Employee Relations Specialist

All applicants need to submit a CV and a covering letter on why you should be considered for this role. Applications will not be accepted if no covering letter is included. 

Please note that this role may close early should sufficient applications be received, so early application is advised.

Closing date: Friday 12th December 

Join us as our new Employee Relations Specialist - Job Description/Person Specification

As a leading charity supporting people with drug, alcohol, and mental health challenges, we operate over 80 services across England and Scotland, providing free and confidential support to more than 100,000 people each year. Find out more about us here.

Working in the People team at WithYou brings something new every day - we are:

• There to listen and support
• Ready to help our managers find solutions
• On hand to provide expert advice
• Always thinking about how we can provide the best employee experience

We are excited to be recruiting for an experienced HR professional to join us in the role of Employee Relations Specialist, to support and drive our People ambitions. We are looking for a subject matter expert on all things ER, including change. 

This is a full time and permanent home-based role, with some travel required and a salary of up to £40,000 per annum.

In this role, you will use your expertise to provide creative, practical People solutions and specialist advice to both managers and employees, including the management of complex casework. As our Employee Relations Specialist, your key responsibilities will include:

• Ensuring that People advice provided is in line with organisational policies and procedures, best practice and employment legislation in order to minimise the risk to the organisation
• Acting as a mentor and coach to our People Advisers, supporting their growth and ensuring employment law and practice knowledge is consistently up to date
• Acting as the escalation point for contentious complex cases and overseeing the case management of any potential gross misconduct or dismissals, whilst ensuring case work is managed robustly, fairly and in a timely and legally compliant manner
• Supporting line managers with all casework issues of employees up to Senior Management level. This includes formal and informal disciplinary and grievance cases, long-term and intermittent sickness absence management and any welfare concerns raised by employees or their managers of a complex nature. 
• Managing and organising caseloads, prioritising as appropriate along with reviewing and expediting the overall status of cases with the People Advisers
• Deputising for our Employee Relations Manager and providing cover for the People Advisers, where required

We’d love to see applications from candidates with:

• Chartered membership of the CIPD or significant demonstrable experience
• Experience and knowledge of the essentials of employment law and managing complex employee relations cases
• Experience acting as deputy to a lead HR role in a similarly complex organisation
• Experience delivering functional HR expertise across the full generalist remit including recruitment, reward, organisational development, change management, employee engagement, employee relations and learning and development

As an organisation, we continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports and celebrates the diverse voices and experiences of our staff. We know that representing the communities we serve is key to us meeting our vision of a future where everyone lives a life free from the harm associated with drugs and alcohol. We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring and we encourage people from underrepresented communities and backgrounds to apply to join our team, including people with lived experience, people with disabilities, people from racialised communities, LGBTQ+ people, people of all ages and armed forces veterans.

As part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant we provide a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates that are veterans and meet all the essential criteria for a role. With You is also a Disability Confident Employer and we offer a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with a disability and meet all the essential criteria for a role.

If you have a disability, a learning difficulty such as dyslexia or a medical condition which you believe may affect your performance during any aspect of our selection process, we’ll be happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to perform at your best.

Up to £40,000 per annum

• 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays 
• An extra day off for your birthday or a special occasion of your choice
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• 2 days paid volunteer leave per year
• Auto-enrollment into We Are With You’s pension scheme
• Access to a Blue Light Card - giving you great savings on big high-street and online brands
• Flexible working opportunities and access to a range of services and resources to support you with your wellbeing
• We have an excellent Refer a Friend scheme which offers you a £500 bonus for any recommendations, any role! Our scheme allows you to recommend your friends and family to work with us and earn a £500 bonus payment for every successful referral you make. Please note, the Refer a Friend scheme is only applicable if your recommended friend completes their 6 months probation period