HR Advisor

Thames Water Utilities Limited; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 41,000; Full time

Job summary

Thames Water Utilities Limited is seeking an HR Advisor to join their People Advice Service team. The role involves providing HR policy and process advice, managing employee queries, and coaching managers. This hybrid position offers a competitive salary and numerous benefits, including a generous pension scheme and annual leave.

Benefits

Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year

Generous Pension Scheme

Access to health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• Experience working in a remote and high-volume HR Advisory service.
• Ability to deal with a high volume of queries each day.
• Experience in managing challenging stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Providing a professional front-line advisory service.
• Coaching line managers and employees.
• Managing simpler ER cases.

Skills

Customer focused

Highly organised

Excellent communication skills

Job description

Job title HR Advisor Ref 41167 Division People Location Hybrid - Clearwater Court - RG1 8DB Contract type Permanent Full/Part-time Full-time Salary Competitive salary up to £35,000 per annum, depending on experience Job grade B Closing date 04/06/2025

The HR Advisor will play a critical role in the People Advice Service team that is responsible for providing a front-line People policy and process advice service to all Thames Water employees and managers. This role requires someone confident; customer focused and has strong knowledge of People processes, policies, and systems.

What you’ll be doing as a HR Advisor

• Providing a professional front-line advisory service that supports employees and managers with People policy, process and system queries, aiming to resolve as many at the first point of contact as possible.
• Customer-focused advice provided on inbound calls and via email.
• Coaching line managers and employees to find the information they need in the People Portal and FAQs, to support self-service.
• Raising cases in ServiceNow where the question cannot be quickly resolved.
• Ensuring that the daily short-term sickness and long-term sickness reports are uploaded and actioned in line with the agreed process each morning.
• Working with the wider teams.
• Taking responsibility to manage simpler ER cases, as agreed with the HR Advisory Team Leader.
• Maintaining case management records to ensure they are clear, concise and in line with GDPR.
• Attending and participating in training/updates about any system policies, processes, or procedure changes.

Base Location: Reading - Hybrid

Working Pattern: 36 Hours

What you should bring to the role

• Experience working in a remote and high-volume HR Advisory service using a similar HR service model/approach.
• Customer focused, with a detailed knowledge of People policies, processes and procedures
• Highly organised and responsive, with an ability to deal with a high volume of queries each day.
• Confident and tenacious, taking ownership of issues to resolution promptly.
• Experience in managing challenging stakeholders.
• An active listener who is naturally inquisitive and able to coach managers and employees to self-serve and/or know when to escalate a case.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to adapt and build rapport/provide advice to all levels.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary up to £35,000 per annum, depending on experience.
• Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy fast-tracked career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

Whether you’re interested in a role in one of our call centres or science labs, we’re looking for people like you with real passion and a burning desire to make things better.

So, if you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world's water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

Our overarching aim is to ensure that Thames Water is a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and offer extra support for those who need it throughout the recruitment process . We aim to remove any real or perceived barriers to success, so if you need assistance, we’re here to help and support .

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.