This is a senior operational role, designed to enable the achievement of the Corporate Plan through the provision of best-in-class people operations and services.

Providing effective people partnering and driving cultural change across the organisation; supporting senior leaders and managers through professional and pragmatic advice, challenge, influence and support. The

People Operations Manager is responsible for the day-to-day management of the overall people operations function including recruitment, payroll and employee relations.

As the People and Operations Manager you will be a true HR generalist who enjoys working on and delivering strategic projects as well as owning operational People services. You will be passionate about giving people an exceptional end to end colleague experience and be willing to shape and continuously improve this.

This role requires someone with strong experience who can manage complex and competing demands with the ability to work with a multitude of stakeholders and to ensure service delivery remains the primary focus. You will need to be a creative thinker who can enhance our processes and approach challenges with a solutions-oriented mindset.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities

Specific objectives and deliverables will be agreed with the management team, the points below are a summary of the main responsibilities and accountabilities.

Team Management and Service Delivery

• Lead the delivery of a proactive and customer focused people operations function across the Group;
• Lead with integrity, consideration and challenge, having courage and confidence to challenge thinking and actively demonstrate professional values in day-to-day work;
• Work collaboratively with managers and leaders across the organisation; building strong positive relationships and developing a culture of high trust and high accountability whilst embedding a performance culture;
• Build networks and other opportunities to encourage the sharing of knowledge, experience and “lessons learned” across the organisation;
• Provide leadership and supervise the performance of the core people operations team by setting clear work objectives, assessing performance, providing feedback and development and coaching to build colleague capability;
• Monitor development in employment law and legislation and update people policies, procedures and processes to manage risk and remain compliant;
• Review and approve or modify People related budgets with an emphasis on value for money and organisational sustainability.

Recruitment & Establishment Management

• Oversee the management of the Group establishment; liaising closely with the Finance Team and subsidiary companies on headcount, budgets and approvals to recruit;
• Oversee end to end recruitment and identify improvements where appropriate;
• Manage and guide the People Assistant Recruitment;
• Ensure recruitment strategies / approaches are in place including creative recruitment campaigns, proactive sourcing of roles through various means and interesting, innovative and timely content for social media;
• Develop a strong recruitment practice: reaching passive candidates, building employer brand and ensuring selection processes are effective, fair and positive for candidates;
• Coordinate with Heads of service and managers to anticipate and plan for future recruitment requirements;
• Review completion of exit interviews and identify any common trends to share with the Heads of Service and Leadership to put solutions in place.

Payroll

• Oversee and manage the effective delivery of the organisations payroll and colleague benefits ensuring it is processed accurately, effectively and complies with legislation and organisation rules;
• Review and signoff payroll payments monthly;
• Manage all types of leave e.g. holiday, sick, maternity, volunteering and schemes e.g. pension are completed effectively;
• Ensure end of year payroll and pensions procedures are completed within the correct timescales;
• Facilitate relevant audits by providing records and documentations to auditors

Colleague Wellbeing

• Work collaboratively with the Head of People and wider team on driving a culture which supports colleague wellbeing;
• Oversee the development of innovative wellbeing initiatives that enhance colleague wellbeing and improve performance;
• Lead on the provision of a first class occupational health service;
• Encourage early intervention in wellbeing matters and provide a safe space for colleagues to discuss concerns.

Partnership Working

• Develop credible and trusted partnering relationships with senior leaders across the areas being supported and with multi-disciplinary groups, building high levels of professional credibility and mutual trust;
• Provide effective and consistent support, advice and guidance to senior leaders, managers and colleagues on the full colleague life cycle;
• Lead and manage all core people functions through a business partnering service model to provide relevant and responsive frameworks and procedures to support effective functioning of the organisation;
• Be a trusted manager, building highly effective relationships through collaborative working across a broad range of stakeholders, including executive directors, heads of service, managers, colleagues and trade unions;
• Foster a culture where equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded into the DNA of the organisation, enabling all colleagues to experience a sense of belonging and an environment in which they are able to be their true selves;
• Understand strategic priorities and develop a shared vision while keeping up to date with the priorities of other areas of the organisation to retain a ‘big picture’ focus;
• Proactively lead, manage and successfully deliver complex cross functional people projects throughout the organisation within agreed time scales;
• Lead initiatives that build strong culture within an agile work environment;
• Act as a senior point of contact and subject matter expert on complex employment cases and projects and provide colleague related advice across the generalist range of the role ensuring the organisation is legally compliant;
• Write and present formal reports up to and including executive level as required in relation to specialist and generalist subject areas. Processes, Systems and Data
• Maintain and improve people processes and procedures: focussing on user experience for colleagues and managers, alignment to our culture and values, as well as compliance with HR regulation and best practice;
• Lead on the procurement of People related contracts e.g. wellbeing provision, occupational health support;
• Utilise colleague data and analytics to measure trends and patterns to influence the effectiveness of our people policies, procedures, systems and plans to help drive continuous improvements and increase performance;
• Support senior stakeholders through the pro-active use of relevant data and metrics to identify internal trends to use alongside in-depth understanding of best practice and external trends to drive people initiatives and improve colleague engagement;
• Take overall responsibility for ensuring all colleague records and data are complaint and up to date at all times, taking action to improve the quality of data held;
• Design and implement appropriate audits to monitor compliance and effectiveness of people policies and procedures, providing reports and recommendations as appropriate.

No job description can cover every eventuality which may arise, at various times you may be expected to carry out other duties requested by your Line Manager or Manager.

Person Specification Knowledge/Qualifications

• MCIPD qualified or have a willingness to complete the CIPD Level 7 qualification within three years of appointment;
• Have an up to date detailed understanding of employment law including the practical application of case law, current People/HR best practice and its application and be able to convey complex information in a way colleagues, managers and leaders can understand;

Experience

• At least five years proven performance in a senior people related role;
• Experience of leading a people operations function;
• Substantial experience of coaching, supporting, challenging and influencing colleagues, managers and leaders successfully;
• Experience at all stages of the colleague life cycle from recruitment and onboarding through to disciplinary and grievance, performance management, sickness absence management, restructures and TUPE;
• Evidence of building positive and constructive relationships with stakeholders up to Board level, including the Executive and Management Teams, colleagues, Trade Unions and external agencies;
• Illustrate excellent report writing skills to help support effective decision making;
• Understanding of change management process and how to effectively implement change across the organisation;
• Experience of designing and writing HR/People policies, procedures, offers and contracts of employment;
• Knowledge of payroll and payroll procedures.

Personal Qualities

• A proactive, self starter who is passionate about developing others and providing an exceptional colleague experience;
• Solutions focused with the ability to deliver on complex change projects with multiple stakeholders; A role model for collaborative working valuing and developing colleagues;
• Successfully develop and maintain strong relationships with internal colleagues and external stakeholders;
• Able to manage conflicting priorities and achieve the appropriate balance of operational effectiveness and strategic focus;
• Proven organisational ability and keen attention to detail, capable of working to a high level of individual responsibility and accountability with minimal supervision;
• Able to take on feedback effectively and demonstrate high levels of resilience;
• Able to problem solve with the ability to adopt a logical approach to solving problems;
• Committed to maintaining a high degree of personal integrity and confidentiality.