Employee Relations Specialist in Southampton

Location: This is a hybrid role where you’ll be based from home with some travel for meetings. Candidates must be based in the South East or South West of England.

Job Type: Full-time or part time (minimum 30 hours per week). We offer a competitive salary package aligned with current market rates for this role. The final offer will reflect your skills, experience, and qualifications, alongside our commitment to internal equity.

A bit about us: We’re a full-service HR consultancy that partners with clients to help their people and businesses thrive. Sometimes we act as their in-house HR team, sometimes as an extension of their existing people team — but always as a trusted partner that genuinely cares. People sit at the heart of every business success story. Our job is to help clients create workplaces where those people can do their best work — even when things get tricky.

What you’ll be doing: As an Employee Relations Specialist, you’ll be the person clients turn to when things get complex or sensitive. You’ll bring clarity, fairness and calm confidence to a wide range of ER issues, helping clients navigate situations that really matter. Here’s a snapshot of what your day-to-day might include:

• Managing and advising on a range of ER cases — grievances, disciplinaries, bullying, harassment, whistleblowing and more.
• Carrying out investigations that are thorough, balanced and evidence-based.
• Supporting clients through restructures, redundancies, consultation processes and other business change exercises.
• Advising on negotiated exits, supporting without-prejudice conversations and settlement agreement processes.
• Drafting high-quality ER documentation such as invite letters, outcome letters, and investigation reports.
• Developing, reviewing and updating handbooks, policies and employment contracts.
• Helping clients understand risk — what’s urgent, what’s important and what they need to think about.

It’s meaningful, high-impact work — and no two days are the same.

About you: You’re an experienced Employee Relations professional who knows your stuff when it comes to employment law, policy development, and complex casework. You bring the perfect mix of technical expertise, commercial awareness, and empathy. You’ll need:

• Recent experience as ER/HR/People Partner, HR/People Business Partner, or People Advisor/Partner (where ER formed a core part of the role).
• Strong experience managing complex and various ER casework end-to-end.
• Experience drafting and updating policies, handbooks and employment contracts.
• Experience supporting negotiated exits and settlement agreements.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills — able to explain the complex simply.
• Highly organised, detail‑oriented, and comfortable managing multiple priorities.
• Skilled in drafting, reviewing, and implementing policies, handbooks, and contracts.
• Confident supporting organisational change projects such as restructures and redundancies.
• Commercially minded and able to balance compliance with practical advice.
• Tech‑savvy and comfortable using Microsoft Office and digital systems.
• Happy to travel occasionally and you hold a full UK driving licence.

Ideally, you’ll be CIPD Level 5 qualified (or equivalent), but what really matters to us is that you bring the practical experience and confidence to deliver great ER advice. Experience working in an HR consultancy would be a bonus.

The Perks:

• 25 days’ annual leave to start, rising to 27 after one year and 29 after two years, plus bank holidays.
• Career qualifications supported and paid for where relevant with progression and development opportunities.
• Monthly homeworking allowance and all equipment provided.
• Flexible working patterns to make sure you have a good balance between your work and home life.
• Strong internal and external support and a friendly, collaborative team.
• Pension scheme options (including salary sacrifice) and 4% employer pension contributions, with a minimum of 4% employee contributions.
• Life assurance at four times basic salary.
• Shopping discounts platform, flu vaccinations and technology and cycle to work salary sacrifice schemes.
• Enhanced family leave.
• Twice yearly all staff get togethers.
• Access to a 24/7 employee assistance programme for emotional and practical support.
• A range of other health and wellbeing benefits.
• A growing, progressive business with people at its heart.

We really want our workforce to be representative of all sections of society, so we actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.