HR Business Partner

HR Business Partner – Employee Relations & Manager Capability

Location: Hybrid

Salary: Starting from £45K DOE

We’re looking for an experienced HR professional who thrives on complex employee relations, enjoys coaching managers through challenging people situations and wants the opportunity to make a tangible impact on manager capability.

This is a slightly different HRBP opportunity.

Rather than owning the full breadth of a traditional HRBP remit, you'll have a highly focused role centred on employee relations case management, developing line-manager capability and improving absence management across a diverse group of businesses.

It could be particularly well suited to an experienced HR Business Partner, HR Manager or Senior HR Advisor who currently manages a significant ER caseload and enjoys that part of their role, but would welcome the opportunity to specialise without moving into a purely transactional ER position.

What you'll be doing

You'll take ownership of a varied ER caseload, working directly with managers to navigate employee issues confidently, fairly and pragmatically.

A significant part of your role will be about building capability rather than simply managing cases. You'll coach managers through situations, help them understand how to handle issues effectively themselves and build confidence across the organisation.

You'll also play an important role in our work around absence, helping us understand trends and improve how absence is managed across the businesses.

Day to day, you'll:

• Manage a varied and potentially high-volume ER caseload from initial advice through to resolution.
• Coach managers through disciplinary, grievance, capability, performance, absence and other employee relations matters.
• Build line-manager confidence and capability so that managers become increasingly comfortable handling people issues effectively.
• Provide pragmatic, commercially considered HR advice while managing employment risk appropriately.
• Support our focus on absence management, identifying themes and helping to improve manager practice and outcomes.
• Work closely with the relevant Divisional HR Business Partners, providing specialist ER support across their areas.
• Build strong relationships across a decentralised business environment while maintaining consistency and good practice.
• Identify recurring themes within casework and use those insights to improve manager capability and HR practice.

What we're looking for

We're less concerned about your current job title than the experience you can bring.

You may currently be an HR Business Partner, HR Manager, Employee Relations Manager, ER Specialist or Senior HR Advisor. What's important is that you have:

• Significant hands-on experience managing employee relations cases.
• Experience handling a busy and varied caseload, ideally within a regional, multi-site or operational environment.
• Strong UK employment law knowledge and the judgement to apply it pragmatically.
• Confidence coaching and appropriately challenging managers rather than simply giving them the answer.
• Experience managing complex and sensitive cases independently.
• The ability to build credibility quickly with managers and HR colleagues.
• A practical, commercial approach and confidence balancing risk with the needs of the business.
• An interest in using ER casework to develop manager capability, rather than simply closing individual cases.
• Strong organisation and the ability to manage multiple cases and priorities simultaneously.

Experience of absence-management initiatives or projects would be particularly useful.

What makes this role different?

This isn't a traditional HRBP position covering recruitment, talent, organisational development, M&A and wider change activity.

Instead, it gives you the opportunity to focus on the part of HR where you can have a very immediate impact: helping managers navigate employee relations issues well, developing their capability and improving how people matters are managed across the organisation.

You'll work in partnership with our Divisional HR Business Partners and have visibility with senior HR leadership, while being trusted to take ownership of your own ER portfolio.

Salary: From £45,000 per annum, depending on experience