HR advisor – AR

Overview

Job description and person specification
Senior HR Advisor
HR Advisory, Corporate Services Directorate

Thank you for your interest in this role. Our vision at West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) is: ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’.
We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality, and at WNC it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bring new ideas, demand better ways of working, care about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people. When potential is unlocked, talent thrives.

Purpose and impact

Operating in a business partnering model the Senior HR Advisor is customer focussed, providing professional advice and challenge on a full range of HR matters including case management and redundancy and organisational change programmes. The role also contributes to the delivery of the Council’s People Strategy, taking responsibility for delivery of key elements of the programme. The post is also responsible for maintaining and interrogating the employee records system, analysing data, identifying trends and issues and working with services to action plan from the data.

Accountable to:
The Senior HR Advisor is accountable to the Strategic HR Business Partner. The role sits within HR Advisory Services, part of the Corporate Services Directorate of West Northamptonshire Council. There are no line management responsibilities but the postholder will coach HR Assistants and Advisors as required.

Responsibilities

• 1. Advice, support and challenge: Manage and resolve autonomously a case load of complex HR cases, providing both responsive and pro-active advice and guidance on HR issues. Provide a range of options, assess risk factors, challenge managers to take account of employment legislation requirements and business needs and progress activity at pace, while supporting employee wellbeing and engagement. Ensure that managers within given service areas are managing in accordance with WNC values, and where this is not the case, ensure the reason for this is diagnosed and appropriate intervention/support is provided.
• 2. Employee Relations: Provide advice, guidance, training and coaching interventions to managers on employee relations casework right through to dismissal (e.g. ill health, performance, grievance, disciplinary, redundancy and organisational change), building relationships across all tiers of management to secure a proactive and professional HR service and ensuring all aspects are handled appropriately and swiftly within agreed frameworks, policies and timescales.
• 3. Customer Relationship: Act as a comprehensive front line HR Advisory service, responding comprehensively to enquiries from services, whether via the shared advisory inbox, or directly from operational line management clients. Encourage and coach customers to adopt self-service behaviour and skills, particularly in the use of our ERP system. On behalf of the HR Service draft the response to freedom of information and subject access requests
• 4. Change Management: Lead and support the SHRBP and HRBP in the delivery of change management projects including service restructures and TUPE transfers, with assigned responsibility for the delivery elements of the projects. To utilise a project management approach to ensure that activity is planned, co-ordinated, fully documented and driven through at pace, and coaching managers to drive through effective change, communication and engagement with their teams. Acting as project support, ensuring that structural changes are fully implemented successfully and changes to the hierarchy are completed to maintain the integrity of the system and accurate management information.
• 5. Management Information: Provide accurate and timely workforce information reports for management teams and provide analysis. Oversee the maintenance and validation of data to ensure that it is accurate and up to date. Undertake regular data analysis for an allocated ‘portfolio’ to ensure that issues and trends are discussed with managers as a basis for performance management, problem resolution and inform workforce planning (aligned with service plan and objectives). Recommend solutions as necessary to meet trends, shortfalls and planned changes and ensure that managers are aware of these.
• 6. Project Work: Undertake allocated corporate and team based HR project work, for example projects supporting our People Strategy delivery and transformation projects, playing a key role in ensuring that projects are delivered on time and to agreed objectives and performance standards.
• 7. Job matching and job evaluation: Advising managers on the matching/evaluation of role profiles, administering and attending job evaluation panel meetings and liaising with our payroll teams and the HR Assistants & Advisors to ensure there is robust administration and maintenance of the council’s job evaluation schemes.
• 8. HR Policies and Organisational Development: Support the continuous development of the HR service through policy development. Deliver training for managers and employees on a full range of HR policies including the WNC Induction and Line Manager induction. Drive performance management within the Council by coaching and mentoring managers and employees.
• 9. Occupational Health: supporting the delivery of the Occupational Health contract, advising managers on the most appropriate referral route, checking the quality of referrals and liaising with the provider to unblock issues.
• 10. Support continuous improvement of the HR service by seeking continuous feedback and professional development opportunities. Working with colleagues across HR (Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Strategy, Policy and Projects, Payroll Services, Learning and Development) to deliver one HR service. Monitor quality of service delivery and deal with customer feedback, including complaints.
• 11. Actively challenge and seek to eliminate any directly or indirectly discriminatory practices or behaviours.
• 12. Demonstrate awareness/understanding of other people’s behavioural, physical, social and welfare needs. Ensure that reasonable care is always taken for the health, safety and welfare of yourself and other persons, and to comply with the policies and procedures relating to health and safety within the service.

Person specification

Skills and abilities

• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing. E A, T, I, P, D
• Shows an understanding of customer’s needs and takes appropriate action to meet their requirements and manage expectations. E A/I
• Able to demonstrate accuracy and attention to detail in all aspects of work. E A/I
• Able to work effectively in changing work environments and in the face of conflicting priorities. Ability to plan and prioritise workload whilst maintain standards and meeting deadlines. E A/I
• Ability and confidence to be self-reliant and work from varying locations using available technology effectively, without heavy reliance on supervision E A/I
• Uses own initiative to plan and complete tasks to meet deadlines and targets. E A/I
• Recognises individual responsibility to contribute to the effective working of the team. E A/I
• Ability to influence managers to consider options and advise in a risk preferring manner. D A/I
• Demonstrate effective use of Office 365 (incl. Teams, OneDrive, etc.) or willingness to undertake training during the probation period. E A/I

Knowledge

• Strong knowledge of employment legislation. E A,I
• Understanding of the role of Trade Unions E A,I
• Understanding of GDPR and the importance to this role E A,I
• Knowledge of large organisations’ terms and conditions of employment D A,I

Relevant experience

• Demonstrable extensive experience of working within a HR environment delivering HR advice and support to customers. E A, I
• Demonstrable experience of managing HR Advisory complex case load on a face to face basis with managers being able to take autonomous decisions based on employment law and HR policy E
• Sound experience of using data effectively to provide useful management information and ability to interrogate and present data using Microsoft Excel and Power BI E A, I
• Experience of delivering training interventions and courses to managers. D A/I
• Experience of supporting and implementing organisational change and transformation successfully E A/I
• Proven ability to provide guidance to colleagues, HR Advisor and HR Assistants in all aspects of casework management E A/I

Education, training and work qualifications

• Educated to degree level E A
• CIPD level 5 or demonstrable experience level of working in a similar role E A
• CIPD Level 7 qualification D A

All appointments are subject to standard pre-employment screening. This will include identity, references, proof of right to work in the UK, medical clearance and verification of certificates.