Employee Relations & Policy Advisor

The Employee Relations & Policy Advisor supports managers and colleagues across a broad range of employee relations matters, helping to ensure a consistent, fair and legally compliant approach to people management across the firm. Working as part of the national Employee Relations & Policy team, you'll partner with managers, HR Business Partners and colleagues to manage employee relations issues, support organisational change projects and contribute to the development and implementation of the firm's people policies.

Responsibilities

Providing proactive, consistent and commercially focussed advice and coaching support to develop manager capability, drive a culture of high performance and encourage colleague engagement and well-being; Case management to drive the resolution of performance, probation, attendance, disciplinary and grievance issues, ranging from informal discussions, to formal investigations, formal hearings and appeal stages; Advising the business and relevant HR Business Partners on the design and end to end implementation of change programmes (e.g. TUPE and redundancies); Supporting managers to deal with, or when particularly sensitive sometimes directly manage, complex and long term absence cases; Involvement in resolving more complex queries (e.g. benefits, maternity, absence or policy related) which are escalated from the HR Operations Team; Providing consistent and commercially focussed advice to line managers and colleagues in HR around Employee Relations issues; Advising managers and colleagues on the Firm’s HR policies and employment best practice as they apply to day to day management of colleagues; Providing guidance around the Flex Forward approach to working and managing the formal flexible working application process; Supporting the ER Lead and other HR colleagues in relevant project work and initiatives, for example involvement in ensuring ER policies are relevant for changing business needs; Analyse ER data to identify recurring trends and themes and derive insights that help shape relevant programmes and interventions; Keeping up to-date in changing employment law landscape and conducting ER training as part of the Learning & Development offering as necessary; Dealing with ad-hoc or regular reports, including appropriate analysis of information where required; Keep up to date with current and future employment law changes; Develop, review, and update HR policies and procedures to reflect current legislation, best practices, and organisational needs; Ensure consistent application and understanding of HR policies across the organisation through clear documentation, advice and communication

Requirements

Strong understanding of UK employment legislation and general Employee Relations principles and practices; Demonstrable experience of handling Employee Relations cases, either within a generalist or specialist role; Excellent and written communication skills, the ability to influence and engage colleagues and key stakeholders; Minimum 5 GCSE passes including English and Maths (or equivalent); Proactive and willing to take ownership of tasks and projects; Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise effectively and deal calmly with the pressure of deadlines and conflicting priorities; Team oriented, flexible and enthusiastic with a positive and committed approach; Reliable and able to work on own initiative, with good attention to detail and a high level of accuracy; A good level of computer literacy including use of Excel, PowerPoint and Word; Proven experience in using case management systems and handling administrative processes, with a strong track record of accurate data management and strict adherence to confidentiality protocols

Nice to have

CIPD qualification or part qualification; Graduate calibre; Experience in a similar advisory role

Benefits

Flexible working (Flex Forward scheme)