About the job you're considering

The Employee Relations Specialist - UK, plays a crucial role in supporting the smooth management of employee relations issues. In this position, you will work alongside the Head of ER and other HR Business Partners, ensuring compliance with employment legislation. As a hands-on member of the team, your day-today tasks will include analysing current employee relations processes, offering insights for improvements, and supporting HR policy and process development. You will also play a role in managing relationships with stakeholders across various departments, ensuring effective collaboration between HR, management, and legal teams. Your contribution will help the organisation maintain its standards in HR best practices, with a focus on maintaining smooth employee transitions, fostering communication, and ensuring that the company's actions align with overall business objectives.

Hybrid working: The places that you work from day to day will vary according to your role, your needs, and those of the business; it will be a blend of Company offices, client sites, and your home; noting that you will be unable to work at home 100% of the time.

If you are successfully offered this position, you will go through a series of pre-employment checks, including: identity, nationality (single or dual) or immigration status, employment history going back 3 continuous years, and unspent criminal record check (known as Disclosure and Barring Service)

Your role

• Act as an SME advising HR and the business on complex/high risk cases and matters such as dismissals, restructuring, ethics and compliance issues, and settlement agreements, reducing and mitigating risk, and identifying commercial and pragmatic ways to resolve ER claims or potential claims.
• Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of ER policies, procedures and tooling, incorporating innovation and creative thinking, ensuring policies are fit-for-purpose, up-to-date with legislation, and promote best practice.
• Develop and update UK employment contracts to reflect Group or UK legislative changes.
• Lead and support on critical projects and contribute to ongoing improvement initiatives in ER processes, supporting efficiency and consistency.
• Facilitate and support the upskilling of the wider HR Team in relation to ER and Legal updates, to include restructuring training, etc.
• Develop and use data and insights to identify trends and recommend changes that enhance employee relations strategies.
• Act as an SME in relation to change management, providing operational support during organisational change initiatives, such as restructures and redundancies, assisting in planning and effective consultation processes, ensuring compliance with all legal obligations.
• Promote a culture of early dispute resolution and informal resolution to avoid escalation of formal procedures.
• Work closely with CWC managing monthly meetings, capturing notes, elections, engagement with key stakeholders for attendance and training.
• Partner with UK ECOs to manage and support ethics and compliance cases aligned with Group approach.
• Coordination and review of survey / bid responses / audits to ensure accuracy of information provided and compliance with GDPR.
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders, ensuring alignment between ER practices and broader HR goals.

• Proven experience in Employee Relations, with a focus on managing casework and resolving issues proactively.
• Demonstrable knowledge of current employment legislation and best practice in managing ER policies, principles and procedures.
• Experience in dealing with change management, including business restructuring such as headcount reduction.
• Ability to work in partnership with HR teams and key stakeholders to deliver pragmatic and business focused solutions.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a focus on informal resolution and preventing the escalation of disputes.
• Good stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence decision-makers and promote best practices in employee relations.
• Attention to detail and strong Excel skills for data reporting and case tracking.
• Commercial awareness with the ability to articulate how ER processes benefit the business.
• Experience of using and interpreting data for reporting purposes and to identify trends to inform our priorities.
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple cases or projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.

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