Opus People Solutions on behalf of West Northants County Council are recruiting for an HR Advisor to join their team on a temporary contract

Start Date:

ASAP

Length:

up to 9 Months

Working Location:

Northampton, part remote

Working Hours:

37

Overall purpose of the role:

Provide first line professional advice and challenge on a full range of HR matters including case management and redundancy and change programmes. The post is also responsible for maintaining and interrogating the employee records system, producing reports and identifying trends and issues.

Main Responsibilities:

1. Advice and support: Provide advice and guidance on HR issues within agreed policies and procedures, terms and conditions, providing a range of options, assessing risk factors and providing challenge, taking into account employment legislation requirements and business needs. Understanding when to escalate more complex issues to the Assistant Business Partner.

2. Embed good practice with regards to safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults by advising managers on the Council's or customer's disclosures policy and DBS process.

3. Employee Relations: Provide advice, guidance, training and coaching to managers on employee relations casework at informal and first stage (e.g. ill health, performance, grievance, disciplinary, redundancy and organisational change), building relationships to secure a proactive and professional HR service and ensuring all aspects are handled appropriately and promptly within agreed frameworks, policies and timescales.

4. Customer Relationship: Act as the front line into the HR Advisory service, responding to first line enquiries via the service helpline and the advisory inbox, supporting the response to freedom of information and subject access requests and being an ambassador for ERP Gold (our enterprise and resource planning software), encouraging and coaching customers to adopt self-service behaviour and skills.

5. Change Management: Support change management projects including service restructures and TUPE transfers, supporting the Assistant Business Partner with a project management approach to coach managers to drive through change. Ensure that structural changes are fully implemented and changes to the hierarchy are completed to maintain the integrity of the system and accurate management information.

6. Information Management and Analysis: Oversee the maintenance and validation of data to ensure that it is accurate and up to date. Undertake regular data analysis for an allocated 'portfolio' to ensure that issues and trends are discussed with managers as a basis for performance management and problem resolution.

7. Contribute to the provision of accurate and timely workforce information reports for management teams, including analysing and interpreting workforce information. Highlight trends and patterns and recommend solutions as necessary to meet trends, shortfalls and planned changes and ensure that managers are aware of these.

8. Project Work: Undertake allocated corporate and team based HR project work, for example voluntary redundancy programmes, recruitment (executive, targeted roles and overseas) and transformation projects, playing a key role in ensuring that projects are delivered on time and to agreed objectives and performance standards.

9. Job evaluation: Advising managers on the evaluation of role profiles, administering and attending job evaluation panel meetings and liaising with our payroll teams. Supporting the HR Assistant with the administration and maintenance of the council's job evaluation scheme.

10. HR Policies and Organisational Development: Support the continuous development of the HR service through policy development. Support the Assistant Business Partner to deliver training for managers and employees on a full range of HR policies. Drive performance management within the Council by coaching and mentoring managers and employees.

11. Occupational Health: supporting the delivery of the Occupational Health contract, advising managers on the most appropriate referral route, checking the quality of referrals and liaising with the provider and the in house physician associate.

12. Support continuous improvement of the HR service by seeking continuous feedback and professional development opportunities. Working with colleagues across HR (Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Strategy, Policy and Projects, Payroll Services, Learning and Development) to deliver one HR service. Monitor quality of service delivery and deal with customer feedback, including complaints.

13. Actively challenge and seek to eliminate any directly or indirectly discriminatory practices or behaviours.

Qualifications/Experience Needed:

• Educated to A Level or equivalent
• CIPD Level 3 qualification or demonstrable experience of working in a similar role.
• Demonstrable experience of working within a HR environment delivering HR advice and support to customers.
• Evidence of continuous professional development in the area of HR.
• Ability to support managers in dealing with change management, disciplinary, grievance, ill health and redundancy issues
• Sound knowledge of employment legislation.
• Good understanding of HR processes and practices.
• Sound experience of using data effectively to provide useful management information and ability to interrogate and present data using Microsoft Excel.
• Understanding the role of Trade Unions
• Understanding of GDPR and the importance to this role.