Employee Relations Manager

We are looking for a Employee Relations Manager to join Team OB in our Support Office.

As a Employee Relations Manager at OB, you will play an important role in creating a fair, consistent and values-led employee experience across Oliver Bonas. Leading a small team of people advisors you will provide expert employee relations advice, coach managers through people matters and supporting the retail and warehouse business areas, to make balanced, commercially aware and legally compliant decisions.

This role combines hands-on employee relations expertise with strategic people partnering, working you’re your advisor team you will help managers build confidence and capability while identifying opportunities to improve our people practices.

Working closely with the Head of People and wider People Team, you will ensure our values of Work Hard, Play Hard & Be Kind are embedded in all employee relations activities, policies and processes.

Our Support Office is based in Tolworth, near Chessington, only a 30-minute journey from London Waterloo. We offer hybrid working with a split of 3 days in the office and 2 days home working per week, and are open to having conversations about working flexibly.

A bit about us …

At Oliver Bonas (OB), our values of Work Hard, Play Hard & Be Kind are integral to everything we do. Collaboration, imagination, curiosity, and teamwork are key to our success, and everyone has their part to play in making OB a special place to work.

Having fun is key, and a playful and positive approach creates an optimistic environment. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are serious about what we do.

Our team knows their stuff. They’re confident and creative and unafraid to challenge convention to find solutions, taking accountability for their actions, but always with kindness and humility.

More about the role …

An OB Employee Relations will:

• Lead and manage the people advisors (team of 2) to provide expert employee relations advice and guidance to managers across our Retail and Warehouse teams in accordance with our company policies and current legislation
• Manage a varied employee relations caseload including disciplinary, grievance, absence, performance, capability, conduct, flexible working and organisational change matters
• Work with the People Manager (Support Office/Admin) to ensure a consistent approach to employee relations
• Coach and develop managers to conduct investigations, disciplinary hearings, grievance hearings, capability hearings and absence review meetings confidently and consistently
• Attend and lead employee relations meetings where appropriate, ensuring outcomes are fair, compliant and aligned with company values
• Ensure employee relations cases are progressed in a timely and professional manner, maintaining clear and accurate documentation throughout
• Support managers to resolve issues through early intervention, informal resolution and effective people management practices where appropriate
• Stay up to date on employment law and people best practice, sharing knowledge with the wider People Team and reviewing policies and procedures accordingly
• Ensure People policies and processes are up to date, legally compliant and effectively communicated
• Support the business through organisational change activity, consultation processes and business restructuring where required
• Provide coaching on performance management, absence management, difficult conversations and conflict resolution
• Work with the L&D team to develop and deliver guidance, training and resources that support managers in applying People policies appropriately
• Partner with area managers and warehouse managers to identify people risks and recommend pragmatic solutions
• Identify patterns, risks and opportunities and recommend action plans to improve employee experience and manager effectiveness
• Share meaningful insight with the Head of People and wider business to support data-driven decision making
• Partner with the Recruitment Team to attract and retain high-quality talent aligned with business needs and company values
• Support succession planning discussions and identify people risks that may impact future capability
• Review turnover data and exit feedback, creating action plans to address themes and improve retention

Bonas Benefits:

• Generous employee discount up to 50% off all OB products
• Free access to our 24 hour employee assistance programme with Optima Health - offering financial, emotional and vocational support
• Flexible holiday -33 days (including bank holidays) - increasing to 35 days with length of service
• Annual discretionary profit related bonus scheme
• Free membership for our Westfield Health Cash Plan or Private Medical
• Auto-enrolment into our pension plan
• Free access to our onsite gym
• Cycle to work scheme
• Refer a Friend incentive
• Quarterly free lunch
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Voice network and EDI team
• Mental Health First Aider support
• Education and support through 360L eLearning platform

What we look for:

• Significant HR generalist experience with strong employee relations expertise
• Proven experience managing complex employee relations cases independently
• Experience coaching and influencing managers at varying levels of seniority
• Strong understanding of UK employment law and People best practice
• Experience within retail, hospitality or another fast-paced, customer-focused environment desirable
• Experience developing or improving People policies and processes
• Experience analysing People data and identifying trends
• CIPD qualification or working towards CIPD qualification desirable
• Experience supporting organisational change, consultation or restructuring activity desirable
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence and build relationships at all levels
• Resilient
• Discrete and professional
• Attention to detail
• Analytical skills with the ability to interpret People data and identify trends
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building abilities
• Problem-solving and conflict resolution skills
• Commercial awareness and sound judgement

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at OB

At Oliver Bonas, our promise is to do our bit to make living a joyful experience and give cause for optimism. This promise is central to our work in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). To bring joy to others, we must first ensure everyone at OB feels valued, included and most importantly, can be themselves at work.

It is important to us that our brand reflects wider society and the communities in which we operate. As a result, we welcome all eligible applicants for this role however we are particularly interested in speaking to eligible candidates from the Black, Asian & Mixed Heritage communities.

Oliver Bonas is a Disability Confident Committed employer under the Disability Confident employer scheme.

To read more about our ED&I commitments, head over to the EDI page on our website: https://www.oliverbonas.com/meet-the-team/diversity