People and Culture Advisor - 12 Month Fixed Term

The People and Culture Advisor will provide proactive, professional and pragmatic HR advice and hands-on support across AKG UK Group, with a particular focus on employee relations casework. The role will combine advising managers with accurate people administration and practical support for recruitment and onboarding, while contributing to employee initiatives and organisational projects.

Working closely with internal stakeholders, the role will help build positive working relationships, support a collaborative and inclusive culture, and ensure people matters are managed consistently, fairly and in line with business needs, employment legislation and organisational policies.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide timely, consistent and pragmatic HR advice to managers and employees, supporting the fair and effective resolution of people matters.
• Manage an allocated caseload of employee relations matters, including absence, conduct, capability, grievance and disciplinary cases, providing managers with practical advice and maintaining appropriate documentation.
• Monitor case progress, identify risks and escalate complex, sensitive or high-risk matters to the relevant People and Culture Business Partner or the Director of People and Culture.
• Support managers with investigations, meetings and formal processes, advise on preparing correspondence and meeting documentation, coordinating arrangements, taking accurate notes where required and tracking agreed actions.
• Guide managers on consistent application of policies, employment legislation and best practice, while maintaining clear boundaries between advisory support and management decision-making.
• Deliver timely and accurate administration across onboarding, probation, contractual changes, family leave, flexible working, internal moves and offboarding.
• Prepare contracts and employee correspondence using approved templates, update HR systems, monitor key dates and provide authorised information to Payroll within agreed deadlines.
• Coordinate onboarding with managers, Payroll, IT and L&D so that new starter documentation, HR records, induction arrangements and required learning are organised promptly.
• Track completion of onboarding activities and probation review dates, follow up outstanding actions and provide a clear point of contact for new starter queries.
• Work with managers and People and Culture colleagues to identify operational people priorities, provide accurate workforce information and coordinate agreed follow-up actions.
• Support workforce planning and help managers identify the guidance, skills and resources employees need to perform effectively.
• Support People and Culture Business Partners with organisational change activity, restructures, consultation processes and other people-related projects as required.
• Contribute to initiatives that strengthen employee engagement, wellbeing, inclusion and organisational culture across AKG UK Group.
• Maintain accurate and confidential HR records, case files, people data and correspondence in line with data protection requirements and internal procedures.
• Complete routine data checks, respond to employee and manager queries within agreed service standards, and produce accurate people information and reports to support the wider team.
• Support the review, development and communication of People and Culture policies, procedures and guidance to ensure they remain current, accessible and compliant.
• Keep up to date with relevant employment legislation, HR trends and sector best practice, applying this knowledge to support continuous improvement within the People and Culture function.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain policies clearly, handle sensitive conversations professionally and build effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders while working remotely.
• Passionate about providing high quality work, strong attention to detail.
• Able to quickly identify problems, think flexibly and resolve issues.
• Experience of using HR systems to maintain accurate employee records, process lifecycle changes and retrieve information for reporting, with sound judgement when handling confidential employee and candidate information.
• Practical experience of coordinating and recording right to work and other relevant pre-employment checks, recognising incomplete or inconsistent information and escalating concerns through the appropriate People and Culture channels.
• Excellent administration, IT and organisational skills, including confident use of Microsoft Office.
• Able to prioritise employee relations casework alongside routine administration, recruitment and onboarding tasks, maintaining accuracy and meeting competing deadlines.
• A proactive approach to delivering high-quality work and developing professionally.
• Demonstrable experience in an HR advisory or generalist role, including advising managers on employee relations cases and applying UK employment legislation and organisational policies.
• Experience of hands-on employee lifecycle administration and supporting recruitment and onboarding processes.

Desirable

• CIPD Level 5
• Experience in HR Systems, PeopleHR and Reward Gateway.

Compliance

It is the responsibility of all staff to abide by organisational policies to ensure compliance with relevant standards e.g. ISO 27001 (Information Security), ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environmental) as well as adhering to statutory duties in relation to safeguarding, Prevent and health and safety.

Inclusive Recruitment and Accessibility

AKG UK is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We welcome applications from candidates with a range of backgrounds, experiences and working styles. Candidates are encouraged to let us know if they require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process. Applicants do not need to meet every desirable criterion to apply; we are interested in relevant skills, potential and values alignment as well as direct experience.