Employee Relations Specialist

Maximus is a global organisation that specialises in providing health and employment services to millions of people every year. Here in the UK we employ around 5,000 people across the country to deliver services that have a profound impact on people’s lives. From assessments and health services to employability programmes and specialist support, we do work that matters with people who care.

Job Summary

The Employee Relations Specialist supports the development of a positive, fair, and legally compliant employment culture across Maximus by providing practical guidance and effective case management to managers and stakeholders at all levels. The role is responsible for delivering high quality employee relations support, including managing complex casework and maintaining constructive working relationships with Advisor Plus and trade union representatives. It also partners with the business to build manager capability, helping to reduce ER related risk and improve outcomes, while contributing to the consistent application and ongoing development of employment policies and advising managers on best practice.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide expert guidance and support to managers on a wide range of employee relations matters, ensuring fair, consistent, and legally compliant decision making.
• Manage and coordinate complex ER cases outside of the PM process, including disciplinary, grievance, performance, attendance, and other risk related matters, ensuring timely progression and accurate documentation.
• Partner with the business to build manager capability, delivering coaching, guidance, and learning interventions that improve confidence and reduce ER related risks and issues.
• Identify trends and learning opportunities from ER cases, sharing insights with HR colleagues to prevent recurrence and support continuous improvement across the business.
• Support the development, review, and consistent application of employment policies and procedures, ensuring they remain relevant, understood, and effectively implemented.
• Drive effective adoption of Empower across the capabilities, gathering continuous feedback to inform future plans.
• Maintain accurate records and reporting for all ER activity, ensuring data integrity, supporting effective monitoring of case trends, and enabling informed decision making by HR and business leaders.

Preferred Skills and Qualifications

• CIPD Qualified or equivalent – employment law focus
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and ER best practice
• Experience of managing many medium/high risk complex cases at any one time
• Good with extrapolating and sharing complex data in an easy format
• Extensive experience on developing management capability
• Experience in working cross functionally with a specific knowledge in the culture, policy and payroll functionality
• Ability to support with mediation as/when required
• Background in dispute resolution at an informal stage
• Proven experience of working effectively with Trade Unions

EEO Statement

MAXIMUS is committed to developing, maintaining and supporting a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the recruitment process. We know that feeling included has a dramatic impact on personal wellbeing and are working to ensure that no job applicant receives less favourable treatment due to any personal characteristic. Advertisements for posts will include sufficiently clear and accurate information to enable potential applicants to assess their own suitability for the post. We are a Disability Confident Leader, thanks to our commitment to the recruitment, retention and career development of people with disabilities and long-term conditions. The Disability Confident scheme includes a guaranteed interview for any applicant with a disability who meets the minimum requirements for a job. When you complete your job application you will find a question asking you if you would like to apply under the Disability Confident Guaranteed Interview Scheme. If you feel that you have a disability and apply under this scheme, providing that you meet the essential criteria for the job, you will then be invited for interview. Your Guaranteed Interview application will only be shared with the hiring manager and the local resourcing team. Where reasonable, MAXIMUS will review and consider adjustments for those applicants who express a requirement for them during the recruitment process.