People Adviser in London

Music is Universal
It’s the passionate and dedicated team at Universal Music who help make us the world’s leading music company. From A&R to finance, legal to digital, sales to marketing, Universal Music is the place to grow and develop your career within a truly commercial and innovative business that leads in everything it does.

Everyone is welcome to apply for our roles, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment because of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief, age, marital status, background, pregnancy, or caring responsibilities. We also recognise the importance of diversity of thought within our teams and are fully committed to embracing the talents of people with autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and other forms of neurocognitive variation.

We will always seek to make appropriate adjustments to recruitment, workplaces, and work processes to be fully inclusive to people with different needs and working styles. If you need us to make any reasonable adjustments for you from application onwards, including alternatives to the online form or to disclose a neurocognitive condition, please email UniversalMusicCareers@umusic.com.

About the role

The People Adviser role is pivotal in providing expert HR advice and guidance, managing employee relations, absence and parental leave processes, and supporting occupational health and wellbeing in line with UK employment law.

A Day in the Life of a People Adviser

Support their Line Manager with their client group(s) in the following areas:

Employee Relations:

• Serve as the primary contact for employee queries related to HR policies, employment contracts, benefits, and procedures in the relevant client groups.

• Works with their Line Manager and Employment Legal Team to provide guidance on employee relations matters.

• As directed by their Line Manager or relevant member of the People Leadership Team to support on grievances and disciplinaries including notetaking.

• Work with the Line Manager to lead on probation reviews, visa expiries and any relevant employment status checks.

• Assist in coaching managers on addressing employee relations issues, including performance management, absence management, and best HR practices.

• Assist in the development of Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) and track progress to ensure successful resolution of performance issues.

• Work as an Adviser group to gather interview data from employee lifecycle surveys (and face to face interviews where required), collating trends and making proposals for retention programmes or actions within the PIC Data report.

Absence Management:

• Manage employee absence queries, ensuring compliance with our company policy.

• Working with managers to ensure they are managing and monitoring sickness absence including implementing absence management plans, monitoring sick pay, return-to-work interviews, and other interventions to support employee wellbeing.

• Ensures managers are accurately recording absence in Workday and where possible and necessary, preparing reports on absence trends and patterns on individuals or teams.

Occupational Health and Wellbeing:

• Liaise with the Health & Safety team and Occupational Health providers to arrange employee referrals for health assessments and hearing tests, ensuring appropriate support and/or reasonable adjustments are offered for medical issues, mental health concerns and/or disability.

• Using input from occupational health and/or health & safety team, advise managers and employees on reasonable adjustments for employees with long-term health conditions, disabilities or following illness/injury, facilitating a smooth return to work. Effectively document the process to ensure a clear record is available.

• Liaise with Benefits Analyst to ensure that all necessary information is gathered for Insurers where relevant and that information provided by Insurers is followed through.

• Work with the Adviser group to coordinate employee wellbeing initiatives to support physical and mental health in the workplace, and with the Benefits Analyst to take the lead on co-ordinating activity for Mental Health Awareness Week and other activities within a Wellbeing Calendar.

• Interacts with Senior Leaders in PIC, relevant People Partners and Community Connect Forum to ensure all are updated on what activity is happening and when.

Family Matters Policies:

• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of UK family & carers policies.

• Manage queries (as directed) related to parental leave, including maternity, paternity, shared parental leave and adoption leave.

• Ensure employees are aware of their entitlements for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP), and Shared Parental Leave Pay (ShPP).

• Guide employees and managers through the parental leave process, ensuring smooth communication during the leave period.

Flexible Working

• Manage flexible working applications including issuing paperwork, arranging and leading meetings, monitoring trial periods and arranging reviews with the relevant people.

Onboarding:

• Participate in facilitating day 1 and week 1 onboarding training alongside Learning and Organisational Development.

HR Policies and Communication:

• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of HR policies and procedures.

• Ensure that designated areas of the PIC Sharepoint are kept up to date.

Compensation and Benefits:

• Working with the Reward team, provide accurate information to employees and managers on compensation packages, pension schemes, and company benefits, including statutory entitlements.

• Assist the Line Manager and Reward team with salary benchmarking and annual salary review administration.

Change Management:

• Support organisational changes, such as restructures, as instructed by the Line Manager.

• Assist in driving employee engagement and fostering a positive organisational culture during periods of change.

Data Management and Reporting:

• Work with People Operations to ensure HR data is accurately maintained in HR systems, ensuring employee records are up-to-date for relevant areas of responsibility.

• Raise tickets in a timely manner to enable the People Operations Specialist to maintain accurate HR data using HR Systems for their area of responsibility.

• Work as an Adviser team and with the Benefits Analyst (and People Partners’ guidance) to produce reports on key HR metrics, such as turnover rates, absence statistics, parental leave take-up and diversity and inclusion, providing insights to the People Leadership Team and Partners’ in the first instance.

General:

• Responsible for PIC Partners Uniport entries including coding to the right department’s cost centre and sending it through for approval.

• Participate in or lead project work and activity as directed by the Line Manager or relevant Senior Leader in PIC.

You may be required to undertake duties outside of your job description from time to time as requested by the line Manager or Senior Leader in PIC.

About You

Skills/Abilities:

• Excellent communication (spoken and written), negotiation, and relationship-building skills with the PIC team, employees and managers.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, especially in resolving employee relations and absence management issues.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment without compromising the need for excellent attention to detail.

• High level of emotional intelligence and empathy – can sensitively handle difficult conversations.

• Integrity, discretion, and ability to maintain confidentiality.

• Pro-active approach to work – seeks to identify and resolve issues without prompting and follows up in a timely manner keeping appropriate parties updated as appropriate

• Ability to adapt to change and work in a fast-moving environment.

• Team player mentality, demonstrates ability to work in a close team environment liaising with colleagues and supporting with ad hoc projects and requests as needed.

• Passion for music always a bonus!

Experience:

• CIPD qualification (Level 5 or above) is preferred

• Significant HR Advisor experience in a previous UK-based role is essential for this role

• Experience of working in a fast-paced environment – preferably a media company or other large commercial company with international structures.

• Foundational understanding of UK employment law, including absence management, parental leave rights, equal opportunities, and data protection.

• Experience in managing parental leave queries, including maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave.

• Proven experience in managing absence and liaising with occupational health services and supporting employees/managers with health matters and reasonable adjustments.

• Previous experience managing or supporting with discipline and grievance processes.

• Experience managing probation periods and performance management process with confidence

• Previous experience of supporting with change management

• Experience of managing Right to Work check and managing visa checks with a solid understanding of immigration compliance law.

• Proficient in HR information systems, data management tools, and Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Visio). Previous use of Workday will be an advantage.

Just So You Know…

The company presents this job description as a guide to the major areas and duties for which the jobholder is accountable. However, the business operates in an environment that demands change and the jobholder's specific responsibilities and activities will vary and develop. Therefore, the job description should be seen as indicative and not as a permanent, definitive, and exhaustive statement.

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