Employee (/ Labor) Relations Specialist

Maersk Malaysia Sdn Bhd; Shah Alam; On-site; MYR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Maersk Malaysia Sdn Bhd seeks an experienced Employee Relations Specialist to partner with business leaders and operations across Malaysia. This permanent, office-based role delivers expert ER/LR support, manages workforce risks, and engages with unions and employee bodies.

You will advise on investigations, grievances, and disciplinary cases, lead union engagements, and support organisational change and workforce transformation while upholding high labour standards across direct and third-party

Qualifications

• 7–10+ years of experience in employee or labor relations.
• Strong knowledge of local employment and labour law.
• Experience working with unions or employee representative bodies.
• Experience in logistics, warehousing, manufacturing or similar labour-intensive environments is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert guidance on employee and labor relations matters, investigations, grievances, and disciplinary cases.
• Partner with business leaders to identify and mitigate workforce and labour relations risks.
• Lead engagement with unions and employee bodies, supporting consultations and collective bargaining.
• Support organisational change, restructures, site expansions, and workforce transformation.
• Coach managers on employee relations best practices, conflict resolution, and engagement.
• Drive labour standards and governance across direct and third-party labour populations.

Skills

Employee Relations

Labor Relations

Employment Law

Industrial Relations

Unions engagement

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Job description

Job title - Employee/Labor Relations Specialist

Role type – Permanent, office/site based 5 days per week

At Maersk, we're transforming the future of logistics, and we're looking for an experienced Employee Relations Specialist to help build a resilient, engaged, and high-performing workforce across our operations in Malaysia and wider region.

This is a strategic and hands-on role where you'll partner closely with business leaders, People Business Partners, and operational teams to deliver expert employee and labor relations support across Contract Logistics and other operational environments. You'll play a key role in ensuring business continuity, managing workforce risks, supporting organisational change, and fostering positive relationships with employees and representative bodies.

What You'll Do

As a trusted advisor, you will:

• Provide expert guidance on complex employee and labor relations matters, employment law, investigations, grievances, disciplinary cases, and disputes.
• Partner with business leaders to identify and mitigate workforce and labor relations risks.
• Lead engagement with unions, works councils, and employee representatives, supporting consultations, negotiations, and collective bargaining activities.
• Support organisational change, restructures, start‑ups, site expansions, and workforce transformation initiatives.
• Build leadership capability by coaching managers on employee relations best practices, conflict resolution, and workforce engagement.
• Drive responsible labour standards and governance across both directly employed and third‑party labour populations.

Key Areas of Impact

In this role, it will be critical that you:

• Keep business leaders appraised of evolving labour standards, employee relations trends, and critical industry‑relevant legislative updates.
• Lead or manage the escalation of material employment and labour relations risks, including business continuity planning and crisis management activities in partnership with regional and global stakeholders.

What We're Looking For

• 7-10+ years' experience in Employee Relations, Labor Relations, Employment Law, or Industrial Relations.
• Strong knowledge of local employment and labour law.
• Experience working with unions, works councils, and employee representative bodies.
• Proven background supporting frontline, operational, blue‑collar, or site‑based workforces within logistics, warehousing, manufacturing, transportation, or similarly labour‑intensive industries.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing, and communication skills.
• Ability to balance legal, operational, people, and commercial considerations in a fast‑paced business environment.

Why Maersk?

Join a global organisation where your expertise will directly influence business success, employee experience, and workforce stability. You'll work alongside talented colleagues across a highly collaborative international network while helping shape the future of employee relations in one of the world's leading logistics companies.

Interested? We'd love to hear from you.

Maersk is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we embrace different styles of thinking. Maersk is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants without regard to race, colour, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or parental leave, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
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