Employee Relations Advisor in Poole

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Who we are: You might know us as the inventors of the bath bomb, but there’s more to this great-smelling, partly employee-owned, family-run company than pioneering cosmetics. We believe our business should put more back into the world than it takes and demonstrate that capitalism can be a force for good. The Living Wage Foundation’s statement 'a hard day's work deserves a fair day's pay' is one that we are proud to commit to in the UK. As an accredited Living Wage employer, we put our people first and fight cruel practices like animal testing, promote regeneration, and show that it is what’s inside that counts - whether that’s an ingredient in a product, or the minerals in a smartphone.

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Overview: The Employee Relations Advisor will be responsible for providing expert advice and support on all matters related to employee relations, including handling disciplinary actions, grievances, performance management, and workplace investigations. The role requires a strong understanding of employment law, excellent interpersonal skills, and the ability to manage sensitive situations with discretion and professionalism. This role will primarily work with Lush Manufacturing teams.

The Team: Our People Services teams work across our key business areas of Support, Manufacturing and Retail, and provide tailored support through experienced partnerships. The team can advise and support on all employee relations issues. We seek to support and empower our colleagues to manage employee relations matters as independently as possible. You would be working as part of a small, dynamic and supportive team who are mainly based in Poole.

Location: Poole onsite 5 days a week

Working hours: 07.00 - 15.00, Monday to Friday

Please note: We may close this vacancy early if we receive an overwhelming response or our business requirements change.

Key Responsibilities:

• Empowering managers and leads to deliver the ultimate employee experience by creating and sharing people learning resources, and delivering people training as required.
• Building trusted relationships with all employees, to support the alignment of people practices and business priorities and collaborate on people projects.
• Taking a commercial approach when dealing with complex employee situations through robust people practices and complying with employment law legislation.
• Remaining up to date with best practice and employment law changes and communicating these through support teams.
• Work strategically alongside the company goals and changing landscapes, to enhance employee experience through improved people practices and policies.
• Providing guidance, advice, and support to managers and leaders on all areas of the employee journey.
• Manage and resolve complex or escalated employee relations cases, including disciplinary actions, grievances, and workplace disputes.
• Advise and support managers on performance management processes, including appraisals, capability assessments, and improvement plans.
• Assist in developing and delivering training programs for managers on employee relations, performance management, and related topics.
• Provide guidance on conflict resolution techniques and promote a culture of open communication.
• Supporting enquiries through a central inbox, to provide relevant and current information for all employees.
• Maintain accurate records of employee relations cases, ensuring confidentiality and data protection compliance.
• Proactively seek development, connections and knowledge to improve your standard of service and professional development.
• Stay up-to-date with changes in employment law.
• Advocating for accessibility, and ensuring an excellent employee experience from start to end of the employee journey.
• Supporting the wider people team and work when required.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise:

• Proven experience in a people management or Employee Relations role in a fast paced environment, with a strong understanding of UK employment law.
• Experience in handling complex employee relations cases, including grievances, disciplinaries, and performance management.
• Experience in conducting workplace investigations and producing investigation reports.
• Solutions focused problem solver.
• Excellent and effective communication skills, and excellent at building trusted relationships.
• Able to hold difficult conversations.
• Coaching skills.
• High level of discretion, professionalism, and integrity in handling sensitive information.
• Proactive and self motivated with the ability to manage own workload and prioritise.
• Maintains HR knowledge and practice through continuous professional development.
• A CIPD (Level 7) qualification or equivalent in Human Resources or a related field is preferred but not required.
• Experience in working with Whistleblowing cases and/or Trade Unions is preferred but not required.

Benefits:

• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays.
• 6 months of full pay for parental leave (primary caregiver must qualify for SMP).
• Enhanced paternity leave.
• Bonus scheme.
• Day off for weekday birthdays.
• Holiday purchase scheme.
• 50% discount on Lush products and spa treatments.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Discounted rail and bus season tickets.
• Employee assistance programme.
• We actively welcome conversations about what working flexibly could mean and look like for you.
• We’re 10% Employee Owned - all colleagues play a role in protecting our ethics, our independence, contributing ideas for the future and share in the rewards of success when the company is doing well.
• Wellbeing & mindfulness sessions.
• Access to employee-led Community Networks, including Disability and Chronic Illness, Family Support, Global Majority (Race and Ethnicity), LGBTQIA+, Menopause and Neurodiversity communities.
• Tailored gender affirming care.

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