Pilgrims Hospices in East Kent

Senior HR Advisor

The closing date is 09 November 2025

Job summary

Are you an experienced HR professional looking for a broad and interesting role where you can make an impact with your expertise?

Pilgrims Hospices has an excellent opportunity suited to an experienced HR Advisor looking for their next step as a Senior HR Advisor. This role would offer the successful candidate the opportunity to develop their HR practice across a broad range of professional areas, developing experience in a generalist role while also providing specialist recruitment and clinical guidance to our staff .

This is a permanent, part time position for a Senior HR Advisor (28 hours per week) and is based at Pilgrims Hospice Canterbury. This is a role that operates across our hospice and retail sites in East Kent when required with some hybrid working possible. A working schedule that suits the right candidate can be discussed at interview. You will be provided with on-site parking and subsidised meals during your work day.

Main duties of the job

As one of our Senior HR Advisors, you will partner with the clinical areas and oversee recruitment. Your main responsibilities will include:

Being responsible for allocated business areas providing dedicated, expert advice in relation to employee relations, absence and performance management and ensuring compliance with basic employment legislation and organisational policy.
Acting as the first point of contact for managers within their dedicated business areas, including providing generalist HR advice.
Providing advice to managers in relation to complex workforce matters and supporting performance management.
Supporting in the development of the HR function, including reviewing policies and their application, use of our HR systems,
Delivering training and coaching in HR practice, developing skills and management capability, ensuring managers are equipped with the appropriate knowledge and skills to succeed.
Working in partnership with management to develop services and drive forward organisational strategy, delivering a tangible benefit to our service users.

About us

As an award-winning employer, Pilgrims provides end-of-life care services to patients and their families across east Kent.

Our commitment is to provide open, compassionate care and expertise for patients and their families both in the community and in-patient units.

Our Vision:

Of a community where people with a terminal illness and their family and friends are supported and empowered to live well in mind and body until the very last moment of their life.

We recognise that our workforce is integral to the delivery of our Vision and our charitable aims. Pilgrims Hospices continues to create a highly skilled, motivated, engaged and healthy workforce by providing an environment where staff and volunteers feel highly motivated to perform their roles to a consistently high standard, and actively role model our charitable behaviours and values.

To achieve our Vision, we have a shared set of values and behaviours that enable us to be the people and the charity that patients and their loved ones need us to be. They form our CODE, which guides us in our daily working and decision making:

CompassionateWe treat everyone with compassion and care

OpenWe communicate openly, honestly and effectively

DynamicWe are dynamic, improving and developing our service

EmpoweredWe empower people to achieve their outcomes

Date posted

27 October 2025

Pay scheme

Other

Salary

£28,051.20 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number

B0497-25-0053

Job locations

Pilgrims Hospice

56 London Road

Canterbury

Kent

CT2 8JA

Job description

Job responsibilities

Client Area

The Senior HR Advisor will be responsible for one or more internal client groups, for whom the advisor will act as the first point of contact and will provide dedicated, expert advice and oversight across the workforce. This will include:

Attending key management meetings within their dedicated client area(s);

Support activity within the client area to embed organisational initiatives and communications;

Development of client area specific policy and process(es).

Employee Relations

The Senior HR advisor will provide specialist support across the whole spectrum of Employee Relations. This will include:

Advising managers in relation to complex workforce matters and implementation of policy as well as supporting the informal management of employee relation cases;

Coaching and guiding managers in order to resolve performance and employee relations issues quickly and effectively;

Supporting managers with the resolution of formal Grievance, Disciplinary and / or Capability issues, including supporting investigations and decision-making panels;

Supporting managers with the formal and informal management of sickness absence issues;

Support and / or delivery of employees engagement initiatives, in consultation with managers, that will drive cultural change and lead to a more efficient and motivated workforce.

HR Business Partnering

The Senior HR Advisor acts as a Business Partner to their client groups, helping them to forward plan and make informed strategic decisions. These activities will include:

To support the development, delivery and implementation of workforce related initiatives to make long-term improvements to the services Pilgrims Hospices delivers;

To monitor recruitment and retention trends across internal client groups and take proactive action to ensure robust and effective management of the workforce;

Coach and support senior management in the development of talent management strategy, identifying innovative and creative interventions that meet the cultural and social needs of the organisation;

Develop HR related policies, ensuring HR practices reflect current legislation, best practice and supports the organisations objectives;

Guide and coach managers when preparing for organisational change, advising on policies and procedures and providing administrative support as necessary;

Participate as requested in projects or groups (such as working groups or specific project groups);

Deliver training in HR practice across the organisation to develop the skills and knowledge for staff and their managers to fulfil their HR responsibilities effectively;

To support the preparation and implementation of annual pay awards and other initiatives.

Volunteers

With guidance from the Volunteering Coordinator, the post holder will support managers to develop volunteering opportunities within their teams and ensure volunteers remain integrated within a single workforce.

Recruitment (est. at 1 day per week)

The post holder is responsible for oversight of Pilgrims Hospices recruitment needs and processes. Responsibilities include:

Oversight of recruitment tools and processes used across the organisation to deliver an efficient and friendly recruitment service to potential employees;

Delivering continuous improvement of recruitment systems and practices from advert to onboarding, enabling Pilgrims Hospices to reach the correct audiences and to effectively showcase our workplace;

Supporting recruitment managers to deliver recruitment initiatives such as open-days, job fairs, targeted advertising etc.