Employee Relations Business Partner - Specified Purpose Contract

Marks & Spencer Plc; Dublin; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Marks & Spencer Plc in Ireland seeks an experienced employee relations professional to design, deliver and, when needed, lead relationships with unions and stakeholders. You will develop and implement ER strategies, provide expert advice on policy and people processes, and support business change across ROI while coordinating with UK counterparts.

You will drive manager capability, ensure compliant practice, and foster continuous improvement through engagement metrics and training initiatives,

Responsibilities

• Help design, deliver and, when required, lead ROI’s employee relations, colleague listening and business change strategies and plans
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with Unions by leading or supporting communication, consultation, or negotiation to create a proactive partnership with each union which delivers business benefit and positive colleague engagement
• Work with stakeholders to develop toolkits, training interventions and upskilling strategies to raise line manager ER capability and confidence to ensure policies are applied correctly; enhance colleague experience; implement business change; engage trade union partners
• Provide expert employee relations advice and input into business change programmes; partner with ROI People Partners and M&S UK CoEs to ensure effective delivery and end-to-end management of operational or transformational change including trade union negotiations/consultation when required
• Develop and simplify ROI people policies and processes to be legal, competitive, practical, future-proof and aligned with the M&S brand and colleague experience; communicate and train as needed
• Collaborate with subject matter experts to ensure policy-related system changes are understood, resource-efficient, tested and launched with user training for successful deployment
• Monitor and interpret changes to ROI employment legislation and benchmark externally to keep M&S compliant and innovative
• Lead projects from design to post-implementation review as ROI’s subject matter expert, guiding HR colleagues, line managers and colleagues on policy, employee relations and engagement matters
• Manage and provide expertise to line managers on how complex casework should be handled and progressed (with Legal and other specialists) to reach successful conclusions
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement by seeking feedback, designing metrics and incorporating insights to refine policies and processes
• Create and maintain effective working relationships with M&S UK Policy and ER specialists and other UK CoEs to ensure ROI and UK policy alignment and to promote the M&S brand while minimising ER risks across the island of Ireland
• Collaborate with the Ireland People Team to contribute ideas, share expertise and support delivery of the People Plan as a high-performing team

Job description

• Help design, deliver and, when required, lead the ROI’s employee relations, colleague
  listening and business change strategies and plans
• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with Unions (by
  leading or supporting, as appropriate, with the communication, consultation, or
  negotiation between parties) to create a proactive partnership with each union which,
  at its heart, jointly delivers business benefit and positive colleague engagement.
• Work closely with key stakeholders, to develop and deliver toolkits, training
  interventions and upskilling strategies which raise line manager ER capability and
  confidence to ensure policies are applied correctly; colleague experience is enhanced;
  business change is implemented appropriately; and trade union partners are properly
  engaged.
• Provide expert employee relations advice and input into business change
  programmes. This includes partnering with ROI People Partners and M&S UK CoE’s
  as necessary to ensure the effective delivery and end- to-end management of
  operational or transformational change which can include, when required, assisting
  or leading trade union negotiations/consultation.
• Develop and simplify ROI people policies and processes to ensure they are legal,
  competitive, practical, meet future business needs, and enhance the M&S brand and
  colleague experience. This includes ensuring that ROI policies and processes are
  communicated effectively, and their delivery is supported, when required, with
  appropriate training.
• Partner with subject matter experts to ensure any policy related system change
  requirements and dependencies are fully understood, resource-effective, will be
  supported by robust user acceptance testing and, if necessary, launched with user
  training to ensure successful deployment.
• Monitor and interpret changes to ROI employment legislation and undertake external
  benchmarking to ensure M&S remains compliant and a best practice and innovative
  employer.
• Lead (from design to post implementation review) projects as required and act as
  the ROI’s subject matter expert by providing guidance and support to HR colleagues,
  line managers, and colleagues on policy, employee relations and colleague
  engagement and listening matters.
• Manage and provide expertise to line managers on how complex casework should
  be handled and progressed (working with Legal and other specialists) to the case’s
  successful conclusion.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, by seeking feedback, designing and
  developing metrics and incorporating insights and learning to refine policies and
  processes and to measure their effectiveness.
• Create and maintain effective working relationships with M&S’s UK Policy and ER
  specialists (and other UK CoEs) to ensure ROI and UK policy and people strategies
  are (when appropriate) congruent and jointly promote the M&S brand whilst
  minimising any ER risks or issues across the company’s island of Ireland operation.
• Work effectively with the rest of the Ireland People Team, by contributing ideas and
  expertise and acting as a fully participative team member to assist colleagues in the
  delivery of all elements of the People Plan and to be a high-performance team.