People Partner (Employee Relations)

Dunelm; Thorp Arch; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Dunelm is seeking an Employee Relations People Partner to provide expert guidance to store leaders across Yorkshire. The role is field-based, focused on fair and legally compliant handling of employee relations matters, with emphasis on coaching and improving leadership capability and colleague experience.

You will analyse people data, identify risks and opportunities, and work with the People team to embed robust practices that support business performance and a high‑performing culture.

Qualifications

• Provide leaders with expert guidance on employee relation matters, ensuring cases are managed effectively and in line with policy and law.
• Mitigate people-related risks, escalating issues and protecting the business from exposure.
• Ensure consistent application of people policies and employment practices across the business.
• Coach leaders to manage performance, absence, conduct and ER matters, building capability and high performance.
• Analyse people data (absence, ER trends, compliance, turnover) to identify risks and opportunities.

Responsibilities

• Support leaders with complex ER matters and case management.
• Provide oversight of compliance areas like right to work and mandatory training.
• Identify gaps in processes and drive corrective actions.
• Collaborate with the wider People team to align day-to-day management with strategy.

Job description

Overview

As an Employee Relations People Partner, you'll provide expert people advice and support to leaders across your region, ensuring the fair, consistent and legally compliant application of people policies and processes. Acting as a trusted partner, you'll help leaders navigate complex people matters, manage risk and achieve positive outcomes for colleagues, customers and the business. The role is field based and will cover our Dunelm stores across Yorkshire. At Dunelm, our People & Comms team partners with leaders to create high-performing, inclusive teams and great colleague experiences. Combining people expertise with commercial insight, we help drive performance, build leadership capability and support the business to succeed. Working closely with leaders, you'll build management capability through coaching, guidance and constructive challenge. You'll support a wide range of employee relations matters, including performance, absence, conduct, grievance and disciplinary cases, helping leaders apply policies consistently while fostering a culture of accountability and high performance. Using people data and insight, you'll identify trends, risks and opportunities, driving targeted interventions that improve colleague experience and strengthen leadership effectiveness. You'll also provide oversight of key compliance areas, ensuring robust people practices are embedded and supporting the delivery of business objectives across the region.

What you'll be doing

• Provide leaders with expert guidance and oversight on employee relation matters, ensuring cases are managed effectively, consistently and in line with policy and employment law.
• Manage and mitigate people-related risks, escalating issues appropriately and protecting the business from legal and reputational exposure.
• Ensure consistent application of people policies and processes and employment practices across the business.
• Coach, support and challenge leaders to confidently and effectively manage performance, absence, conduct and employee relations matters, building leadership capability and driving high performance teams.
• Hold leaders to account for following correct people processes, ensuring clear ownership and effective case management.
• Provide oversight of key compliance areas, including right to work, mandatory training and people process adherence, identifying gaps and driving corrective action.
• Analyse people data (e.g. absence, ER trends, compliance, turnover and engagement) to identify risks, performance opportunities and areas of inconsistency, recommending actions that improve colleague and business outcomes.
• Partner with the wider People team to ensure alignment between day-to-day people management, policy and broader people strategy

What we'll look for in you

• Strong employee relations expertise, with experience managing complex cases and delivering fair, consistent and legally compliant outcomes.
• In-depth knowledge of employment law, with the ability to apply this in a pragmatic and commercially focused way.
• Experience identifying, assessing and mitigating people-related risks, balancing colleague experience with business needs.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge, coach and hold leaders accountable at all levels.
• Proven ability to build management capability through coaching, developing confidence and effectiveness in handling people matters.
• Analytical and insight-driven, with the ability to interpret people data, identify trends and drive actions that improve performance and colleague outcomes.
• Strong attention to detail, with a focus on governance, compliance and ensuring high standards are maintained.
• Experience working in a multi-site operational environment, supporting leaders across diverse teams and locations.
• Experience supporting organisational change, helping leaders and colleagues navigate change effectively.
• Ability to shape thinking and influence decision-making at a senior level, bringing confidence, credibility and constructive challenge.
• Experience designing and implementing scalable, practical people solutions within fast-paced and complex environments.
• A proactive and curious mindset, always looking for opportunities to improve people practices, simplify processes and deliver better outcomes for the business and colleagues.