Post number: / Division: Human Resources
Grade: 5 / Section/team: HR Advisory Services
Overall purpose of job:
To deal with HR queries referred from within the Advisory Service and undertakes related projects with the aim of exploring and identifying effective solutions, to provide an excellent, cohesive and effective HR advisory service to all customers.
Acts as a role model for HR remaining flexible, positive and open to change
Post holders will be expected to be flexible in undertaking the duties and responsibilities attached to their post and may be asked to perform other duties, which reasonably correspond to the general character of the post and are commensurate with its level of responsibility.
Main responsibilities:
- Represents the Human Resources Service at all times, ensuring that the customer experience is of the highest standard, providing accurate and solution focussed advice in-line with the business need of a range of customers.
- Responds to challenging enquiries from both internal and external customers within allocated timescales.
- Supports and advises managers with employee related issues, resolving HR issues and queries, utilising inquiry skills in order to gather key data and challenge traditional thinking.
- Maintains the data integrity of all HR systems, ensuring that information is entered and amended accurately.
- Provides a range of documentation and information to employees, managers, pensions and payroll, to a variety of deadlines.
- Undertakes calculations and instructions to payroll/pensions, for example salary protection, pension updates, term time formulae and annual leave.
- Participates in the development and improvement of working practices and systems.
- Works effectively as part of a team of practitioners, supporting and motivating colleagues.
- Undertakes/advises on project/case work as directed.
- Participates in all team and HR driven events, contributing proactively to any team and service wide developmental activities.
- Supports the service in identifying opportunities to drive revenue and reduce costs
Knowledge, skill and experience:
- Good standard knowledge of HR policies and procedures and awareness of the impact of employment legislation.
- Ability to apply HR solutions creatively and within the decision making processes of the Council.
- Experience of dealing with customers/colleagues in a professional, polite and proactive manner and maintaining confidentiality
- Demonstrates effective listening and inquiry skills
- Good written and oral communication skills
- Demonstrates tact, diplomacy and an understanding of customer need/satisfaction
- Demonstrates an understanding of the requirement for accuracy
- Experience of working to multiple deadlines and prioritising workloads
- Demonstrates a flexible/adaptable approach to service delivery with an ability to take a learning approach to ensure service improvement
- Ability to problem solve and work collaboratively
- Demonstrates an understanding of the benefits of team working
- Experience of using more complex word, spreadsheets and databases and ability to process payroll and contractual HR documentation
Creativity and innovation:
- Provides solutions to customer and employee related issues, which may require a different approach and which may be of a difficult/sensitive nature.
- Uses a variety of techniques to explore problems and issues, whilst supporting and influencing managers in making sound decisions.
- Recommends improvements to HR systems
- Contributes to the setting of good working practice within the team
- Identifies ways of presenting information i.e. reports, minutes, data, presentations, to achieve maximum effect.
Contacts and relationships:
Customers/General Public – Daily (recruitment, complaints, providing information and answering queries that may not always be straightforward and require some degree of inquiry).
HR Colleagues – Daily (Providing advice and guidance to HR Advisory Assistants and day to day exchange of information).
NLC Managers/headteachers/external clients – Daily (providing information and answering queries that may not always be straightforward. Tensions may arise when guidance on policies and procedures/best practice is provided)
Employees – Daily (recruitment, sickness absence, redeployment, providing general information and answering queries).
Payroll – Ad hoc (exchange of information)
Trade unions – arranging meetings, hearings etc
External organisations – Ad hoc (provision of information for example, teachers pensions, Occupational Health).
Decision making:
- Responds to queries that have been referred up, ensuring responses are in line with HR policies and procedures and determines the point at which a customer enquiry needs escalating.
- Determines appropriate courses of action when supporting managers in undertaking any project/case work that has been allocated eg sickness absence
- Makes decisions regarding workload prioritisation and decides on when to seek advice
- Provides advice to colleagues regarding information provided by prospective employees in relation to references and safer recruitment, referring issues to other colleagues when necessary
- Determines appropriate methods of obtaining/collating information
Responsibility for resources:
Financial resources:
N/A
Physical resources:
N/A
WORK ENVIRONMENT
Work demands:
Work involves various deadlines:
- fixed monthly payroll deadline
- daily in provision of a timely response to phone calls and emails
- Ad hoc projects eg payroll validation, pension updates
- Ad hoc – the collating and distribution of disciplinary packs in line with policy requirements
- Required to produce correspondence to ensure adherence to fixed deadlines contained within policies and procedures.
Physical demands:
Normal physical effort associated with an office environment.
Working conditions:
Work is mostly office based, but their may be a requirement to visit different work places and sites along with occasional home visits.
Work context:
Matters are generally not contentious but on occasion some contacts may be concerned or distressed.
Position in organisation:
Indicate how many staff the post is directly accountable for:
Are posts in more than one location? Yes No
Is this at the same site? Are the posts managed highly mobile? No
Is the supervision/management shared with another post in the structure? Yes√ No
Please indicate which post(s)
The post is subject to:
Disclosure of convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exemption) Act 1974 Yes □ No □
Political restriction Yes □ No□
Employee:
(signed) / (print) / Date:
Manager: (signed) / (print) / Date:
Policy and Resources Cabinet Member – 19th September 2012, Implemented – 8th October 2012 Page 1 of 6