Employee Relations Manager - M3

Sandvik; Kempton Park; On-site; ZAR 1,100,000 - 1,700,000; Full time

Job summary

Sandvik Mining in South Africa seeks an experienced Employee Relations Manager to lead ER strategy and governance across the Southern Africa region. You will guide disciplinary, grievance, and dispute processes, partner with unions and management, and drive Employment Equity compliance and transformation initiatives.

Role requires senior ER expertise, leadership of a regional ER team, and strong stakeholder management to minimise risk and support business goals.

Qualifications

• Requires degree in Law or equivalent.
• Postgraduate qualification in Labour Relations, Employment Law, HR Management, or Industrial Relations is advantageous.
• Admitted Attorney is advantageous.
• Labour Law specialization is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement the Employee Relations strategy for the Southern Africa region.
• Lead disciplinary, grievance, and dispute resolution processes.
• Manage relations with unions, works councils, and labour bodies.
• Oversee Employment Equity compliance and transformation initiatives across the region.
• Provide expert guidance to leadership on complex ER issues and governance.
• Monitor labour legislation and industry best practices.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Employee relations

Discipline & investigations

Labour law

Policy governance

Data analytics

Education

Law degree

Postgraduate labour relations/ER or IR

Admitted Attorney (advantageous)

Labour law specialization (advantageous)

Job description

Sandvik Mining is a global leading supplier in equipment and tools, parts, service and technical solutions for the mining and infrastructure industries. Applications include rock drilling, rock cutting, loading and hauling, tunnelling and quarrying. We are proud to be recognized on the Forbes Top 50 Global Employers List.

The Role:

The Employee Relations Manager is responsible for developing, leading and executing the employee relations strategy across the Southern Africa region. The role oversees all employee relations policies, processes, investigations, disciplinary and grievance matters, dispute resolution, industrial relations activities, and Employment Equity compliance initiatives. The role provides expert guidance on employee and labour relations matters, ensuring compliance with Southern African labour legislation and fostering a positive, productive, and inclusive workplace culture.

The incumbent leads a team of Employee Relations Specialists and partners closely with business leaders to proactively identify, mitigate, and resolve employee relations risks while fostering a fair, legally compliant, and high-performance workplace culture. The role also serves as the custodian of Employment Equity strategy, reporting, and transformation initiatives across the organization.

Through effective stakeholder engagement, leadership of the ER team, data-driven insights, and sound judgement, the Employee Relations Manager helps minimise legal and organisational risk, enhance employee experience, and support the achievement of business goals.

Key Performance Areas:

ER STRATEGY AND LEADERSHIP

• Develop and implement the Employee Relations strategy aligned to business objectives across the Southern Africa region.
• Establish a proactive employee relations framework focused on risk mitigation, compliance, employee engagement, and organisational effectiveness.
• Lead the review and enhancement of employee relations policies, procedures, and governance frameworks.
• Monitor labour legislation, employment trends, collective bargaining developments, and employee relations best practices across Southern Africa.
• Identify emerging employee relations risks and implement preventative strategies and interventions.
• Provide strategic employee relations guidance to leadership teams, HR stakeholders, and business leaders.
• Drive programmes that promote fair, respectful, equitable, and consistent employee treatment across the organisation.

TACTICAL LEADERSHIP AND DELIVERY OF HR OPERATIONS

• Oversee disciplinary, grievance, poor performance, incapacity, misconduct, harassment, discrimination, whistleblowing, ethics and conflict management processes.
• Review recommendations and ensure consistency of disciplinary outcomes across the organisation.
• Provide expert guidance and support to managers and employees on complex employee relations issues and workplace practices.
• Lead and coordinate corrective actions arising from investigations and employee relations matters.

INDUSTRIAL AND LABOUR RELATIONS

• Manage relationships with unions, works councils, and employee representative structures.
• Lead collective bargaining, consultation, and engagement processes.
• Manage CCMA, Labour Court, bargaining council, and equivalent labour dispute processes across the region.
• Represent the organisation in labour forums and dispute resolution proceedings.
• Partner with legal advisors, external labour consultants, and relevant authorities.
• Analyse bargaining trends, labour market developments, and legislative changes and recommend appropriate business responses.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND TRANSFORMATION

• Lead the Employment Equity strategy and implementation across the organisation.
• Oversee Employment Equity reporting, submissions, and statutory compliance requirements.
• Monitor workforce demographics and progress against Employment Equity targets.
• Partner with Talent, HR, and business leaders to improve workforce representation and transformation outcomes.
• Support and influence diversity, equity, inclusion, and transformation initiatives across the Southern Africa region.

COMPLIANCE AND GOVERNANCE

• Ensure compliance with labour legislation, employment regulations, and organisational policies across all applicable jurisdictions.
• Conduct employee relations and Employment Equity compliance audits.
• Maintain employee relations governance frameworks and reporting standards.
• Ensure consistent application of workplace policies and procedures across the organisation.

LEADERSHIP AND TEAM MANAGEMENT

• Lead, coach, develop, and manage Employee Relations Specialists and associated resources.
• Build capability in investigations, labour law, dispute resolution, stakeholder management, and industrial relations.
• Drive performance accountability, succession planning, and development planning within the team.
• Ensure effective resource planning and workload management to meet business requirements.

BUSINESS PARTNERING AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT

• Partner with executives and management teams on workforce risk, employee relations, and organisational effectiveness matters.
• Coach and advise leaders on labour law, employee relations, investigations, workplace conduct, and consultation processes.
• Support restructures, organisational change initiatives, consultations, mergers, acquisitions, workforce transitions, and business transformation projects.
• Build strong and trusted stakeholder relationships across the Southern Africa region.
• Serve as a senior subject matter expert for complex employee relations matters.

REPORTING AND ANALYTICS

• Develop and maintain Employee Relations, Employment Equity, labour relations, and compliance dashboards.
• Analyse trends relating to grievances, disciplinary cases, absenteeism, investigations, disputes, workforce demographics, and employee concerns.
• Provide regular reports and strategic insights to business leadership.
• Use data and analytics to identify risks, trends, and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Develop action plans and recommendations based on identified trends.

Your Profile:

Education and Qualifications:

• A degree in Law or equivalent qualification.
• Postgraduate qualification in Labour Relations, Employment Law, HR Management, or Industrial Relations is advantageous.
• Admitted Attorney is advantageous.
• Labour Law specialisation is advantageous.

Experience:

• 8-10 years' experience in Employee Relations, Labour Relations, or Industrial Relation, of which 3-5 years are with labour law and litigation experience.
• 3 years’ management experience.
• Experience managing complex disciplinary, grievance, industrial relations, and dispute-resolution matters.
• Extensive experience in handling CCMA and bargaining council disputes, including high-risk and complex arbitration proceedings on behalf of employers.
• Demonstrated experience managing Employment Equity strategy and reporting.
• Experience managing the people related aspects of mergers, acquisitions, business integrations and organisational restructuring.
• Experience operating within a multi-site or regional environment.
• Experience in unionised and non-unionised environments.
• Mining experience advantageous.

Competencies:

• Communication skills
• Conflict management
• Customer and delivery focus
• Employee relations
• Performance and talent management
• Planning and organising
• Problem solving

Applications close: 18 September 2026

Sandvik is an equal opportunity employer, striving for practices and programs that are bias free and in which employees are treated fairly to ensure fair opportunity with the best outcome for every individual securing no discrimination on grounds including but not limited to, age, gender, gender expression, race, ethnicity, language, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.

To ensure an inclusive, equitable and diverse work environment where people can develop and perform well, our focus areas are: great leadership, lifelong learning & development, career opportunities & open job market and safe & fair work environment.