Colleague Relations Manager

Home Limited; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

Pets at Home is seeking a Colleague Relations Manager to lead and develop the Colleague Relations service across Retail, Vets, Support Office and Central Teams. You will coach a team of Colleague Relations Specialists, Advisors and Coordinators and ensure guidance is fair, legally informed and commercially balanced.

Operate in a hybrid role with two days per week at Handforth Head Office, using data and insight to improve processes, support leaders and colleagues, and maintain a trusted,

Qualifications

• Significant experience in colleague relations, employee relations or broader HR.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment relations.
• Experience handling higher-risk cases, ACAS, tribunal preparation or working with external legal advisers.
• CIPD Level 5 qualification or equivalent (MCIPD or higher desirable).

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the Colleague Relations service across the business.
• Coach and develop Colleague Relations Specialists, Advisors and Coordinators.
• Provide fair, commercially balanced, legally informed guidance to colleagues and leaders.
• Shape the service model through data, technology and smarter processes.
• Ensure effective handling of complex, sensitive and high-risk cases with empathy.

Skills

Colleague relations

Employee relations

HR

UK employment relations

Leadership

Education

CIPD Level 5 or equivalent

Job description

Colleague Relations Manager
Permanent Role. Hybrid working with 2 days per week in our Handforth HO.

Great colleague relations is about more than process. It's about people, trust and doing the right thing, in the right way.

Every colleague deserves to feel listened to, respected and supported, particularly when things become difficult.

And every leader needs to know they have someone alongside them who can bring clarity, confidence and sound judgement when the answer isn't always straightforward.

That's where our Colleague Relations team comes in.

We're looking for an exceptional Colleague Relations Manager to lead and develop our Colleague Relations service here at Pets at Home, providing support and guidance across Retail, Vets, Support Office and Central Teams. You'll lead a talented team of Colleague Relations professionals, ensuring our colleagues and leaders receive advice and support that is fair, consistent, commercially balanced, legally informed and, above all, human.

This is a role for someone who understands that great colleague relations isn't simply about knowing policy or employment law.

It's about listening carefully, understanding the individual circumstances, balancing people and business needs and having the judgement and courage to make good decisions, even when they're difficult.

The opportunity

You’ll be at the heart of how we create a fair, trusted and progressive approach to colleague relations.

• Lead with humanity and judgement, ensuring colleagues and leaders experience a service that listens, understands and treats people fairly and consistently.
• Create an exceptional Colleague Relations service, setting high standards for the quality, pace and consistency of advice across the business.
• Guide the moments that matter, providing leadership and direction on complex, sensitive and high-risk colleague situations where experience, empathy and sound judgement really count.
• Build an outstanding team, coaching and developing Colleague Relations Specialists, Advisors and Coordinators and creating an environment where people feel supported, trusted and able to grow.
• Balance colleague experience with commercial reality, helping leaders make fair, evidence-based and legally informed decisions that work for both our people and our business.
• Turn insight into action, using case data, colleague experience and recurring themes to identify opportunities to intervene earlier, improve manager capability and prevent issues from escalating.
• Make things simpler, challenging unnecessary complexity and improving processes, guidance and ways of working so that doing the right thing becomes easier.
• Shape the future of Colleague Relations, helping us evolve our service model through technology, automation, AI-assisted activity and better use of data, while protecting the importance of human judgement and connection.
• Bring teams together, playing an important role in the future integration of our Colleague Relations teams and helping create one connected, consistent and values-led service.

What will make you stand out?

You’ll bring significant experience of colleague relations, employee relations or broader HR, ideally gained within a busy, complex or multi-site organisation.

You’ll have strong working knowledge of UK employment relations and be confident navigating complex disciplinary, grievance, absence, capability, consultation, flexible working, workplace adjustment and other sensitive colleague matters. Experience of higher-risk cases, ACAS, tribunal preparation or working with external legal advisers will also be valuable.

A CIPD Level 5 qualification or equivalent professional experience is essential, with MCIPD or progression towards higher-level CIPD membership desirable.

But just as important as what you know is how you show up.

We're looking for someone who combines professional expertise with empathy, courage and commercial judgement.

Someone who can listen without immediately judging.

Who can challenge without losing trust.

Who understands that policies provide a framework, but that people and circumstances are rarely identical.

And someone who can remain thoughtful, calm and compassionate when situations are complex or emotionally difficult.

Leading people matters here

This isn't simply a case management role.

You’ll lead, coach and develop a Colleague Relations team, supporting their performance, confidence, wellbeing and professional judgement.

You’ll create an environment where people can talk openly about difficult cases, learn from one another, challenge thinking and know when to ask for help.

Because looking after the people who support our colleagues matters too.

Help us shape what comes next

Our Colleague Relations service is evolving.

We want to use better data, smarter technology, automation and insight to simplify processes and give our teams more time to focus on the conversations and situations where human expertise matters most. The role will also help shape future service design as our Colleague Relations structure develops.

We therefore need someone who can lead brilliantly today while being curious about what great Colleague Relations could look like tomorrow.

Because policies matter. Processes matter. Good judgement matters.

But people always matter too.

If you believe great colleague relations starts with listening, fairness, trust and the courage to do the right thing, we'd love to hear from you.

Pets just see people. They aren’t biased and they don’t discriminate. We take our inspiration from pets, and we value and respect difference in all its forms. Our aim is to reflect the diversity of the communities we operate in, and every colleague can help us achieve this. We encourage our people to be themselves so even if your skills and experience don’t perfectly align, if you think you can make a unique contribution through your values and behaviours, we want to hear from you!