Employee Relations Specialist - Remote in Southend-on-Sea

Our HR Employee Relations division is here to help create an organisation where people are truly at its heart, by embedding an ethos of "We acknowledge, we support, we move forward". We achieve this by ensuring our Employee Relations approaches are progressive, challenge the status quo and remove bureaucracy. Providing deep Employee Relations insights and expertise to better inform and educate managers across the business will, at all levels, encourage better and safer decision making and smoother implementation of large-scale change, reducing risk to individuals and to the business. Our principal aim is to solidify HR Employee Relations ("HRER") as a trusted source of expertise in all employee relations matters, working to improve employee experience and reduce business risk.

The HR Employee Relations Specialist role will be the primary point of contact in providing best in class expertise and advice for complex cases across all employee relations matters ranging from employee wellbeing & support, to discipline & grievance, to industrial relations & litigation. The HR Employee Relations specialist will, with the mentoring of the ER Manager, also assist and take on responsibility for managing Employment Tribunal claims received from liaising and negotiating with ACAS/LRA to reach resolutions, to drafting employment tribunal responses, helping to prepare legal arguments for employment tribunal proceedings and ensuring all case management deadlines are met, including witness statement collation and bundle of evidence documentation.

The successful candidate will provide a superior level of practical advice, guidance and support to employees and managers across the full spectrum of Employee Relations disciplines including: grievance, disciplinary, absence management, performance management and employee wellbeing and support.

Qualifications

• Formal qualification in a HR-related area, or working towards one, such as Certificate in Human Resource Practice, or degree in HR Management, or similar.
• OR equivalent employee relations experience (which remains current); Membership of CIPD, or similar, is preferable;
• Up to date employment law knowledge for UK and Northern Ireland, knowledge of Republic of Ireland (employment legislation and TUPE experience within the Republic of Ireland would be an advantage, but not essential).

Work Experience

• 2 years of recent HR employee relations specialist experience in a contact centre environment, or 3 years of recent HR employee relations specialist experience in another high-paced industry, or 4 years of HR generalist experience in any industry.
• Experience of dealing with ACAS; and employment tribunal claims.

Desirable Certifications

• Prior mediation training/certified mediator.

Competencies and Specific Skills

• Takes responsibility for own performance
• Works on own initiative
• Tactical mindset
• Compassionate
• Achievement driven
• Excellent analytical ability
• Exceptional attention to detail
• Excellent communication skills - verbal and written
• Excellent influencing and negotiation skills
• Flexibility
• Resourceful
• Committed TP brand ambassador
• Courageous
• Empathetic
• Lives and breathes the company values
• Self-motivated
• Team player
• Creative thinker
• Confident to challenge
• Advanced levels of resilience and focus
• Continuous improvement mindset
• Excellent organisational skills
• Priority management skills
• Credible
• Trustworthy
• Dependable
• Courageous
• Empathetic