ER Hearing Manager in Swindon

Deliver fair outcomes. Support a positive culture. Build expertise. This is an exciting opportunity to join our People & Culture team in a new pilot role as an Employee Relations Hearing Manager. You’ll act as a trusted, independent decision-maker delivering high-quality employee relations outcomes across the organisation.

Why this role stands out

• Build expertise in hearing management and decision-making
• Deliver independent decisions on a range of cases
• Be part of a new and evolving approach to Employee Relations delivery

We are happy to consider flexible working approaches to help you perform at your best. The working hours (per week) for this role can be between 28 and 35 hours. This is a 9-month secondment opportunity. At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected. For this job you'll be located at our nearest regional office or hub. There will be a need to regularly connect with colleagues for collaboration and in some locations you’ll be expected to spend at least two days a week (or 40% of your time if you’re part time) in the office. The nature of the role means you’ll also need to be prepared to travel anywhere in the UK on a regular basis, including some overnight stays.

If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works. Nationwide is committed to the redeployment of our employees impacted by change, as such applications for redeployment candidates will be prioritised in this recruitment process where the minimum requirements for the role are met.

Responsibilities

What you’ll be doing: You’ll be an independent decision maker, chairing formal hearings and appeals across the organisation. The decisions you reach will align with UK employment law, the ACAS Code and our own policies, and will balance procedural fairness, proportionality and commercial considerations. You will communicate clear outcomes, explaining the rationale for decisions and reinforcing expected behaviours. Working with stakeholders across the business, you’ll support the effective management of legal and reputational risk by handling cases appropriately and escalating more complex or high-risk matters where needed. As part of a small team of hearing managers, you’ll contribute to improving the consistency and quality of ER casework more generally, identifying trends and opportunities to strengthen capability across the organisation. This is an important role that contributes directly to colleague experience, organisational culture and risk management, requiring sound judgement, professionalism and the ability to build credibility with stakeholders. The role may also involve you representing Nationwide Building Society, and your decision making, at external legal proceedings. As this role supports cases across the UK, some travel will be required, and you should be comfortable working flexibly across locations to meet business needs.

About you

As a minimum, you will:

• Have experience chairing employee relations hearings or leading/supporting complex ER casework
• Bring experience in employee relations and/or people management
• Demonstrate sound knowledge of UK employment law and the ACAS Code, with the ability to apply this in practice
• Have a good understanding of risk, governance and control frameworks and ideally experience of working in a regulated environment
• Demonstrate the ability to assess complex or conflicting evidence, drawing balanced conclusions and making proportionate decisions.
• Demonstrate good independent judgement and the ability to balance empathy with objectivity, making fair, consistent and commercially aware decisions in sensitive cases, seeking guidance where appropriate on more complex matters
• Be an effective communicator with strong stakeholder management skills and the ability to facilitate meetings confidently
• Have experience producing clear, well-structured written outcomes suitable for review and scrutiny
• Have a good understanding of behavioural expectations and cultural standards and promote inclusion, dignity and respect in all decision-making
• Be well organised, with the ability to manage multiple cases and priorities
• Demonstrate resilience, integrity and professionalism in a challenging and fast-paced environment

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers’ shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind
• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand
• Push for better - We don’t settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development
• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• 25 days holiday, pro rata
• Access to private medical insurance
• A highly competitive pension to help you build a strong foundation for retirement
• Access to an annual performance-related bonus
• Training and development to help you progress your career
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Life assurance to provide peace of mind for you and your loved ones in the event of your death
• Wellhub – access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year

Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society. We forge our own path at Nationwide. As a mutual, we’re owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don’t see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives. If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you’re one of us. At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community, we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society. We are purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up-to-date CV and answer a few quick questions for us. We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.