M&A & Change: Employee Relations Lead

WTW; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 25 days

Hybrid working

Private healthcare

Life insurance

Group income protection

Matched pension up to 10%

EV car scheme

Share scheme

Cycle-to-work

Dental cover

Optical cover

Critical illness protection

Volunteer day

Job summary

WTW in the United Kingdom seeks an Employee Relations Lead - Projects to drive ER activity around mergers, acquisitions, transfers and organisational change, including TUPE analysis and post‑transfer integration. You will provide end‑to‑end ER case management across multiple business units and advise senior leaders on compliant, commercially balanced outcomes.

Reporting to the Head of Employee Relations GB, the role combines governance, policy development and risk management with stakeholder

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

• 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 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

Employment law

Policy application

Case management

Change management

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Judgement & discretion

Organization & prioritisation

GDPR knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in HR or business

CIPD qualification or equivalent

Job description

WTW in the United Kingdom seeks an Employee Relations Lead - Projects to drive ER activity around mergers, acquisitions, transfers and organisational change, including TUPE analysis and post‑transfer integration. You will provide end‑to‑end ER case management across multiple business units and advise senior leaders on compliant, commercially balanced outcomes.

Reporting to the Head of Employee Relations GB, the role combines governance, policy development and risk management with stakeholder