Job summary
Are you an experienced HR professional with a passion for delivering excellent customer service? Do you thrive in a fast paced environment where no two days are the same? If so, we'd love to hear from you.
We are seeking a proactive and confident HR Adviser to join our HR Direct team -- the central point of contact for all People & OD enquiries across the Trust. As the 'front door' to the People Directorate, you will play a vital role in shaping the colleague experience and ensuring our managers receive high quality, timely support with excellent customer service.
We're looking for someone who:
o Is CIPD Level 5 qualified (or equivalent) with HR advisory experience.
o Brings strong knowledge of UK employment law, HR practice and employee relations processes.
o Has experience supporting managers in a busy, complex environment.
o Is confident handling sensitive, emotional or contentious issues with professionalism and compassion.
o Able to support managers and staff, with a coaching style to help them think through challenges they are working through
o Demonstrates excellent written and verbal communication skills.
o Can work independently, manage competing priorities and remain calm under pressure.
o Has exceptional attention to detail and is committed to delivering a high quality customer service experience.
Experience in the NHS, ESR or service desk environments is desirable but not essential.
Main duties of the job
This is a varied and rewarding position, where you will:
o Act as the first point of contact for all HR related queries from staff and managers, handling calls, emails and online requests.
o Provide independent, professional HR advice on a range of employee relations matters, including sickness absence, disciplinary, grievance, performance, bullying and harassment.
o Coach managers to confidently manage absence, conduct return to work meetings and support attendance improvement.
o Take formal notes at hearings and support ER casework administration.
o Maintain accurate records of all enquiries, ensuring SLAs and KPIs are met.
o Analyse trends, produce reports and use insights to support service improvements.
o Deliver training on HR policies and procedures.
o Contribute to the continuous improvement of our HR Direct service and promote a culture of fairness, transparency and excellent customer experience.
You will also build strong working relationships with colleagues across the People Team and wider organisation, ensuring a seamless service for all.
About us
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as 'good' - we aspire to be 'outstanding'.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.
About our locations:
Tolworth Hospital, Surbiton
Unless expressly stated in the job advert the role is not subject to sponsorship, please be advised that all offers of employment are subject to evidence of right to work in the UK
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. Ensure that customer experience is at the core of the delivery of the Employee Services service by:
Proactively providing the first point of contact for the Employee Services service. You will be responsible for dealing with all calls and general enquiries from internal and external customers in a kind, professional, confidential and sensitive manner with tact and diplomacy.
Providing first level of advice and support on enquiries relating to People & OD systems, policies and procedures, terms and conditions of employment and signposting customers to relevant policies and procedures.
Triaging enquiries using judgement, experience and agreed protocols to determine when to refer on to specialist teams as appropriate.
2. Establishing and maintaining strong positive relationships with managers and colleagues.
3. Supporting line managers with managing short term absence. This will include coaching the manager, signposting them to guidance and policy, supporting them so that they are confident to manage the absence of their staff.
4. Provide autonomous, professional HR advice and coaching managers on employee relations matters including sickness absence, attendance, disciplinary, grievance, bullying and harassment, and performance management issues.
5. Supporting Disciplinary and Grievance Hearings by taking notes and preparing formal copies of the notes after the hearing.
6. Providing and receiving complex information for example you will provide initial first level advice for queries on key employee relation areas such as grievance and disciplinary, sickness absence, redeployment, performance management, bullying and harassment and whistleblowing.
7. Keeping up to date with relevant legislation and practices for example the Equality Act 2010, ACAS codes of Practices and GDPR legislation.
8. Providing training to managers on key changes or updates to People & OD policies and procedures.
9. Resolving a wide range of queries for People & OD services covering for example employee relations, medical staffing, diversity and inclusion, pay, terms and conditions, with excellent management, persuasion and negotiation skills.
10. Be an advocate for an open, fair and transparent working environment
11. Interpret employment policies and work with managers, supporting them on how to apply the policies to ensure they act in accordance with the Trusts agreed policies, good employment practice and employment law and in a way that promotes a fair working environment.
12. Implement People & OD policies, procedures, processes and practices and propose changes and recommendations where necessary to ensure best practice.
13. Analyse data trends to produce activity and dashboard data that can be used for performance monitoring.
Job description
Job responsibilities
1. Ensure that customer experience is at the core of the delivery of the Employee Services service by:
Proactively providing the first point of contact for the Employee Services service. You will be responsible for dealing with all calls and general enquiries from internal and external customers in a kind, professional, confidential and sensitive manner with tact and diplomacy.
Providing first level of advice and support on enquiries relating to People & OD systems, policies and procedures, terms and conditions of employment and signposting customers to relevant policies and procedures.
Triaging enquiries using judgement, experience and agreed protocols to determine when to refer on to specialist teams as appropriate.
2. Establishing and maintaining strong positive relationships with managers and colleagues.
3. Supporting line managers with managing short term absence. This will include coaching the manager, signposting them to guidance and policy, supporting them so that they are confident to manage the absence of their staff.
4. Provide autonomous, professional HR advice and coaching managers on employee relations matters including sickness absence, attendance, disciplinary, grievance, bullying and harassment, and performance management issues.
5. Supporting Disciplinary and Grievance Hearings by taking notes and preparing formal copies of the notes after the hearing.
6. Providing and receiving complex information for example you will provide initial first level advice for queries on key employee relation areas such as grievance and disciplinary, sickness absence, redeployment, performance management, bullying and harassment and whistleblowing.
7. Keeping up to date with relevant legislation and practices for example the Equality Act 2010, ACAS codes of Practices and GDPR legislation.
8. Providing training to managers on key changes or updates to People & OD policies and procedures.
9. Resolving a wide range of queries for People & OD services covering for example employee relations, medical staffing, diversity and inclusion, pay, terms and conditions, with excellent management, persuasion and negotiation skills.
10. Be an advocate for an open, fair and transparent working environment
11. Interpret employment policies and work with managers, supporting them on how to apply the policies to ensure they act in accordance with the Trusts agreed policies, good employment practice and employment law and in a way that promotes a fair working environment.
12. Implement People & OD policies, procedures, processes and practices and propose changes and recommendations where necessary to ensure best practice.
13. Analyse data trends to produce activity and dashboard data that can be used for performance monitoring.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Knowledge of specialist HR topics to postgraduate diploma level acquired through degree and professional HR qualification or equivalent of training experience
- CIPD Level 5 Qualified or demonstratable evidence of equivalent experience and willingness to complete CIPD if not
Experience
Essential
- Significant HR experience advising managers and employees including: Advising on terms and conditions of employment, application of policies and procedures, absence management, disciplinary, grievance, capability and organisational change
Desirable
Knowledge & Skills
Essential
- Computer literate and good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint etc) and the internet in order to produce reports, letters, correspondence, presentations, spreadsheets etc in a professional and accurate format. (A & I) oPrevious experience in a busy environment
- Ability to work to tight deadlines and competing priorities, with frequent interruptions
- Working knowledge on UK employment legislation, case law, HR procedures - Including sickness absence, special leave, redeployment, investigations, disciplinary and maternity procedures and staff terms and conditions of employment and good HR practice.
Desirable
- Experience of dealing with employee relations issues in a unionised environment.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Knowledge of specialist HR topics to postgraduate diploma level acquired through degree and professional HR qualification or equivalent of training experience
- CIPD Level 5 Qualified or demonstratable evidence of equivalent experience and willingness to complete CIPD if not
Experience
Essential
- Significant HR experience advising managers and employees including: Advising on terms and conditions of employment, application of policies and procedures, absence management, disciplinary, grievance, capability and organisational change
Desirable
Knowledge & Skills
Essential
- Computer literate and good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint etc) and the internet in order to produce reports, letters, correspondence, presentations, spreadsheets etc in a professional and accurate format. (A & I) oPrevious experience in a busy environment
- Ability to work to tight deadlines and competing priorities, with frequent interruptions
- Working knowledge on UK employment legislation, case law, HR procedures - Including sickness absence, special leave, redeployment, investigations, disciplinary and maternity procedures and staff terms and conditions of employment and good HR practice.
Desirable
- Experience of dealing with employee relations issues in a unionised environment.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).
