Head of People & Organisational Development

Head of People & Organisational Development

• Sector: HR / Recruitment
• Job Type: Full Time, Hybrid

Job Description

Job purpose:
As a function, the People and OD (POD) Department’s purpose is to enable the RCN to succeed through its people. This means that we seek to:

• Create the best possible experience of work and working life for our people;
• Support and empower our people through people-centred policies, practices and provisions;
• Recruit, develop and engage our people to thrive in their roles.

By striving to be an exemplary employer, our work contributes to the RCN’s credibility as a trade union, and as the voice of the nursing profession.

The Head of POD leads the delivery of these three goals by working strategically and proactively across the organisation to ensure the overall service delivery of the People and OD (POD) department aligns with the RCN’s strategic plan and organisational priorities to drive organisational effectiveness, foster good employee relations and engagement, and maintain constructive working relationships with trade unions and staff. This involves ensuring that activities represent the very best in HR practice fit for the RCN and are delivered to the highest standards, with the organisation and its people’s needs at the forefront.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic
   1. Contribute to the development, monitoring and evaluation of the RCN’s people strategy.
   2. Support relations with recognised trade unions, maintaining a close partnership working relationship on ad hoc business and in consultation, negotiation and information sharing activity through participating in the Partnership Forum and annual pay negotiations.
   3. Monitor internal data as well as the external environment, allocating to the team, and where necessary directly undertaking, work to ensure that the RCN responds appropriately to trends and changes in employee feedback, the labour market, employment practice and legislation.
   4. Work closely with senior leadership and executive team members to ensure the POD department understand and meet the needs of them and their departments, and that they understand the work of the POD Department.
2. Management
   1. Develop, monitor and report on the departmental operational plan, with input from members of the POD management team.
   2. Manage the overall service delivery of the reward, operations, learning and organisational development and people services (encompassing equality, diversity and inclusion, people analytics, reward, HR systems, people resourcing and people policy) and people business partnering functions ensuring initiatives, projects, policies and activities are consistent, up to date, relevant and in line with statutory requirements, maximising opportunities for growth and minimising organisational risk where appropriate.
   3. Oversee the delivery of a high quality and efficient service across the breadth of the role’s remit in accordance with departmental and RCN standards and service delivery models.
   4. Act as project sponsor for strategic and operational initiatives, policy development and other activity across the role’s remit, ensuring that the planning, development, consultation, delivery and evaluation of activity is effective and timely.
   5. Oversee the management of high risk and/or high value employee relations cases and departmental change programmes.
   6. Provide ad hoc advice and support to senior leadership team and executive directors as and when required and participate in employee relations activity where necessary and in accordance with organisational policies both as a senior leader and as a senior HR professional.
   7. Maintain oversight of third-party services including occupational health, group income protection and HR systems, ensuring high quality and value for money through robust contract management arrangements, and that procurement exercises are conducted as appropriate, acting as sponsor where relevant.
   8. Lead on departmental audits, ensuring relevant people are involved in scoping and delivery of audits including implementing audit recommendations where relevant.
   9. Oversee and manage, where appropriate, any customer complaints to ensure these are explored and resolved appropriately and promptly, translating any learning into service improvements where relevant.
   10. Oversee departmental and ensure personal compliance with the RCN Data Protection Policy, Retention Schedule and department procedures to ensure personal data is protected at all times.
3. Financial
   1. As a senior manager, operate in accordance with RCN rules and regulations including the Financial Regulations and Schedule of Financial Limits in approving spend, signing contracts, and setting and forecasting budgets.
   2. Continually review and monitor spend of the departmental budgets, ensuring that staff and resources are appropriately allocated and deployed and preparing business cases for new/additional budget requirements.
4. Additional
   1. Seek out and take advantage of opportunities to promote the RCN as a leading trade union and employer of choice including through employment-related benchmarks, accreditations and industry awards.
   2. Represent the RCN and/or POD department at both internal and external forums, groups and events, as required.
   3. Deputise for the Chief People Officer as required on staff-related matters.
   4. Treat colleagues, members, customers and others with respect in line with our values and Our Respect Charter.
   5. Champion equity, diversity, inclusion and human rights and be responsible for contributing to achieving the commitments set out in the RCN Group Equity, diversity and inclusion statement.
   6. Maximise all opportunities available to encourage member recruitment and promote the benefits of joining the RCN. Promote the RCN as the organisation that represents nurses and nursing, and that promotes excellent in practice and shapes health policies.

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