People Advisor MEA

British Council; London; Remote; GBP 37,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading international organization is seeking an experienced HR Advisor to support business leaders across the MEA region. You will handle employee relations, ensure compliance with local laws, and guide line managers. Candidates must have strong labour law knowledge and be fluent in English and French. This role offers opportunities for hybrid working.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in a generalist or specialist People function advisory role.
• Track record of building effective relationships with business leadership teams.
• Working knowledge of employment and labour law in the MEA Hub.

Responsibilities

• Advise and guide line managers on employee life cycle aspects.
• Manage discipline and conduct-related issues.
• Support workplace conflict resolution.

Skills

Generalist advisory experience

Relationship management

Labour law knowledge

Employee relations experience

Languages proficiency (English CEF C1, French CEF C1)

Education

HR qualification (MA/MSC or CIPD or equivalent)

Job description

Overview

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications. Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.

Pay Band – 7. Contract Type – Indefinite. Location – Morocco or Tunisia. Closing date – Monday 1st July 2024 23:59 UK time. You must have the legal right to work in Morocco or Tunisia at the time of application. There is no relocation or sponsorship support. British Council supports working in new ways such as hybrid working, subject to full approval by line management and conditional upon our ability to provide the appropriate level of service. This may not be appropriate for all roles but can be explored at interview.

About the role

The People Services team exists to enable business leaders to make good decisions within policy and process frameworks and to ensure that the fundamentals of people administration are delivered efficiently and effectively for all colleagues, in partnership with the MSP. The role will be key to ensuring that the People function services provided are consistent with global HR policies and processes, reflect local policy frameworks, and are high quality and efficient.

Main Responsibilities

• Advise and guide line managers across a range of countries on all aspects of the employee life cycle, so that the EVP is delivered and experienced within the organisation.
• Apply People function technical and professional knowledge, recognised best practice approaches and insight from previous experience to resolve non-standard issues.
• Manage and advise on discipline and conduct related issues, up to and including dismissal by reference to policy and local legislation and working with ER/case management team on medium and high-risk cases as required.
• Support resolution of workplace conflict, including grievances, taking an early resolution approach wherever possible.
• Conduct analysis using a range of standard methodologies and across multiple datasets to provide high quality and evidence-based procedural recommendations and HR advice.
• Support business execution of organisation restructures compliant with British Council policies and legal requirements (e.g., advise and participate with business on execution of the consultation process and managing redundancies) and work with legal advisers and union bodies as necessary to support Lead Advisor.
• Use a variety of information resources and professional networks to maintain up-to-date knowledge of developments in external policy, practice, and regulation within the People function.
• Build line managers’ confidence to make decisions in people-related matters.
• Consult closely with internal customers and other stakeholder to understand current and future business needs and plans work activities accordingly to ensure the services and advice provided meet those demands.
• Provide expert HR advice informed by local labour laws and other relevant regulations, support and challenge to internal customers and other stakeholders to support the development of high quality, effective and continuously improving business practices within their area of expertise, ensuring high quality service is delivered to maximise performance and minimise risks and costs.
• Make professional recommendations to resolve specific or localised People function issues and offer ideas which contribute to the development of wider solutions to broader business challenges and problems.
• Participate as part of a team to support implementation the people component of corporate or regional change projects.

Role Specific Skills

• Provide expert HR advice informed by local labour laws and other relevant regulations, support and challenge to internal customers and other stakeholders to support the development of high quality, effective and continuously improving business practices within their area of expertise, ensuring high quality service is delivered to maximise performance and minimise risks and costs.
• Make professional recommendations to resolve specific or localised People function issues and offer ideas which contribute to the development of wider solutions to broader business challenges and problems.
• Participate as part of a team to support implementation the people component of corporate or regional change projects.

Minimum/essential requirements

• Demonstrable experience in a generalist or specialist People function Advisory role across a number of countries in the MEA Hub (for example, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria) and/or a large complex country and well versed in all areas of the People function life cycle.
• Track record of building effective relationships with business leadership teams and managing a range of complex internal and external stakeholders in the delivery of high quality and effective professional People function services.
• Working knowledge of employment and labour law including working knowledge of social security and tax regulations for private sector organizations in the MEA Hub and leading on employee relations cases.
• Experience of working in countries with labour laws based on the French system.

Language Requirements

• The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency (CEF C1) in English is required.
• French (CEF C1)

Education and Qualifications

• Desirable - HR qualification (MA/MSC or CIPD or equivalent).

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