Junior HR Business Partner

Hachette UK; England; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

Hachette UK is seeking a Junior HR Business Partner to enhance HR capabilities across multiple divisions. The ideal candidate will work alongside senior leadership to improve management practices, drive employee relations, and deliver innovative HR solutions, all while contributing to a dynamic and inclusive workplace atmosphere in the publishing industry.

Benefits

28 annual leave days plus bank holidays

Private medical insurance

Generous pension schemes

Rent deposit loans

Summer hours on Fridays

Retail discounts

Cycle to Work scheme

Development programmes

Up to 70% off book purchases

Qualifications

• Currently working as an Advisor looking for the next step in their role.
• Experience of working with senior managers and managing a team.
• Proven experience in complex employee relations issues and strong understanding of employment legislation.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Senior HR Business Partner to drive improvements in management capability.
• Ensure a fair and consistent approach to employee relations.
• Deliver continual improvement of the HR offering and support HR Assistant and Senior HR Officer.

Skills

Adaptable

Communication

Analytical

Interpersonal

Problem Solving

Customer Service

Resilience

Education

Experience as an HR Advisor

Job description

Who we are and what we do

About Hachette UK

Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.

We're made up of 11 autonomous publishing divisions and over 60 imprints with a rich and diverse history and an incredible range of authors. We're also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Orion, which won Publisher of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards; Little, Brown; John Murray Press; Hodder & Stoughton; Headline; Quercus; Octopus, and Bookouture. They publish fiction and non-fiction in digital, audio and print format, from the world's best and most diverse authors, including Brit Bennett, Candice Carty-Williams, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Maggie O'Farrell, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Colson Whitehead, and Malala Yousafzai. Hachette Children's Group publishes a wide and vibrant range of books for children across all age ranges, while Hachette Learning is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.

Hachette UK is part of Hachette Livre, the world's third largest trade and educational publisher. As well as our headquarters in Carmelite House, London, and our state-of-the-art book distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, we have recently opened five new offices in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The UK region also includes offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

It's an exciting time to join our business because the publishing market continues to grow and thrive. The UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world and book adaptations for film and TV are the foundation of the UK's creative industries.

What you'll be doing

As a Junior HR Business Partner for a range of Hachette UK’s divisions, you will work closely with the Senior HR Business Partner to drive improvements in management capability, ensure a fair and consistent approach to employee relations and deliver continual improvement of the HR offering. You will also support the Senior HR Business Partner with implementing a wide range of HR solutions that support business objectives.

The HR team are responsible for delivering the people vision of the company working in collaboration with the business to provide strategic talent solutions that add value to Hachette UK and its people.

This is an exciting position working across multiple divisions within Hachette UK and will play a crucial role in supporting our managers across all levels whilst supporting and developing the HR Assistant and Senior HR Officer.

We’re looking for a HR Advisor who is ready for their next step up into business partnering, working in a supportive and collaborative environment!

Who we are looking for

Personal Attributes/Skills

• Adaptable and able to take both a strategic and ‘hands-on’ approach
• Credible, proactive professional with excellent judgment and the ability to instil confidence in others
• Great communicator, both written and oral, with the ability to clearly present information to others
• Proactive, solutions focused, and a pragmatic problem solver
• Well networked with great interpersonal skills and capable of easily and naturally building relationships
• Analytical skills including the ability to quickly and accurately assimilate information from complex verbal and numerical data
• Ability to prioritise and handle ever changing and conflicting workload priorities
• Ability to think innovatively and generate ideas and solutions offering a range of options
• The ability to build trusted and positive relationships with staff at all levels
• Accurate and exacting standards
• High level of resilience with the ability to read people and adapt approach accordingly
• Take pride in providing a first-class customer service to senior leaders and managers across our business
• Tactful, diplomatic and approachable

Experience/Knowledge

• Currently working as an Advisor looking for the next step in their role
• Experience of working with and building rapport and strong relationships with very senior managers
• Experience of managing a team- ability to prioritise, set a clear direction and be a role model within the function and the team that aligns with our culture and goals
• Proven experience of managing complex employee relations issues, restructures, advising on organisational design and talent management processes
• Strong understanding of employment legislation

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

This role can be based at our London office, or at any of our national offices in Sheffield, Edinburgh, Newcastle, or Bristol, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org