Employee Relations jobs in South Africa

Remote is solving modern organizations’ biggest challenge – navigating global employment compliantly with ease. We make it possible for businesses of all sizes to recruit, pay, and manage international teams. With our core values at heart and future focused work culture, our team works tirelessly on ambitious problems, asynchronously, around the world. You can find Remoters working from 6 different continents (Antarctica left to go!) and all of our positions are fully remote.

With Innovation as one of the core values, we have built Automation and AI capabilities into the requirements for every role.

We encourage every member of the Remote team to bring their talents, experiences and culture to the table to help us build the best-in-class HR platform. If you are energetic, curious, motivated and ambitious, be part of our world. Apply now and define the future of work!

The People Business Partner, Employee Relations & Governance will be instrumental in building and maintaining the foundational governance for our global workforce. This is a high-impact role focused on mastering the intersection of policy development, organizational compliance, and complex employee relations (ER) management at scale.

Reporting directly to the Director of People Business Partners, you will own the consistency and fairness of our People practices, lead critical investigations, and drive compliance across diverse global jurisdictions.

You will partner closely with People Business Partners and our legal team, leveraging deep expertise to guide outcomes, mitigate risk, and set new operational standards. This role is essential for ensuring that our growth is underpinned by robust, scalable, and legally sound people management practices.

• Proven experience working specifically within a People function, with a primary focus on Employee Relations and Compliance.
• Proven track record of managing and resolving complex ER cases, across multiple jurisdictions.
• Exceptional capability to analyze systemic ER and compliance data, identify underlying risks, trends, and patterns, and translate findings into actionable strategic recommendations for the Director of People Business Partners to proactively inform governance and process improvements.
• Experience advising management on best practices to mitigate legal risk and promote positive employee engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to design, own, and execute the full lifecycle of global People policies (drafting, review, implementation, and maintenance) in partnership with Legal and senior stakeholders.
• Expertise in developing and implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and consultation guides that ensure policies are applied consistently, fairly, and are scalable across the organization globally.
• Deep experience serving as the initial consultative and oversight layer for performance structures, effectively managing the first review of probation checks and low-performance flags, and advising managers on complex performance management processes and documentation to mitigate legal risk.
• Proven ability to manage significant projects (e.g., policy implementation, system changes) with cross-functional partners (mainly Legal but also IT, Security, Finance and Payroll).

Policy Governance, Implementation & Compliance

• Global Policy Governance & Implementation: Own the full lifecycle of People policies. Lead the implementation and cross-functional enhancement of policies, partnering with the Director of People Business Partners and Legal counsel to draft, review, update, and socialize policies, ensuring they are globally compliant and fit for scale.
• Standardization & Consultation: Develop and maintain standardized operating procedures and consultation guides for People team and managers to ensure consistent, fair application of complex policies.
• Serve as the operational owner for processes requiring employee representative body consultation (e.g., policy changes, collective agreements). Prepare necessary documentation, coordinate internal alignment, and partner with Legal and People Business Partners to facilitate consultation processes.

Employee Relations (ER) & Performance System Management

• Systematic Performance Structure Management: Own the operational execution of systematic performance structures. Serve as the initial review and consultative layer for complex or escalated performance management cases.
• Case Leadership & Investigations: Lead and manage the majority of complex or high-risk employee relations cases and formal investigations from intake through resolution, guaranteeing procedural fairness and thorough documentation.
• Operational Escalation: Act as the formal escalation point and first layer of advanced guidance for complex/unresolved issues from the People Operations team, providing advanced guidance and coaching to People Partners on managing intricate ER matters.

Collaboration & Impact

• Risk Reporting & Mitigation: Identify systemic risks, trends, and patterns in ER, performance and compliance data; provide actionable feedback and risk mitigation proposals directly to the Director of People Business Partners to proactively address root causes
• Stakeholder Partnership: Collaborate closely with People Operations, Legal, and other internal departments (e.g., Finance, Security, IT) to ensure integrated, compliant processes.
• Enablement & Training: Develop and, in partnership with People Business Partners, deliver focused training sessions for People Partners and others on critical topics such as fair application of policy, performance management, and compliance best practices.

• You’ll report to: Director, People Business Partners
• Team: People Team - People Partners
• Location: For this position we welcome everyone to apply.
• Start date: As soon as possible

• Interview with recruiter
• Interview with future manager
• Interview with team members (no managers present)
• Interview with CPO
• Bar Raiser Interview
• Prior employment verification check

Remote's Total Rewards philosophy is to ensure fair, unbiased compensation and fair equity pay along with competitive benefits in all locations in which we operate. We do not agree to or encourage cheap-labor practices and therefore we ensure to pay above in-location rates. We hope to inspire other companies to support global talent-hiring and bring local wealth to developing countries.

At first glance our salary bands seem quite wide - here is some context. At Remote we have international operations and a globally distributed workforce. We use geo ranges to consider geographic pay differentials as part of our global compensation strategy to remain competitive in various markets while we hiring globally.

Our salary ranges are determined by role, level and location, and our job titles may span more than one career level. The actual base pay for the successful candidate in this role is dependent upon many factors such as location, transferable or job-related skills, work experience, relevant training, business needs, and market demands. The base salary range may be subject to change.

At Remote, we foster internal mobility as a key element of our culture of employee growth and development, supported by a compensation philosophy that guarantees pay equity and fairness. Therefore, all compensation changes associated with an internal move will be reviewed by the Total Rewards & People Enablement team on a case by case basis.

The annual salary range for this full-time position is €70.300 — €90.400 EUR

Our full benefits & perks are explained in our handbook at remote.com/r/benefits. As a global company, each country works differently, but some benefits/perks are for all Remoters:

• work from anywhere
• flexible paid time off
• flexible working hours (we are async)
• 16 weeks paid parental leave
• mental health support services
• stock options
• learning budget
• home office budget & IT equipment
• budget for local in-person social events or co-working spaces

We work async at Remote which means you can plan your schedule around your life (and not around meetings). Read more at remote.com/async.

You will be empowered to take ownership and be proactive. When in doubt you will default to action instead of waiting. Your life-work balance is important and you will be encouraged to put yourself and your family first, and fit work around your needs.

If that sounds like something you want, apply now!

• Please fill out the form below and upload your CV with a PDF format.
• We kindly ask you to submit your application and CV in English, as this is the standardised language we use here at Remote.
• If you don’t have an up to date CV but you are still interested in talking to us, please feel free to add a copy of your LinkedIn profile instead.

Not only do we encourage folks from all ethnic groups, genders, sexuality, age, abilities, disability status and any other under-represented group to apply, but we prioritize a sense of belonging. We have 4 ERGs (Women, Disability, Queer, Minorities in Tech) who meet regularly with the People team. During your interviews and beyond, we ask & encourage anybody who needs an accommodation to request one from their recruiter.

We will ask you to voluntarily tell us your pronouns at interview stage, and you will have the option to answer our anonymous demographic questionnaire when you apply below. As an equal employment opportunity employer it’s important to us that our workforce reflects people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences and this data will help us to stay accountable. We thank you for providing this data, if you chose to.

At Remote, we embrace AI as a valuable tool while prioritizing human creativity and authenticity.We look forward to meeting candidates who balance innovation with genuine expertise and experience.To learn more about Remote's AI guidelines check see here.

Please note we accept applications on an ongoing basis.