Talent Associate American Lifestyle Brand Fixed term contract London, GB Employee Relations Emp[...]

About the Company

Our client is an American Lifestyle Brand with HQ\’s in UK and Italy, looking for a Talent Associate or HR Associate on a one-year fixed-term contract. Ideally, this person can start beginning of November. WFH policy is 3 days a week in the central London office.

About the Role

This Role is Tailor-Made for You Because:

1. You’re passionate about people and building a career where you can make a real impact on the frontline employee experience.
2. You enjoy supporting the in-person day-to-day needs of our employees, partnering with them and their leaders to answer questions, providing clarity around policies, procedures and proactively identifying and solving problems, with the desire to create a workplace that is safe, supportive, and high-performing.
3. As the first point of contact for the Talent team, you are able to effectively intake questions and concerns presented by the employees and their leaders; solutioning and/or escalating as appropriate.
4. You also have a solid understanding of critical Talent functions and ability to lead on areas such as leave of absence administration and initial payroll and benefits inquiries.
5. You thrive in a hands-on environment, are eager to learn and grow in understanding and owning administrative responsibilities within an operational setting and are energized by helping both employees and leaders succeed.
6. You’re also resourceful and collaborative with a sharp eye for detail and a keen sense of judgement that enables you to effectively assess and resolve situations or escalate appropriately.
7. You have an interest in fashion, culture, women’s empowerment and are eager to bring your experience to the luxury retail industry.

Responsibilities

A Day in the Life: The typical day is… atypical, as no two days are the same. As an Associate, Talent, you may:

Employee Support

1. Serve as the first point of contact for employee inquiries, providing day-to-day in-person Talent/HR support to employees and supervisors on topics such as attendance, time off, payroll, and/or benefits concerns, etc.
2. Escalate employee relations and performance concerns for additional review and support in a timely manner. Support the development of simple corrective actions (primarily for attendance).

Talent/HR Operations

1. Assist with onboarding and orientation processes for new hires, ensuring a smooth and welcoming experience.
2. Maintain accurate employee records and ensure compliance with HR policies, processes, and labor laws.
3. Ensure accurate payroll processing liaising with leaders and payroll to resolve issues in a timely manner and minimizing negative impact to employee pay.
4. Update Workday ensuring accurate entries in line with operational best practices; ensuring a solid understanding of upstream and downstream impacts of changes.
5. Support the administration of Talent/HR programs, policy communication, and training coordination.
6. Support the Talent Acquisition process by posting jobs, notifying associates of new postings, scheduling interviews, collecting feedback forms, etc. as requested.
7. Assist with annual process follow-up and compliance – ensuring evaluations are completed, preparing for calibration, compliance trainings.
8. Process employee terminations, providing exit information and conducting exit interviews as requested.
9. Schedule, coordinate and facilitate interviews ensuring the best possible candidate experience.
10. Communicate and provide updates to candidates (internal & external), Hiring Managers and various business partners.
11. Post open positions to various locations including: career website (internal & external), LinkedIn, etc.
12. Support and maintain applicant tracking system: create accounts for new hires, review accuracy of open positions, open / close positions for retail locations.
13. Track the progress of candidates throughout the hiring process via applicant tracking system and other reports as necessary.
14. Source candidates using LinkedIn.
15. Prepare offer letters and contracts as directed.
16. Ensure pre-hire forms (employment application & background check, as necessary) are completed and reviewed.
17. Process new hires in HRIS system to ensure accurate on-boarding.

Leave of Absence Management & Benefits

1. Track leaves of absences, including medical, parental, worker\’s compensation, and other leave types in partnership with Benefits team.
2. Ensure regular communication with employees and their leaders regarding leave status and return-to-work plans.

Qualifications

1. 2+ years of experience in an HR/Talent, employee support, or administrative role.
2. Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.
3. Experience working in retail environment is a plus.
4. Foundational understanding of HR principles and employment law.

Required Skills

1. Strong interpersonal and communication (written and verbal) skills – approachable, empathetic, and professional.
2. Strong judgement with a focus on fairness and consistency.
3. Proactive self-starter with ability to problem-solve effectively, leveraging critical thinking skills.
4. High level of integrity and discretion when handling confidential information.
5. Ability to prioritize and navigate competing priorities in a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment.
6. Proficiency in Microsoft Office; experience with HRIS i.e Workday systems is a plus.
7. Additional Language i.e French is a bonus, but not essential.