HR Partner in Leeds

We are seeking a compassionate yet business-minded HR Partner to join our forward-thinking HR team in this newly created role. The role will suit someone with solid experience already gained in a Business Partnering capacity, and who is motivated to deliver solutions and measurable results within a highly engaged and purpose-driven culture.

Partnering with senior leaders and managers, the role will be responsible for providing proactive, expert and insight-led guidance in the areas of Talent Management, Organisation Design, Reward & Recognition, Employee Relations, and cultural transformation.

St Gemma’s Hospice is an independent Leeds-based charity and one of the leading hospices in the UK. We provide expert care and support for local people with life-limiting and terminal illnesses, their families and their carers in the Hospice’s In-Patient Unit, through the St Gemma’s community team, and at our Out-Patients. We are also proud to provide clinical research, training and education in palliative care to healthcare professionals on a national scale.

We have around 300 employees and approximately 800 volunteers based across the main Hospice site in Moortown, our Retail Hub in Bramley, a large chain of charity shops, and out in the community. Our values at St Gemma’s are Caring, Aspiring, and Professional, and these are the veritable essence of our culture.

We are innovative, always considering how we can make improvements or how we might evolve to ensure our patients, their families, and our supporters have the best possible experience with us. This has led to some impressive achievements, from producing our own aromatherapy oils within our Therapy team, to keeping pace with the benefits of AI in a healthcare setting, to the development of our Inclusion Service which improves end-of-life care for individuals who are homeless or vulnerably housed, not to mention our ‘Outstanding’ rating from the CQC to name just a few examples.

St Gemma’s is committed to equal opportunities and strives to be diverse and inclusive, a place which reflects the communities we serve. We offer a competitive range of benefits, including a full-time equivalent allowance of 28 days’ annual leave (plus Bank holidays), free parking, a generous pension scheme, and much more.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• HR Partnering: Proactively seek to develop solid, trusted relationships with senior leaders for the assigned departments, and actively engage with their teams where appropriate to thoroughly understand the departmental needs and priorities aligned to the organisation’s broader strategic goals.
• Identify critical organisational issues or challenges within the assigned departments, and develop appropriate people strategies and solutions to address them, and innovative ways to achieve results.
• Identify HR trends or updates that may have an impact on the organisation and relevant departments, and work with senior leaders to incorporate this into their thinking and plans.
• Provide relevant data insights to inform senior leaders about the status of their departments’ culture and people trends in order to help guide decision making, and provide solutions.
• Work closely with the Head of Talent and TA Specialist to connect and embed any initiatives in the areas of Talent Management and Acquisition.
• Viewed as a credible resource by stakeholders and proactively works to build the wider HR team’s credibility as a strategic, value-adding function.

• Talent Management: Work in partnership with the Head of Talent to provide advice and guidance to leaders on organisational development, and the implementation of a Learning strategy that will support employee development and career planning in a way that meets the needs and culture of each department.
• Ensure development programmes and the approach to performance measurement are fit for purpose and in line with Senior Leaders’ overall aims for their department.
• Partner with senior leaders and managers to ensure they are taking an organised and fair approach to their team’s development and career progression opportunities.
• Coach line managers to assess and manage performance levels on an ongoing basis, and to have honest and straightforward performance and career conversations with their team members.
• Partner with senior leaders to encourage longer-term planning around talent pipelines, skills requirements, and succession plans.
• Drive the development and pipeline of managers across the company to ensure we have the desired levels of experience, skills and leadership capabilities to fulfil the current and anticipated needs of the organisation.

• Organisation Design: Work with senior leaders to ensure their organisation design is fit for current evolving needs as well as future requirements, and support them on the effective management of any change.
• In collaboration with the Talent team, support senior leaders to forecast talent requirements based on the organisation’s strategy and to develop a talent plan that will meet current and future requirements.
• Educate senior leaders on HR trends that could have an impact on their department’s operations or plans.

• Reward & Recognition: Support the Chief People Officer in establishing Reward & Recognition philosophies and practices that will enable and support the organisation’s strategy.
• Maintain the integrity of the company’s Job Bands and pay review principles through coaching and guiding managers on compensation philosophies and practices regarding base and variable pay, salary reviews and any other compensation related topics, while ensuring a fair and equitable approach is applied at all times.
• Help facilitate a thoughtful and objective discussion on pay and reward by asking questions about what the organisation is trying to compensate its employees for, and which behaviours to reward.

• Employee Relations: Oversee employee relations issues, while also looking for the root cause of any recurring, systemic or symptomatic issues, supported by research and data-led insights.
• Interpret and advise on HR policy to assist in reaching commercially viable, fair solutions, and managing any associated risks.
• Ensure that legal requirements are understood and adhered to across the organisation.

• Culture: Partner with Senior Leaders to support them in maintaining a culture that upholds our values, where differences are welcomed and everyone feels fairly and equitably treated.
• Develop strategies for the maintenance of our culture, tailored to individual department needs and informed by insights from our engagement surveys and our employee forum, Engage.
• Support the Chief People Officer to formulate and drive an EDIB Strategy, aligned and in collaboration with the work of our ‘Involve’ group which strives to create increased awareness, understanding, connection and representation for the diverse communities that our organisation serves.
• Actively seek opportunities to influence or drive change within our sector to create space and opportunity for greater intersectional diversity.