Employee Relations Manager (6 month FTC) in London

We’re BDO. An accountancy and business advisory firm, providing the advice and solutions entrepreneurial organisations need to navigate today’s changing world. We work with the companies that are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high growth businesses that fuel the economy - and directly advise the owners and management teams that lead them.

Our greatest asset is our people, so our HR team focus on ensuring we are all reaching our potential. They use their specialist expertise to help us attract great talent, enable our employees to succeed and inspire a unified culture of development across our firm. By playing a role in the recruitment and supporting our people, they help change lives and influence the future of BDO. Join a driven and passionate team where you can be yourself, while also helping your colleagues to achieve their ambitions.

Leading organisations trust us because of the quality of our advice. That quality grows from a thorough understanding of their business, and that understanding comes from working closely with them and building long-lasting relationships.

You’ll be someone who is both comfortable working pro-actively and managing your own tasks, as well as confident collaborating with others and communicating regularly with senior managers, directors, and BDO’s partners to help businesses effectively. You’ll be encouraged to identify and draw attention to opportunities for enhancing our delivery and providing additional services to organisations we work with.

The Employee Relations Manager is a senior HR specialist role responsible for providing expert employee relations advice and commercially focused solutions across the business. Reporting to the Senior Employee Relations Manager, the role supports HR teams, Partners and People Managers on complex and sensitive people matters, ensuring that legal, commercial and reputational risks are effectively managed while delivering positive outcomes for colleagues and the Firm. Working within a fast-paced environment, the role also helps the business adapt to changes in employment legislation, policies and ways of working.

A key aspect of the role is managing complex employee relations cases from start to finish. This includes advising on disciplinary and grievance matters, performance and capability issues, conflict resolution, contractual matters, organisational change projects, tribunal claims, early conciliation and data subject access requests. The Employee Relations Manager provides pragmatic, risk-based recommendations that balance compliance with business objectives, while ensuring consistency and fairness in decision-making.

The role also acts as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders, building strong relationships across the business to understand operational priorities and people-related challenges. By partnering closely with HR and business leaders, the Employee Relations Manager delivers practical guidance that supports effective people management, reduces risk and enables informed decision-making.

In addition to casework, the position plays an important role in shaping and improving employee relations practices. This includes leading or supporting projects, implementing policy changes, enhancing processes, monitoring legislative developments and ensuring the business is prepared for employment law changes. The role also uses employee relations data and trend analysis to identify emerging risks, recommend improvements and influence broader people strategies.

The Employee Relations Manager is responsible for developing capability within both the Employee Relations team and the wider business. This includes coaching and managing ER Advisors and Assistant ER Managers, providing training to HR teams and people managers, and helping stakeholders build confidence in handling employee relations matters effectively. Overall, the role combines technical employment law expertise, commercial judgement, stakeholder management and people leadership to support a high-performing and compliant organisation.

You’ll be someone with:

• Experience of working in an Employee Relations, case management and policy-focused role, including strong knowledge of employment law and practical interpretation and application of commercially focused solutions.
• Experience of managing complex and high-risk employee relations matters, balancing legal, commercial and reputational considerations.
• Proven stakeholder management experience as a commercial, credible and assertive subject matter expert influencing up to senior levels.
• Experience of using data, trends and management information to identify themes, support decision-making and drive continuous improvement.
• Experience of leading or delivering projects, change initiatives, process improvements and policy implementation activities.
• Experience of portraying complex issues and problem-solving initiatives in a user-friendly solutions focused format, together with supporting processes and procedures.
• Experience of training, coaching and developing HR and business stakeholders on Employee Relations matters to increase capability and confidence.
• Experience of conducting reviews of policies, practices and terms and conditions, identifying solutions and supporting successful implementation.
• Experience of working at management level and providing line management, coaching or development support to others.
• Experience of writing succinct documentation and recommendations for senior stakeholders.
• Experience of using case management systems and working in a fast-paced and often challenging environment.
• Demonstrates adaptability and resilience, with the ability to respond positively to changing business priorities, legislation and ways of working.
• Strong organisational, prioritisation and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities effectively.

Desirable:

• Experience within a professional services or partnership environment.
• Working knowledge and experience with Navex.

At BDO, we’ll help you achieve your personal goals and career ambitions, and we have programmes, resources, and frameworks that provide clarity and structure around career development.

Mutual support and respect is one of BDO’s core values and we’re proud of our distinctive, people-centred culture. From informal success conversations to formal mentoring and coaching, we’ll support you at every stage in your career, whatever your personal and professional needs.

Our agile working framework helps us stay connected, bringing teams together where and when it counts so they can share ideas and help one another. At BDO, you’ll always have access to the people and resources you need to do your best work.

We know that collaboration is the key to creating value for the companies we work with and satisfying experiences for our colleagues, so we’ve invested in state-of-the-art collaboration spaces in our offices. BDO’s people represent a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and we’ll encourage you to build your network, work alongside others, and share your skills and experiences. With a range of multidisciplinary events and dedicated resources, you’ll never stop learning at BDO.

At BDO, we help entrepreneurial businesses to succeed, fuelling the UK economy. Our success is powered by our people, which is why we’re always finding new ways to invest in you. Across the UK thousands of unique minds continue to come together to help companies we work with to achieve their ambitions.

We’ve got a clear purpose, and we’re confident in our future, because we’re adapting and evolving to build on our strengths, ensuring we continue to find the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise. We shape the future together with openness and clarity, because we believe in empowering people to think creatively about how we can do things better.