Head of Employee Relations

Sector: UK&I | Multi-site Consumer Organisation

Location: Flexible UK base with regular travel across key UK locations

This is not a traditional Employee Relations leadership role.

We are partnering with a major UK&I consumer organisation to appoint a Senior Employee Relations Manager into a role with the breadth, influence and strategic ownership that would readily be recognised as Head of Employee Relations in many organisations.

And the timing is particularly interesting.

Over the last three years, the organisation has built a credible, highly regarded Employee Relations function from the ground up. Policies have been rewritten, manager capability strengthened, case-management standards transformed and ER has established genuine credibility with operational and senior leadership teams.

The foundations are there.

This appointment is about what comes next.

With significant employment legislation on the horizon, an evolving Industrial Relations landscape, increasing ER complexity and an opportunity to extend ER capability into a much broader business network, the next phase requires a different kind of ER leader.

Someone who can see around corners.

Someone who can set strategy rather than simply execute somebody else's and someone equally comfortable rolling their sleeves up and getting into the realities of a fastmoving operational business.

The opportunity

Reporting to the People Director, you will lead a specialist ER/IR team and take responsibility for shaping and delivering the organisation's Employee and Industrial Relations strategy.

This is a deliberately broad role.

You'll operate across a complex population encompassing Head Office, supply chain, production, warehousing, transport and other multi-site operational environments.

You'll inherit strong foundations and a team that has itself become a source of talent for the wider People function, with previous team members successfully progressing into People Partner roles.

Your role is not to arrive and rebuild what already works. It is to maintain the brilliant basics, continue developing the team and move the function into its next stage of maturity.

The remit spans end-to-end ER/IR strategy, union and Employee Forum relationships, complex cases and tribunals, policy, manager capability, engagement and ER insight.

A changing Industrial Relations landscape

This is one of the most important evolutions in the role.

Employment legislation and forthcoming trade union reforms have the potential to change the IR landscape considerably. The organisation already has recognised yet immature trade-union relationships within parts of its transport operation, while interest in extending union access into other operational populations is increasing.

The question is no longer simply how existing relationships are managed.

It is: what should the organisation's future Industrial Relations strategy be?

That could mean evolving existing arrangements, responding to further recognition activity and determining how relationships should operate across different sites and populations.

You will have specialist IR capability within your team, but we need somebody with genuine credibility around the table.

You will have personally operated in unionised environments and understand collective relationships, negotiation and consultation. Importantly, you will have contributed to the decision-making and strategy behind negotiations, rather than simply being given a predetermined position and asked to deliver it.

This requires judgement, commerciality and sophisticated influencing skills.

Getting ahead of what's coming

The changing employment landscape creates a much broader strategic agenda.

This person will need to horizon-scan: understand what's coming, interpret what it means for the organisation and translate external change into a practical internal response.

The Employment Rights Act will be a major part of that agenda.

You will ensure policies, processes, manager capability and ER strategy remain ahead of legislative change while balancing legal risk, employee experience and the commercial realities of a fast-paced operation.

The role therefore needs someone who can take complexity and turn it into something clear, pragmatic and executable.

A major measure of success will be the capability of the leaders around you.

The organisation does not want an ER function that becomes the answer to every people problem. It wants managers who are confident dealing with the things that should sit with managers.

You will continue building first- and second-line leadership capability across areas including absence, performance, conduct and everyday people management – providing frameworks, coaching, tools and specialist support while creating greater ownership in the line.

Where an issue genuinely requires specialist intervention, your team must provide high-quality, consistent, commercially pragmatic advice.

Better managers, not greater dependency on ER.

A fascinating opportunity beyond the core organisation

One of the most distinctive elements of this role is the opportunity to influence Employee Relations across a substantial network of independently operated businesses.

Those businesses range considerably in scale and People capability. Some have established HR functions; others have very limited internal support.

Their employees are not employees of the central organisation and maintaining that legal distinction is important. But they operate under the same consumer brand.

How do you help independent businesses become better employers, navigate increasingly complex employment legislation and protect a major consumer brand without crossing the line into becoming their HR function?

There isn't a finished answer. And that's precisely what makes the opportunity interesting.

Working closely with senior colleagues responsible for this network, you will help determine what the future proposition should be: potentially encompassing best-practice frameworks, toolkits, employment-law guidance, manager capability and scalable ER resources.

Over time, there may even be an opportunity to explore a broader ER service proposition. The model is not predetermined; this person will have the opportunity to help shape it.

ER case volumes are increasing and the nature of cases is becoming more complex.

The organisation currently has 100+ live ER cases across areas including disciplinary, grievance and absence, with increases being seen in areas such as long-term sickness.

The opportunity is not simply to manage that volume efficiently. It's to ask: what is the data telling us?

Where are the patterns? Which populations or leaders need intervention? What is driving absence? Where are cases escalating unnecessarily? What organisational risks are emerging?

Current reporting remains relatively manual, creating scope for somebody curious about data, technology and potentially the responsible use of AI to develop a much more sophisticated ER insight capability.

We don't need a technologist. We do want someone curious enough to ask whether there is a better way.

Engagement and employee voice

The role currently also has responsibility for key elements of the colleague engagement agenda.

A new colleague platform has recently been introduced, bringing together areas including engagement surveys, recognition, performance and goal setting. The first survey achieved participation of just under 70%, providing a strong platform from which to build.

The next question is how employee voice, survey insight, Employee Forums and wider People activity come together into a coherent engagement approach.

You will work collaboratively across People, Communications, Learning & Development and other specialist teams to ensure insight translates into action.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a genuine Employee Relations Leader and specialist.

Someone who is passionate about ER as a discipline and sees this as a destination in its own right not simply a short stop on the way to a generalist People Partner role.

You may currently be a Head of Employee Relations, Head of ER/IR, Senior Employee Relations Manager or equivalent.

You must be able to demonstrate ER breadth and ownership.

Candidates from very large organisations can look compelling on paper, but this isn't an environment of narrow swim lanes. The successful person needs evidence of personally shaping strategy and making decisions, rather than owning one small component of a much larger ER machine.

You are likely to bring experience from retail, QSR, manufacturing, FMCG, logistics, distribution, supply chain or another fast-paced multi-site operational environment.

Experience spanning both blue-collar/frontline populations and Head Office/white-collar environments will be particularly valuable.

• Significant ER leadership experience across a complex, multi-site organisation, with genuine ownership of strategy as well as delivery.
• Strong employment-law expertise and the ability to anticipate and translate legislative change into organisational action.
• Credible Industrial Relations experience, including direct trade-union exposure and meaningful involvement in shaping negotiation strategy and outcomes.
• Experience across both operational and corporate populations, with the credibility to move seamlessly between the boardroom, Head Office and frontline environments.
• Evidence of developing strong ER teams and creating talent, not simply managing technical specialists.
• A track record of materially improving line-manager capability and accountability.
• Strong experience of complex ER, tribunals, litigation and ACAS processes, without being defined solely by case management.
• Commercial judgement and the ability to operate effectively where the answer isn't black and white.
• Strong analytical instincts and an interest in turning ER data into meaningful organisational insight.
• Excellent influencing and negotiation skills, with the confidence to challenge senior stakeholders constructively.
• Resilience, adaptability and the ability to remain calm when the organisation around you is moving quickly.

And then there is the fit...

The organisation is lean, fast and broad. People don't operate within tightly protected job descriptions. Senior leaders are expected to think strategically and get their hands dirty when required.

The successful individual will therefore be pragmatic rather than dogmatic.

You'll understand that excellent ER rarely exists entirely in black and white. You'll be able to navigate ambiguity, cut through noise and reach a calm, sensible and commercially sound position.

You'll build relationships easily across both the business and the People function. You'll be credible without being corporate, confident without ego and serious about what you do without taking yourself too seriously.

A sense of humour will help.

Why consider it?

Because you won't be joining a broken function. You'll inherit something good.

The previous incumbent joined with a blank sheet of paper and leaves having built the function, rewritten policy, strengthened manager capability, improved case management and earned enormous credibility particularly within the operational business.

Your opportunity is different. Take something good and make it exceptional.

You'll have strategic ownership without being miles away from delivery. You'll lead an evolving ER/IR agenda. You'll work with senior leaders who genuinely value the function. You'll have scope to create something new across a wider business network. And you'll operate in a People team where specialist talent has demonstrably progressed into broader roles.

The culture is informal, ambitious, highly collaborative and fast-moving. Visibility matters more than presenteeism: there is no mandated number of Head Office days, but you will be expected to be where the business needs you whether that's Head Office or operational/supply-chain locations.

For the right ER leader, this is a rare combination of specialist depth, enterprise breadth and genuine strategic ownership.

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