People Partner (Wokingham, RG45)

About the Role

Great people practices start with great partnerships.

As a People Partner at Norwood, you’ll work alongside our leadership team and managers to help them get the best from our people and create an environment where colleagues can thrive.

You’ll be a trusted advisor, bringing professional expertise, sound judgement and a practical approach to people matters. From planning and organisational change to performance, engagement and complex employee relations, you’ll help our leadership make confident, informed decisions while keeping our people and organisational priorities in view.

This is an opportunity to influence beyond individual cases. You’ll use insight, coaching and your understanding of the organisation to identify emerging challenges, strengthen management capability and develop people solutions that support both colleague experience and the delivery of Norwood’s services.

You’ll also contribute to the continued development of our People practices, policies, systems and ways of working, helping us build an inclusive, high-performing culture where our values of Kindness, Respect, Belonging and Empowerment can be experienced every day.

About Norwood

Founded in 1795, Norwood is the oldest Jewish charity in the UK. We support and empower neurodiverse children and their families and people with neurodevelopmental disabilities to live their best lives.

At Norwood, you will make a real difference every day. You will be part of a supportive and inclusive team where kindness is shown in how we care, respect shapes how we work together, belonging ensures everyone feels valued, and empowerment enables people to thrive.

We invest in your growth, care about your wellbeing, and give you the pride of knowing your work changes lives.

Who We Are Looking For

You’ll be an experienced People professional who enjoys being close to the organisation and building trusted relationships with the people you support.

You’ll bring credibility and confidence when advising senior leaders and managers, alongside the judgement to understand when to challenge, when to coach and when to find a pragmatic way forward.

You’ll have strong experience managing complex employee relations matters, but you’ll think beyond the immediate case. You’ll look for patterns, understand underlying causes and help managers build the confidence and capability to manage their people effectively.

You’ll also be comfortable working with data and insight, using evidence to identify risks, spot opportunities and make clear recommendations.

Change will be an important part of your experience. You’ll understand how to support restructures, consultation and organisational change professionally and sensitively, balancing employment law and organisational requirements with the experience of the people affected.

Above all, you’ll be approachable, collaborative and solutions-focused, with the ability to build relationships at every level while maintaining professional independence and sound judgement.

Your Day to Day

You’ll:

• Partner with senior leaders and managers to align people plans with organisational priorities
• Provide pragmatic, commercially focused People advice that supports effective decision-making
• Coach managers and strengthen their confidence in managing performance, attendance, wellbeing and engagement
• Lead complex employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, capability, sickness absence and performance cases
• Provide People support for organisational change, restructures and transformation
• Lead consultation processes where required
• Support workforce planning, organisational design and succession planning
• Use workforce data and trends to identify risks, opportunities and potential solutions
• Support leaders to attract, retain and develop high-performing people
• Contribute to performance review, talent and succession activity
• Identify development needs and work with Learning & Development colleagues to put appropriate support in place
• Support pay, reward, recognition and performance review processes
• Help turn colleague feedback and engagement insight into meaningful action
• Champion inclusion, wellbeing and a positive organisational culture
• Develop and review People policies and practices, ensuring they remain aligned with employment law and regulatory requirements
• Identify opportunities to improve People processes, systems and colleague experience
• Line manage People & Culture colleagues, supporting their skills, knowledge and confidence