Junior HR Business Partner in Hemel Hempstead

About This Position

Are you an HR professional looking to take your next step into a role where you can build strong employee relations experience and make a real impact on the ground? We are recruiting a Junior HR Business Partner (Employee Relations focus) to support the Henkel Adhesives business in the UK (c.500+ employees). This role offers hands‐on exposure across the employee lifecycle, with a strong focus on supporting and managing employee relations casework for our blue‐collar population, under the guidance of the HR Business Partner.

The role requires regular on‐site presence at the Winsford and St Neots manufacturing plants, working closely with managers and employees to provide practical, people‐focused HR support. You will also assist with the preparation and triage of white‐collar ER matters, and may occasionally support ER activity across other UK business units as part of development and workload balancing.

What You'll Do

• Support employee relations casework for blue‐collar employees, including disciplinary, grievance, absence and performance matters, ensuring outcomes are fair, timely and compliant.
• Assist with early‐stage ER activity for white‐collar employees by preparing documentation, evidence packs, investigation notes and case summaries.
• Provide day‐to‐day HR guidance to managers, helping them apply policies confidently and address issues early.
• Support HR administration and operational processes including onboarding, offboarding, contract changes and employee documentation.
• Maintain accurate employee records and ensure HR processes follow internal standards and legal requirements.
• Support people processes such as probation reviews, performance cycles and workforce planning activity.
• Help identify ER trends and recurring issues, supporting the HRBP with insight and reporting.
• Work closely with the HR Business Partner, HR Operations and Centres of Expertise to ensure a consistent employee experience.

What makes you a good fit

• Experience managing employee relations cases with a sound understanding of UK employment law.
• Strong HR operations capability and attention to detail.
• Confidence working with HR data and translating insight into action.
• Credible, pragmatic communicator able to build trust with managers and employees.
• Comfortable working independently within defined frameworks, with appropriate escalation.
• Experience supporting organisational change or M&A activity (desirable).

Some perks of joining Henkel

• Flexible work scheme with flexible hours, hybrid work model, and work from anywhere policy for up to 30 days per year.
• Diverse national and international growth opportunities.
• Global wellbeing standards with health and preventive care programs.
• Gender‐neutral parental leave for a minimum of 8 weeks.
• Employee Share Plan with voluntary investment and Henkel matching shares.
• Performance bonus / incentives.
• Competitive Pension & Life Assurance - Company contributes up to 10% of basic salary.
• Annual Leave: 27 days plus 8 Bank Holidays.
• Celebration vouchers.

At Henkel, we come from a broad range of backgrounds, perspectives, and life experiences. We believe the uniqueness of all our employees is the power in us. Become part of the team and bring your uniqueness to us! We welcome all applications across different genders, origins, cultures, religions, sexual orientations, disabilities, and generations.