Employee Relations Specialist in Watford

KPMG in the UK is part of a global network of firms that offers Audit, Legal, Tax and Advisory services. Through the talent of over 16,000 colleagues we bring our creativity, insight and experience to solve our clients’ and communities’ biggest problems. We’ve been doing this for more than 150 years.

Group Corporate Services (GCS) is the home for all internal support services that support the combined firm. Working with our Capability-led matrix and throughout the whole firm, GCS executes on our Group's strategic goals by enabling growth, protecting the firm and running operations effectively and efficiently, resulting in improved profitability. We do this using a ‘We are Group’ mindset.

The People and Resourcing domain’s purpose is to enable the Group’s business strategy through its people. We maintain our position as an employer of choice by fostering a Values-led culture, enabling our people to thrive, and delivering a positive experience through the employee lifecycle. We are a strategic HR function that leverages digitisation, automation, and data-driven insights to enhance decision-making and productivity.

At KPMG we want to build and maintain positive and constructive relationships individually amongst our people, and collectively between the firm and our people. We believe that a positive climate in the workplace enables greater employee engagement and commitment, with a positive impact both on employee well-being and business outcomes.

The team will be responsible for end-to-end case management and for coaching/upskilling the business to more effectively address ER matters in the business line. We are introducing a best practice tiered approach to service delivery, including self-service for generic questions and effective triaging of incoming concerns promoting routes to resolution outside of formal cases. We have a separate team within the ER function responsible for formal investigations.

By firmly anchoring Employee Relations expertise in the ER function, we are professionalising the service and creating tangible and rewarding career opportunities for ER professionals. We are committed to continuous improvement so that we can evolve our Employee Relations (ER) services and support mechanisms to be the best they can be, encouraging open communication, ensuring our colleagues can thrive both professionally and personally and building trust within our organisation.

What will you be doing?

• Provide PLs/PMs and HRBPs with timely, solution-focused ER support on the full range of ER matters, enabling the business to deliver ER processes in line with policy, fairness and our values.
• Support with (and lead where appropriate) consultations and employee engagement relating to restructures, redundancies and TUPE.
• Provide pragmatic ER advice, clearly articulating risks, mitigations and recommendations.
• Coach and advise managers on performance management approaches (including Reaching Performance Plans), ensuring appropriate documentation and guidance is provided.
• Support managers to manage complex sickness absence and health related capability matters, including advising on complex OH referrals and workplace adjustments.
• Promote early resolution approaches (e.g. facilitated conversations, mediation), coaching and enabling stakeholders to resolve issues at the earliest appropriate stage.
• Produce and interpret ER Management Information (MI), providing key data on caseloads, outcomes and trends.
• Support the disciplinary and grievance process, ensuring key stakeholders are appropriately informed, and liaising with the ER Investigations Team where formal investigation is required.
• Provide HR representation on panels, participating in the decision-making process and drafting outcome letters.
• Support the ethics champion process, including conducting initial fact-finding, engaging relevant stakeholders and determining appropriate resolution or escalation to formal investigation where required.
• Collaborate with the business/HRBPs to implement learnings and recommendations from ER processes.
• Contribute to standard templates, playbooks and knowledge articles to improve consistency and efficiency across the ER team.
• Support with the design and delivery of practical upskilling sessions to build manager and leader capability in ER matters.
• Maintain accurate, confidential case files, ensuring timely recording of actions and advice in the case management system/trackers.
• Prepare and review Settlement Agreements.

What will you need to do it?

• Strong and demonstrable Employee Relations knowledge and experience supporting formal and informal ER casework, including coaching and supporting leaders through capability matters.
• Deep understanding of employment legislation, dispute resolution and best practice ER approaches in the UK.
• Communication Skills: excellent written and verbal communication, able to engage and influence constructively at all organisational levels.
• Experience of translating policy and employment law into practical guidance for leaders.
• Experience of handling competing priorities in a high-volume case environment.
• Analytical capability: comfortable working with case data/MI, drawing insights and presenting themes clearly.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Able to build relationships and communicate confidently and professionally with colleagues at all levels of the firm, delivering clear written and verbal messages.
• Experience in coaching and developing others and championing a culture of service excellence, promoting a continuous learning culture within the team.
• Proactively share knowledge and experience, promoting a team player mindset.

Our core Central Service hubs for this role are: Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Watford.