HR Associate

Greencore (Formally Bakkavor Group); East Midlands; Hybrid; GBP 24,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company share save scheme

Competitive pension contributions

Life insurance up to 4x salary

Greencore Qualifications

Employee discount platform

Wellbeing Centre access

Job summary

Greencore Newark site is hiring a People Associate to support the local HR team with entry-level generalist HR duties and first-line advice to colleagues and managers. You will handle routine HR administration, data integrity checks, and coordination of recruitment activities in a fast-paced production environment.

Based in Newark, you will work four days in the office and one day from home, aligning to a 5-day workweek with Monday to Friday hours, as part of a permanent contract.

Qualifications

• Ability to work to strict timescales in a busy environment.
• Strong systems skills and ability to coach others.
• Excellent time management and prioritisation.
• High attention to detail and data analysis.
• Clear communication across formats and audiences.
• Proactive and pragmatic approach.
• Able to work in a team and independently.

Responsibilities

• Provide general administration support to the HR Team, including Organisation Design projects, PO issuance, and low-level data audits in MyHR.
• Coordinate internal communications and announcements for the Business Unit.
• Support employee engagement initiatives and recognition schemes.
• Assist Talent Acquisition and managers with volume recruitment and onboarding.
• Manage Right to Work processes and renewal checks.
• Support HRBPs and managers during meetings and document notes as required.
• Update KPIs and reporting to identify trends for management action.

Skills

Resilience

Systems literacy

Time management

Attention to detail

Communication skills

Teamwork

Learning agility

Tools

MyHR

Qliksense

Job description

People Associate

Salary: Competitive salary

Benefits: Company share save scheme, Competitive matched pension up contributions, Life insurance up to 4x salary

Location: Jessop Way, Newark NG24 2ER

Ways of Working: 4 days in the office, 1 day working from home

Hours of work: Monday - Friday

Contract Type: Permanent

Why Greencore?

Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we're one of the UK's leading creators of convenience food, driven by a simple purpose: to make every day taste better.

As a vibrant and fast-moving business, we're proud to employ over 28,000 talented colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US.

Together, we bring delicious food to life. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert, with lunch and snacking in between. In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately £4bn.

Our extensive direct to store (DTS) network, with 17 depots across the UK, allows us to deliver fresh and frozen food, both our own and from trusted partners to thousands of stores every day, ensuring consumers enjoy the very best, whenever and wherever they shop.

Our site in Newark, Nottinghamshire, specialises in producing a range of chilled desserts, including trifles, creamcakes, and choux pastries. The site employs over 1,800 people and operates in a fast-paced, high-volume production environment.

What you'll be doing

As People Associate you will support to the local HR team whilst undertaking entry level generalist HR duties and providing first line HR advice to colleagues and managers.

Role Accountabilities

• Provide general administration support to the HR Team, including, Organisational Design projects, raising purchase orders and arranging payment of invoices, conducting frequent low-level audits of MyHR data to check data integrity and accuracy. Where appropriate, updating labour (core manning) plan in line with Business Unit requirements.
• Coordinate Business Unit people communications in a variety of formats, including announcements and notice board updates.
• Support the Business Unit engagement agenda by completing admin and coordination of the annual Group Employee Engagement survey. Administer and coordinate engagement initiatives including Loyal Service Awards and our Proud to be Bakkavor recognition schemes. Support Group initiatives and Site Employee Forum/Wellbeing Champions to deliver their engagement activities and events as required.
• Work with the Talent Acquisition Team and line managers to ensure the Business Unit resourcing requirements are proactively managed. Including ensuring the MyHR system accurately reflects vacancies, coordination of interviews/factory tours/offers for volume recruitment (for bigger Business Units), coordinating the internal recruitment process, and supporting the temp-to-perm process for agency workers.
• Represent the HR function at inductions, supporting the successful onboarding of new starters into the Business Unit, including (where relevant) working with the New Starter Champions as required.
• Manage the Right to Work process for the Business Unit ensuring all employees have the correct documentation, including re-checks, online checks, sending letters to individuals to confirm actions required, and escalation of any potential risk to the HRBP.
• Provide administration support to HRBPs and line managers during the AWOL and formal employee relations meetings including taking notes if required.
• Update People KPIs, including use of Qliksense and MyHR reporting, highlighting trends to the HRBP. Use the data to support managers to drive improvements where applicable.
• Supporting the attendance management process by coordinating referrals to Occupational Health, tracking of restricted duties and reviewing the absence trigger data making appropriate recommendations to HRBP for review.
• For sites without on-site Occupational Health provision, coordinate health surveillance requirements to ensure compliance with Bakkavor's Health & Safety Risk Management Guidance and Health Surveillance Standards.
• Liaise with shared service functions to resolve issues and escal… accordingly.

What we're looking for

• Able to work to strict timescales in a busy environment demonstrating resilience
• Strong systems skills with the and ability to coach others to use them
• Results driven with excellent time management and prioritisation skills and the ability to see tasks through to completion
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to handle detail and to analyse data
• Ability to communicate clearly in a variety of formats, and adjust style to suit the audience
• Proactive and pragmatic approach
• Able to work as part of a team and independently
• Desire to drive own development demonstrating a passion for learning new things
• Ability to handle confidential information discretely, professionally, and appropriately
• Courage to ask questions, introduce new ideas and question ways of working
• Ability to act with integrity, be an ambassador for the Bakkavor values and to champion an inclusive culture

We're proud to be recognised in the Gender Equity Measure Top 100 for our commitment to gender equality.

What you'll get in return

• Competitive salary and job-related benefits
• Holidays
• Competitive matched pension contributions
• Life insurance up to 4x salary
• Company share save scheme
• Greencore Qualifications
• Exclusive Greencore employee discount platform
• Access to a full Wellbeing Centre platform
• Enhanced parental leave and menopause policies

Throughout your time at Greencore, you will be supported with on-the-job training and development opportunities to further your career.