Talent Manager

Bowmans (Law Firm); Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading law firm is seeking a Talent Manager to align its talent strategy with business needs. This role involves strategic talent management, relationship building with business leaders, compliance with policies, and overseeing HR processes within the organization. The successful candidate will need over a decade of experience in HR with a strong background in management within a professional services environment.

Qualifications

• 12 - 15 years’ experience with at least 5 years’ at management level in a professional services environment.
• Pan-Africa experience is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic talent advice and services to specific departments/office.
• Accountable for people management services, guiding partners on talent processes.
• Manage recruitment, onboarding, and exiting within designated departments.

Skills

Interactive Communication

Organizational Awareness

Teamwork

Planning and Organizing

Education

Degree in Industrial Relations/Human Resources Management

Job description

Purpose:

As a talent manager, the role will be required to provide business focused, strategic talent advice and services to a specific department and / or office and own the talent strategy for that area in line with the broader Bowmans talent strategy.

This Talent position will assess and anticipate people-related needs, tackle pressing talent challenges and opportunities and, through collaborative partnerships across the Firm, particularly with their business area leadership teams and the COEs, deliver value-added talent solutions to management and employees and enable key change initiatives

Accountable for providing a comprehensive people management service within designated portfolio through guiding and coaching partners on high leverage use of talent processes to deliver on the business agenda and shape the desired culture. They will ensure partners and staff successfully navigate and comply with Talent policies and procedures, working together to achieve best practice across all areas of Talent.

Experience and Qualifications:

• 12 – 15 years’ with at least 5 years’ at a management level in a professional services environment.
• Pan-Africa Experience Advantage
• Degree - Industrial Relations / Human Resources Management

Key Accountabilities

Talent Strategy

• Work with the Partners in their department/office to understand the people and organisational implications of the business strategy, taking into account external influences and the business context
• Shapes, contracts and drives the talent strategy for their area in line with the overall Firm talent strategy to deliver targeted business performance, support any change /restructure agenda and deliver the Bowmans employee value proposition, enhance engagement and drive high performance
• Work with partners to identify material shifts in people and department/office capability requirements to meet future business demands and create a realistic plan to deliver these and ensure a deep leadership and technical bench that has the skills to execute on strategy; also ensuring that critical roles can be filled quickly and effectively in the event of a vacancy.
• Where appropriate, aspects of Firm’s talent/people initiatives and projects as agreed and support the roll out of key CoE initiatives
• Embed and monitor Talent performance through the use of key metrics and scorecards, providing regular insight to leadership to enable effective decision-making and guide the enhancement of the talent agenda
• Responsible for providing input into the formulation of Talent strategies

Building relationships and becoming a trusted Talent advisor

• Build relationships with business leaders to offer thought leadership on firm and people-related strategy and execution
• Coach senior leaders to improve leadership abilities, relationships among teams/individuals and interpersonal communications, as well as deliver effective performance feedback.
• Constructively challenge people/talent decisions which are not in best interest of the Firm

INTEGRATION, CONSISTENCY & STANDARDISATION (30%)

Integration, Consistency & Standardisation of Talent Processes

• Drive operational excellence through the consistent and integrated delivery of talent processes in line with processes, procedures and agreed standards
• Drive the effective use and adoption of the Firm HR System within the designated portfolio and support the above through ensuring data integrity and effective leveraging of data and insights to support leadership insight and decision-making
• Identify and drive the sharing of best practices across functions to facilitate continuous improvement.
• Act as a liaison between line, Talent operations and COEs to ensure Talent services are aligned with internal client needs.

Talent GENERALIST (30%)

Involved in the recruitment, onboarding and exiting of all employees within designated departments

• Assess staffing needs based on firm, department and / or office priorities
• Partner with the business leaders to identify critical skills necessary for growth of the firm or PGs and design a roadmap of attracting or retaining this talent.
• Actively contribute to initiatives aimed at meeting the transformation targets.
• Review exit interview reports and work with the Head of talent partnering and or respective PG heads to implement mitigating measures.

Involved in resource planning, performance management and development of all employees within designated departments/offices

• Act as the advocate for leading the talent management and development plans for the department and / or office with a focus on enhancing the quality of leaders, building skills and capabilities.
• Identify gaps between current and desired performance and deploy actions to resolve gaps.
• Analyze workforce trends to model and forecast future skills requirements to support senior leaders in workforce planning and succession management.
• Review key business performance targets and their related talent implications with business leaders i.e. work allocation.
• Assist leaders to create development programs for high-potential employees.
• Analyze trends in performance data for department and / or office and work with business leader to develop solutions for improvement
• Guide partners to select and place top talent as part of the secondment program
• Drive the performance management and promotions process within designated departments and / or offices
• Actively engage with employees to assist them in drafting development plans, monitoring progress and collaborate with L&D to best facilitate and support development.

Manages employee relations issues

• Provide advice and management support of more complex ER procedures, inclusive of poor performance, disciplinary inquiries, grievances and referrals to external tribunals, in a manner that minimizes risk and supports the culture of the Firm and is compliant to the country specific disciplinary policy and procedure
• Guide management and assist employees if additional support is required through referring the individual to the employee wellness service providers.
• Work closely with the specialist Talent team and provide support to management with regards to employee’s health and incapacity.

Custodian of Talent policies and procedures within Bowman SA

• Review and benchmark the internal and external environment to identify new opportunities for the team to improve Talent policies and initiatives.
• Keep abreast of current Talent best practice and relevant legislation.
• Promote awareness of and ensure adherence to all Talent policies.

Remuneration & benefits implementation, compliance and support

• Actively engage with partners and management and the specialist Talent team to deliver on the firm’s reward strategy
• Oversee, coordinate and manage the salary review and bonus process with partners, management and remuneration specialist for your respective department and / or office.
• Provide guidance or make decisions (with Talent Acquisition and business leaders) on remuneration and benefit packages aligned to market expectations and internal parity

Talent Analytics

• Analyse workforce trends to model and forecast future labour requirements
• Craft stories based on metrics to drive talent decisions and recommend strategy
• Identify appropriate metrics to measure the progress of department and / or office Talent strategy

Employee Engagement

• Develop insights from exiting employees
• Foster culture and behaviours within department and offices that align with the firm’s values Delegates work to team members taking into account their capacity, level of skill and exposure to different types of work and complexity; provides clear instructions and direction, with reasonable deadlines

Talent PROJECTS (15%)

Manage and/or contribute to assigned Talent initiatives & projects

• Lead and manage agreed Talent strategic projects
• Participate in and contribute to agreed strategic Talent projects
• Participation in change management initiatives as appropriate

MANAGING TEAM & SELF (15%)

Management and Leadership

• Manages own team’s performance to ensure delivery of the approved Talent strategy across designated departments and offices
• Gives regular, comprehensive and constructive feedback to team and conducts their performance appraisals
• Proactively seeks feedback from team members and deals constructively with any criticism
• Adjusts management style to get the best from the individuals within the team
• Effectively delegates work to team members taking into account their capacity, level of skill and exposure to different types of work and complexity; provides clear instructions and direction, with reasonable deadlines

Competencies

• Interactive Communication
• Organizational Awareness
• Resilience
• Teamwork
• Business Perspective
• Human Resources Management
• Legislation, Policies, Procedures and Standards
• Planning and organising

"Bowmans is committed to achieving the objectives set in its transformation charter, and the targets in its employment equity plan. All recruitment decisions will be taken with due consideration being given to these objectives”