Employee Relations Lead – M&A & Change

Willis Towers Watson; Reigate; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working options

Private healthcare

Life insurance

Group income protection

Health assessments

Pension scheme (matched up to 10%)

Employee assistance programme

Volunteer day

EV car scheme

Share scheme

Cycle-to-work

Dental cover

Optical cover

Critical illness protection

Job summary

Willis Towers Watson is seeking an Employee Relations Lead – Projects to drive ER input across mergers, acquisitions, transfers and integration activities, providing expert guidance and end-to-end case management across multiple business segments.

You will collaborate with Legal, Compliance, HR, Payroll, Reward, Talent advisory and external advisers to ensure compliant, coordinated delivery of M&A activities, while leading consultation planning and risk-managed communications.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in Human Resources with a strong focus on employee relations, employment law, policy application, manager coaching and complex case management.
• Strong working knowledge of UK employment law and best practice, including disciplinary, grievance, performance, absence, redundancy, TUPE, collective consultation, employment tribunal claims and employee representative consultation.
• Proven experience supporting organisational change, restructures, mergers, acquisitions, transfers, integrations or other complex people-change activity.
• Ability to lead small scale collective consultation exercises
• Ability to assess people-related risk in M&A and change activity, balancing legal compliance, commercial objectives, colleague experience and reputational considerations.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with confidence advising senior leaders and working collaboratively across HR, Legal, Compliance, Payroll, Reward, Talent and business teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to draft clear case documentation, consultation materials, briefing notes, employee communications and leadership updates.
• Strong judgement, discretion and resilience when handling sensitive, confidential or high-pressure matters.
• Highly organised and able to manage competing priorities, complex timelines and ambiguous situations in a fast-paced environment.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to use ER data, themes and case insights to identify risks, improve processes and strengthen manager capability.
• Knowledge of regulatory frameworks relevant to HR processes and programmes, such as GDPR and SMCR, would be advantageous.
• CIPD qualification or equivalent HR, employment law or business experience preferred.
• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in human resources, business, or related field preferred.

Responsibilities

• Support and Lead ER input into key mergers, acquisitions, divestments, transfers and integration activity, including early-stage due diligence, people risk assessment, TUPE analysis, consultation planning, employee communications and post-transfer integration support.
• Partner with Legal, Compliance, HR, Payroll, Reward, Talent Advisory, business leaders and external advisers, where required, to ensure M&A activity is delivered in a compliant, coordinated and colleague-focused way.
• Plan and manage consultation activity, including collective and individual consultation where applicable, ensuring affected employees and representatives receive clear, timely and accessible information and that consultation is meaningful, well-documented and appropriately risk-managed.
• Manage and provide escalation support for complex, high-risk or sensitive employee relations cases, including disciplinary, grievance, performance, absence, whistleblowing, harassment, conflict resolution, changes to terms and conditions, settlement discussions and involuntary exits.
• Identify employee relations risks, trends and themes arising from casework, organisational change and M&A activity, translating insight into preventative action, manager coaching, policy improvements and process enhancements.
• Support the development and embedding of repeatable, defensible and scalable ER processes, templates, guidance and governance standards, particularly for change programmes, TUPE, redundancy, harmonisation and integration activity.
• Prepare documentation and support litigation readiness for employment tribunal claims, working with the Head of Employee Relations, Legal and relevant business stakeholders.
• Act as a point of escalation for potential regulatory breaches, conduct issues or wider governance concerns, ensuring appropriate referral and follow-up.
• Contribute to wider HR and business projects, including policy development, organisational design, cultural integration, manager capability and continuous improvement activity.

Skills

Employee relations

UK employment law

Change management

Collective consultation

ER risk assessment

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Judgement & discretion

Organization & prioritization

Data analytics (ER)

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/business

CIPD qualification or equivalent

Job description

Willis Towers Watson is seeking an Employee Relations Lead – Projects to drive ER input across mergers, acquisitions, transfers and integration activities, providing expert guidance and end-to-end case management across multiple business segments.

You will collaborate with Legal, Compliance, HR, Payroll, Reward, Talent advisory and external advisers to ensure compliant, coordinated delivery of M&A activities, while leading consultation planning and risk-managed communications.