Employee (/ Labor) Relations Specialist

A.P. Moller - Maersk; Shah Alam; On-site; MYR 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Maersk in Shah Alam, Malaysia, is seeking an Employee Relations Specialist to provide strategic and hands-on support across Malaysia and the wider region, partnering with business leaders, People Business Partners, and operations to deliver expert employee and labour relations guidance.

You will manage complex investigations, labour relations matters, and engagements with unions, while supporting organisational change, restructures, and workforce transformation initiatives.

Qualifications

• 7-10+ years of experience in Employee Relations, Labor Relations, Employment Law, or Industrial Relations.
• Strong knowledge of local employment and labor law.
• Experience working with unions, works councils, and employee representative bodies.
• Experience in logistics, warehousing, manufacturing, transportation, or similar labor-intensive industries.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing, and communication skills.
• Ability to balance legal, operational, people, and commercial considerations in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• 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 labor standards and governance across both directly employed and third-party labor populations.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Negotiation skills

Legal/industrial relations knowledge

Job description

Job title - Employee/Labor Relations Specialist

Location - Shah Alam Selangor (Kuala Lumpa) Malaysia

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 labor standards and governance across both directly employed and third‑party labor populations.

Key Areas of Impact

In this role, it will be critical that you:

• Keep business leaders appraised of evolving labor 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 labor 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 labor-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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