Human Resources Business Partner in Boston

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is responsible for everything that goes into running the UK’s criminal and civil justice systems, creating the foundations for a safe, fair and prosperous society. We are one of the largest government departments with over 88,000 staff based across England and Wales. We are responsible for 500 courts and tribunals, 122 prisons, the policies underpinning the system and much more.

MoJ People and Capability supports the organisation by enabling its people to be the best that they can be. We are continuously reviewing and enhancing the services we provide to ensure the delivery of high-quality services for our customers. MoJ People and Capability has over 1,400 committed and capable professionals delivering people services across the Justice family. At the heart of delivering these services are our people.

This is an exciting opportunity to provide strategic HR partnering to senior leaders in HM Prisons and Probation (HMPPS). You will be critical in ensuring HMPPS meets its aims in protecting the public and reducing reoffending and gain unique experience which will enable you to progress in your career.

This role sits within the HR Business Partner (HMPPS) Team which is the front-facing arm of the People & Capability Function supporting a number of business units across HMPPS. The post holder will partner Governors within the Prison Service and equivalent senior leaders within the Probation Service or National Services, dependent on the customer groups.

It’s an interesting time to join the team with a huge amount of opportunity to be involved in supporting business change in a complex environment. Working in partnership with senior leaders, this role will be responsible for supporting the business to deliver against people priorities. The postholder will operate as an implementer, facilitating access to central services and working alongside the business to execute innovative people initiatives.

The post holder will be required to partner customer groups in various locations across the Midlands region and may be called upon to support regional or national projects across areas of the business. As a qualified (or aspiring) HR professional, the post holder will use a combination of generalist knowledge, personal skills and experience to advise and partner senior leaders on how best to align the people and business priorities.

The post holder will be required to bring together the people priorities for their prison and probation customer group or National Services at a senior level. They will support on the underpinning activities to enable:

• Solving: Provide strategic input on HR topics and help leaders develop effective people solutions.
• Connecting: Help the organisation draw on appropriate People Function Services and shared service support.
• Coaching: Coach leaders on how to manage people issues and drive the people agenda effectively.

With links to the wider HR specialist functions within MoJ People and Capability, the post holder will facilitate access to the right services to deliver relevant people initiatives.

Key Delivery Strands:

• Change Management: Understanding the business and the drivers for change to be able to support the business with the people elements of change implementation. Support the business through reorganisation, restructures and redeployment.
• Resourcing & Retention: Working in partnership with the business and finance to understand the current and predicted workforce picture based on attrition and recruitment forecasting. Support in the execution of interventions to address resourcing and retention challenges and facilitating access to the right services across MOJ People and Capability.
• Management & Leadership Capability: To understand the line manager and leadership capabilities within the business unit, support the business to access centrally run learning through the learning and development team and/or helping to develop the right learning interventions. Supporting senior leaders with the development of their leadership teams.
• Employee Experience and Staff Engagement: Working with the senior leaders to analyse and identify the right people priorities through the annual Civil Service People Survey. Bringing in other workforce and people data as required to enable the business area to bring together an appropriate engagement delivery plan.

There is 1 Midlands HRBP regional role available. This role will be covering the East Midlands Prisons. The base location will be agreed with the successful candidate. The available base locations for this role are listed below: HMP Leicester, HMP Lincoln, HMP Morton Hall, HMP Nottingham, HMP Onley, HMP Ranby and HMP North Sea Camp. There will be an expectation that the successful candidate travels between all sites across the Midlands region.

The ability to confidently build and manage a diverse range of relationships, including senior stakeholders. Experience of delivering in a HR team; Experience of delivering HR plans, people management, and supporting others to optimise performance of their staff. Excellent communication skills, both in verbal and written formats. Ability to analyse and understand data to ensure evidence-based decisions support business delivery.

Please provide examples of how you have met each one of the behaviours listed below: Seeing the Big Picture (Lead Behaviour), Communicating and Influencing, Managing a Quality Service, Working Together. Applicants will be expected to demonstrate the essential criteria within the application behaviour responses.

You will have completed and achieved your Chartered MCIPD (or have an equivalent HR qualification) or be willing to work towards it and actively demonstrate Continuous Professional Development.

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and/or from home. All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.

The MoJ offers a range of benefits: Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service. There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best. The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.

As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace.