Employee Relations & Policy Specialist - 12 month fixed term contract

Overview

The people team develops the capabilities, culture and experiences that create a human and commercial edge for Baillie Gifford. We exist to make the firm the world’s most distinctive place to grow a career, investing in our people with the same long-term conviction as our portfolios and continually reimagining how work is done to outpace the industry. The team supports the full people lifecycle, including people operations, people partnering, leadership, learning and capability development, attraction and resourcing, organisational culture, reward, wellbeing and the end-to-end people experience. Through this work, we ensure that people and performance are deeply connected and that our colleagues are equipped to deliver long-term value for clients.

Purpose of Role

This role sits at the intersection of employee relations and policy—where day-to-day people matters shape how we think, and how we think shapes what we do. Our Employee Relations & Policy Specialist is responsible for managing and resolving complex employee relations issues. The role involves delivering clear, human-centred and technology-enabled advice, ensuring compliance with employment laws and People policies. The role helps us to ensure fair outcomes, balancing colleague and manager experience with the firm’s risk appetite. In addition, our ER and Policy Specialist will lead or support the development of our policies, helping to create a fair and inclusive framework that enables the firm to respond to the evolving needs of our clients. While previous experience in policy development would be valuable, we are equally interested in individuals with a strong foundation in employee relations, a good understanding of people policies, and a curiosity about emerging trends and new ways of thinking. The role is envisaged to be a full time position, although we are happy to consider the role on a part-time or job-share basis.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of complex People Relations cases, providing seamless human-centred and commercially sound advice.
• Lead or support the development of our people policies – using data insight to shape and simplify our policies, ensuring colleagues are enabled to deliver long-term value for clients.
• Expert adviser for escalated policy queries from managers and colleagues, taking a human-centred approach which balances legal compliance with the firm’s risk appetite.
• Identify opportunities to simplify policies and processes so it is easy for colleagues and people managers to do the right thing.
• Support essential people relations activity, should they arise including conflict resolution, litigation and managing business change.
• Contribute to a culture of continuous improvement, transparency, and accountability within the People Team.
• Contribute to data-driven reporting and identification of themes to improve case management outcomes and influence our People Relations approach.

What success looks like

• Clear, human people experiences
• Delivers simple, supportive services on all complex case matters.
• Clear and consistent processes
• High trust and satisfaction from colleagues and people managers
• Contributes to service culture grounded in empathy, clarity, and follow-through
• Advice is grounded in strong technical knowledge with risk well understood, well managed, and proportionate
• Strong relationships across the People team to ensure a streamlined and efficient service for colleagues and the firm
• Confident and proactive management of people risk with robust systems and controls across people processes
• Fair and timely resolution of complex people matters

Trusted people data and insight

• People Relations data is accurate, timely, and used to support sound decisions.
• Clear and practical data
• High confidence in data quality and integrity
• Insight that informs policy improvements and proactive advice to leaders

Your knowledge and experience

A strong technical ER/Case Management specialist with deep employment law knowledge. Financial services experience is preferred.

The type of candidate that we’re looking for

You’ll be colleague-focused with a genuine interest in creating a great people experience across the organisation. You’ll be able to distill complex facts into clear, simple and commercial recommendations that align with our legal obligations and our shared beliefs. Comfortable working with ambiguity, you’ll be adept at managing multiple, and often competing, priorities at the same time, supported by excellent organisational skills. You’ll be skilled at building strong, trusted relationships at all levels and confident in constructively challenging stakeholders when needed, while also demonstrating the ability to listen, reflect and bring people with you. You’ll be digitally fluent and curious, excited by the potential of using data to help develop our People Relations offering in line with our strategy and priorities, and open to testing new and innovative approaches.