Employee Relations and Policy Advisor - FTC

AXA UK; Bristol; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurance provider is seeking an Employee Relations and Policy Advisor for a fixed-term contract in Bristol. The role involves advising HR and management on employee relations matters, developing HR policies, and ensuring compliance with employment law. Ideal candidates will have experience in ER, strong communication skills, and a deep understanding of UK legislation.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of UK employment legislation and Employee Relations principles.
• Experience in handling Employee Relations cases in an advisory role.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Advise on employee relations issues, managing case resolutions.
• Develop and implement HR policies reflecting legislation and best practices.
• Support managers in complex employment queries.

Skills

Understanding of UK employment legislation

Handling Employee Relations cases

Great communication skills

Proactive ownership of tasks

Organizational skills

Computer literacy (Excel, PowerPoint)

Education

CIPD qualification or part qualification

Tools

HR Systems

Job description

Employee Relations and Policy Advisor - FTC

Department: Business Services - Human Resources

Employment Type: Fixed Term Contract

Location: Bristol

Description

We are seeking an experienced and proactive Employee Relations (ER) Advisor to play a key role in supporting our people managers and colleagues across the full colleague lifecycle. This is a varied role where you’ll offer expert advice, coaching, and tailored solutions on a wide range of people matters – from day-to-day queries to more complex cases.

You’ll be part of a collaborative national ER team, working together to deliver high-quality, consistent support across the business. The role may also involve providing in-person support where required by the needs of the business.

This role is a fixed-term contract.

Key Responsibilities

Working closely with management, colleagues and the relevant HR Business Partner to advise on a range of employee relations issues, including but not limited to:

Employee Relations

• Providing proactive, consistent and commercially focussed advice and coaching support to develop manager capability, drive a culture of high performance and encourage colleague engagement and well-being.
• Case management to drive the resolution of performance, probation, attendance, disciplinary and grievance issues, ranging from informal discussions, to formal investigations, formal hearings and appeal stages.
• Advising the business and relevant HR Business Partners on the design and end to end implementation of change programmes (e.g. TUPE and redundancies).
• Supporting managers to deal with, or when particularly sensitive sometimes directly manage, complex and long term absence cases.
• Involvement in resolving more complex queries (e.g. benefits, maternity, absence or policy related) which are escalated from the HR Operations Team
• Providing consistent and commercially focussed advice to line managers and colleagues in HR around Employee Relations issues.
• Advising managers and colleagues on the Firm’s HR policies and employment best practice as they apply to day to day management of colleagues.
• Providing guidance around the Flex Forward approach to working and managing the formal flexible working application process.
• Supporting the ER Lead and other HR colleagues in relevant project work and initiatives, for example involvement in ensuring ER policies are relevant for changing business needs.
• Analyse ER data to identify recurring trends and themes and derive insights that help shape relevant programmes and interventions.
• Keeping up to-date in changing employment law landscape and conducting ER training as part of the Learning & Development offering as necessary.
• Dealing with ad-hoc or regular reports, including appropriate analysis of information where required.

Policy Development and Implementation

• Keep up to date with current and future employment law changes.
• Develop, review, and update HR policies and procedures to reflect current legislation, best practices, and organisational needs.
• Ensure consistent application and understanding of HR policies across the organisation through clear documentation, advice and communication.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• A strong understanding of UK employment legislation and general Employee Relations principles and practices, preferably gained in a similar advisory role.
• Demonstrable experience of handling Employee Relations cases, either within a generalist or specialist role.
• A CIPD qualification, or part qualification, is desirable but not essential.
• Great communication skills, the ability to influence and engage colleagues and key stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate employment legislation clearly and professionally
• Proactive and willing to take ownership of tasks and projects.
• Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise effectively and deal calmly with the pressure of deadlines and conflicting priorities.
• Team oriented, flexible and enthusiastic with a positive and committed approach.
• Reliable and able to work on own initiative, with good attention to detail and a high level of accuracy.
• A good level of computer literacy including use of Excel, PowerPoint and word is essential.
• Experience of HR Systems including Case Management systems would be desirable