People Business Partner in Chichester

Join us here at Nature’s Way Foods as our People Business Partner, working closely with our site leadership teams to deliver our people agenda and help support the achievement of our business goals. This is a brilliant opportunity to get close to the operation, build strong relationships with managers and make a real difference to our colleagues every day.

You’ll act as a trusted partner to managers, offering practical, commercially focused people advice and helping to make sure colleagues are managed fairly, consistently and in line with our values, Nature’s Way Foods policies and employment legislation. With a strong operational focus, you’ll be involved in everything from day-to-day people partnering and employee relations through to workforce planning, engagement, retention, organisational change and the delivery of key People projects.

Please note: this role is initially offered on a 6 month fixed term contract.

What You’ll Get

• Base salary up to £45,000
• Profit share bonus scheme
• Employer matched pension up to 5%
• Health cash plan
• Flexible benefits, including corporate gym discounts, shopping discounts, enhanced maternity and paternity policies, and more
• Access to online GP & life assurance

Key Responsibilities

• Build strong and credible relationships with managers and senior leaders, providing practical and commercially focused people advice and challenge.
• Partner with designated business areas to understand operational priorities and translate these into effective people plans and actions.
• Provide expert advice and support on employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, capability, absence, performance and conduct, ensuring cases are managed effectively and within appropriate timescales.
• Coach, train and develop managers to confidently manage their people, improving management capability and reducing dependency on the People team.
• Ensure the consistent application of NWF policies and procedures and maintain compliance with UK employment legislation and good practice.
• Support organisational change including restructures, consultation, changes to terms and conditions, shift changes and workforce planning.
• Use people data and trends to identify areas of concern and opportunity, including absence, turnover, retention, engagement, ER activity and workforce capability, agreeing appropriate actions with operational leaders.
• Work collaboratively with Recruitment and Learning & Development to ensure workforce requirements, critical vacancies, skills gaps, onboarding and development needs are effectively addressed.
• Support site retention and engagement plans, identifying colleague experience hotspots and working with leaders to implement practical improvements.
• Support managers with family-friendly and statutory leave matters, flexible working and workplace adjustments.
• Lead and contribute to People projects and business-wide initiatives, ensuring effective implementation within designated areas.
• Support People compliance activity, including customer and ethical audits, ensuring actions are completed and appropriate standards maintained.
• Maintain accurate and appropriate employee records and ensure People systems and processes are used effectively.
• Work collaboratively across the wider People team, sharing knowledge and supporting continuous improvement in People policies, processes and ways of working.
• Provide visible People support across NWF sites and shifts as required to meet the needs of our 24/7 operation.

About You

• You will be an experienced HR/People professional who is comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment and working closely with operational managers and senior leaders.
• Strong generalist HR experience, ideally gained within manufacturing, FMCG, logistics or another operational environment.
• Demonstrable experience managing complex employee relations cases from start to finish.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice.
• Experience coaching and influencing managers at different levels of an organisation.
• Experience supporting organisational change, consultation and workforce planning.
• The ability to interpret people data and turn insight into practical actions.
• Strong communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• The confidence to constructively challenge while maintaining positive working relationships.
• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-moving environment.
• Resilient with experience working in a fast-paced environment.
• A pragmatic, proactive and solutions-focused approach.
• Experience using HR systems and Microsoft Office.
• CIPD Level 5 qualification, or equivalent experience, is desirable.
• Must hold full driving licence and own transport – this role covers multiple sites across Chichester and Selsey.

Nature’s Way Foods is a leading manufacturer of prepared salads, coleslaw and food-to-go products for major supermarkets and retailers, working closely with farmers across Europe. Our inclusive culture brings together people speaking 39 different languages, across four manufacturing facilities producing more than 400 million units each year. As we continue to grow, there are genuine opportunities to progress and develop your career with us.

At Nature’s Way Foods, we believe diversity and inclusion drive innovation and excellence. We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected and empowered to reach their full potential. Join us in building a more inclusive, fairer world. Together, we can become the best at fresh.