and beyond in their daily tasks. We got to go for a weekend in Portugal together for team building activities and fun. It was great to spend quality time with other people from across the company outside of the office.
What advice would you give to other people on how we can all embrace equity and support women in the workplace?
Get involved – we all have a part to play. Whether it be joining a network to raise awareness and push impactful change, or supporting in your day-to-day role. It is important that female colleagues actively support each other. It is also incredibly important that male allies ensure that their female colleagues’ voices are heard. If you hear a female colleague being spoken over, refer back to them, give them a chance to speak. Support is needed from everyone, particularly those in senior leadership.
Meabh Hogan has just celebrated two years at Paysafe and is currently a Senior HR Manager supporting the UK, Ireland and Gibraltar. Her role involves partnering with business leaders and people managers, executing on people strategy and improving HR processes and policy.
She is a chartered HR practitioner with a bachelor's degree in English Literature & Sociology, along with a master's degree in Human Resource Management.
Outside of work, her interests include hiking, reading and trying her hand at anything artistic!