HR Advisor (Guildford and Reading)

Job content

Overall job purpose

Working as a key member the Southern Region HR team, you will provide a commercial HR service to Southern regional offices. Based in Reading or Guildford office, you will manage the HR service delivery for both offices and will be expected to travel to your cluster offices on a weekly basis. You will also provide support to the Regional HR Manager by providing an HR Service for national lines based in your offices, as well as contributing to the on-going development of the National HR function and HR within the region.

This role will work closely with two other HR Advisors in the region and will be supported by an HR Assistant as well as a central HR administrative team and Regional Recruitment Advisor.

The remit of the role will focus on proactive HR support and advice to your client groups, completion of annual salary review for your offices, management of student recruitment, provision of management information/analysis delivery of learning and development initiatives and employee relations issues as they arise. Reasonable travel to other regional offices will be required.

Responsibilities

Partner Support and Line Management Development

• provide support and guidance in a proactive and commercial manner to the Office Managing Partner and Department Heads in managing their area of responsibility and its on-going development
• undertake line management coaching sessions (both individual and group) regarding performance management, grievances, disciplinary, absence management, coaching skills, appraisals etc
• work with National Training contacts to provide feedback regarding individual/team training needs analysis and action plans; have regular meetings with Regional Training contacts to discuss trends and o/s needs

Compensation and Benefits

• Manage annual salary review process for your client groups and report to Regional HR Manager.
• Ensure all correspondence and administration is distributed in a timely way by liaison with the CA Team administrator and to line managers regionally
• Utilise Keypad data and other market rate information to provide guidance to line managers; report trends and market movements to National HR team/rewards and benefits specialist
• Undertake any local actions required for harmonization of terms and conditions
• Ensure all offers of employment / contractual terms are in line with national policy

Performance Management / Exit

• provide advice and guidance to the Partners and Managers to support them in dealing with difficult performance issues up to compromise agreement stage (with approval from Regional HR Manager)
• ensure that legal and firm requirements are met and risk managed commercially
• undertake redundancy, disciplinary and grievances investigations

EH&S

• provide advice to line managers regarding complex occupational health/potential PHI cases

Recruitment and selection

• manage recruitment for your client group, working closely with the Recruitment Advisor for the region,
• advise and assist with the appropriate selection techniques for vacancies within your client group
• manage the local graduate recruitment program in conjunction with the Student Recruitment team - including running of assessment centres, interviewing graduates and the management of relationships with universities/other key stakeholders, and attendance at careers fairs

Policies and Procedures

• Provide advice on the application of all policies and procedures, ensuring a fair and consistent approach is always applied.
• take part in national projects as required
• take part in or lead on-going local projects e.g. performance management, talent management etc.
• take part in or work independently on regional projects

Reporting

• Make full use of the HR system to identify and deliver regular reporting to Regional HR Manager as well as the Partners and Managers e.g. absence trends, recruitment sources and costings, retention etc.

Induction and Exit Procedures

• Ensure that an appropriate local induction program is put together for every joiner and review 3 monthly feedback (with advice to line managers about changes/improvements)
• ​conduct exit interview’s where required
• ​review exit interview feedback and work with line managers to identify trends and areas for future action

Maternity

• provide advice and guidance to individuals, Partners and Managers regarding legal requirements and firm’s policy in the event of disputes
• ensure that all appropriate discussions/paperwork is completed
• Liaison with Payroll
• ensure that on-going communication takes place with regard to any payroll changes
• resolve complex queries that require intensive discussion/negotiation with line managers/employees

Personal and professional qualities

The role requires:

• A Graduate with a relevant degree and/ or appropriate professional qualification (essential)
• A minimum of 4 years’ experience of working at HR Advisor level in a generalist role (essential)
• Experience of investigating disciplinary and grievance cases; conducting redundancy and general consultations (essential)
• Experience of working independently from line manager (essential)
• Ability to liaise with and manage stakeholders at all levels (essential)
• Experience of completing salary review process (preferable)
• Experience of professional or financial services environment (preferable)
• Experience of working in a multi-sited environment/role (preferable)
• Excellent organisational skills
• Excellent client service skills
• Excellent communication skills, both written and spoken
• Passionate about HR