Employee Relations Specialist - Fixed Term Contract in Edinburgh

The role can be based in our Edinburgh, London or Sydney office! 9-12 month Fixed Term Contract.

About the role

The Employee Relations Specialist role is a 9-12 month project role which will support the People and Culture (“P&C”) function in redefining its Employee Relations strategy and framework. The role will be responsible for enhancing existing policies, processes and reporting - to advance Employee Relations (“ER”) awareness, understanding and capability, in the People and Culture function and across the broader global organisation.

About you

Your day-to-day:

• Review and redefine FSI’s global employee relations strategy.
• Enhance FSI’s global employee relations framework (including policies, processes, templates, resources, communications, training). This includes, but not limited to:
• Provide expert input into global P&C policy and process updates.
• Develop a risk assessment framework for assessing employee relations risks and determining actions.
• Design an oversight model which manages senior executives’ conflicts of interest, decision making authority, and Board obligations around employee relation matters.
• Establish a Case taskforce for managing the potential impact of serious employee relation matters, with clear roles and responsibilities for P&C, Legal, Risk, IT, Communications, Senior Executives, and any other relevant regional input and stakeholders.
• Develop an investigation framework which includes escalation points, decision makers, the use of external legal advice, roles of the Case taskforce, confidentiality requirements, templates and procedures.
• Collaborate with the Senior Manager - Operational Excellence and Governance to embed the employee matters reporting framework, partnering with the P&C team, Legal, Risk, Compliance and other stakeholders to improve the tracking of all employee ER matters.
• Build employee relations capability in the People and Culture team, and broader organisation. This includes, but not limited to:
• Partner with P&C Leadership Team to develop the People and Culture team in handling the full range of employee relations matters consistently and in line with risk appetite and legislation.
• Design and deliver training for people leaders and employees which builds on previous Respect at Work training, embedding a trauma-informed approach, with clear guidance on technical aspects and obligations.
• Develop wellbeing resources to support employees involved in employee relations matters.
• Partner with the Talent, Leadership and Learning team to enhance people leaders’ capability in owning, managing and supporting employee relation matters, including adding subject matter content into existing leadership and management programmes, and developing additional interventions.
• Implement global initiatives and processes which create greater psychological safety and develop an environment which promotes a speak up culture.
• Lead in remediating and resolving existing complex employee matters.
• Any other employee relations activities and involvement in related P & C projects as directed by manager (e.g. cultural assessment).

Your experience and skills:

• Extensive experience in managing and resolving complex employee relations matters within a global matrixed and regulated environment, preferably within financial services.
• Extensive experience in designing and implementing global employee relations frameworks, policies, processes, resources, reporting and oversight models.
• Experience in building the employee relations capability of global People and Culture/HR teams.
• Experience in designing and delivering people leader training and associated interventions around managing employee relations.
• Experience in developing wellbeing resources in relation to employee relations matters for employees.
• Experience in developing initiatives to establish greater psychological safety and enhance a speak up culture.
• Extensive knowledge of employee relations principles and legal/regulatory requirements for a global financial services organisation.
• Risk management expertise and commercial acumen to make effective decisions and sound judgements.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Strong communication skills, verbal and written to deliver messaging appropriately for different audiences and capabilities.
• Strong project and process management capability, with an eye for attention to detail.
• High level of integrity and ability to deal with sensitive issues with confidentiality and discretion.
• Ability to identify patterns and trends to implement appropriate actions.
• Ability to work with global stakeholders across regions and functions.

About us

First Sentier Investors is a global asset management group providing high quality, differentiated and relevant investment capabilities aiming to deliver exceptional investment performance for our clients and profitable growth for our shareholder. We do this through our independent teams of active, specialist investors who share a common commitment to responsible investment principles.

Why work with us

Our industry-leading benefits include:

• Flexible working and a gender-neutral parental leave programme that provides 26 weeks’ paid leave in every region.
• Global collaboration, international mobility and the opportunity to build your career in different markets.
• Employee-driven charitable foundation allows our people to give back in their local communities through donation-matching and paid volunteering days.
• Access to learning and development opportunities including in-house training and external programs.

We are committed to ensuring that as a firm, we are contributing to building a sustainable economy and society by improving our environmental, social and governance standards and holding our own business to the same standards that we expect of the companies that we invest our clients’ capital in; and by doing so, reinforcing our position as responsible investors.

Our commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) is strong. At First Sentier Investors, we value the different experience, ideas and perspectives that our people bring to the work they do. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable culture where diversity can thrive.