Role Purpose
The Employee Relations Manager is accountable for delivering consistent, fair, and legally compliant employee relations support across Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales). The role enables a strong performance culture, leads GB Speak Up investigations, and manages ER matters for a predominantly field-based Sales and Quality Technical workforce.
The role operates autonomously on standard and moderately complex matters and partners with the Global ER and Internal Legal Teams on complex, high-risk, or non-standard cases, in line with the governance and legal triage principles. Engagement with external legal advisors is managed exclusively through Global ER / Legal.
Key Responsibilities
Employment Law, Policy & Governance
- Apply global and GB-specific ER policies and guidance consistently across the GB organisation.
- Maintain strong, up-to-date knowledge of GB employment law and relevant case law, translating legal requirements into practical business guidance.
- Partner with Global ER/ Internal Legal Counsel on employment claims and pre-litigation matters, including case preparation and evidence management.
- Mitigate legal and reputational risk through early, well-governed ER interventions and appropriate escalation.
Performance Enablement & Manager Coaching
- Enable a consistent and commercially appropriate performance culture across GB, with specific focus on field-based Sales and Quality Technical populations.
- Coach and advise line managers—many operating remotely—on performance, capability, conduct, and attendance management.
- Provide expert guidance on GB performance management processes, including informal interventions and formal Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs), in line with Global and GB policies and templates.
- Ensure consistent handling of performance cases across geographically dispersed teams, with appropriate documentation, governance, and risk awareness.
- Partner with HR Business Partners to drive early intervention and build sustainable manager capability.
- Raise complex, high-risk, or precedent-setting performance cases to the Global ER team for alignment and guidance.
Employee Relations & Health-Related Case Management
- Manage ER aspects of disciplinary, grievance, conduct, absence, sickness, long-term ill health, and work-related accident cases.
- In sickness absence, ill-health, workplace accident, or health-related capability cases, engage the Global Occupational Health team to obtain expert advice on fitness for work, reasonable adjustments, return-to-work planning, and risk mitigation.
- Ensure health-related cases are managed in line with GB legal requirements (including Equality Act considerations), internal policy, and Occupational Health guidance.
Speak Up Investigations
- Lead and manage Speak Up investigations for GB, including cases arising within field-based and remote teams.
- Conduct investigations in standard and moderately complex cases, ensuring confidentiality, independence, and adherence to Speak Up protocols.
- Partner with the Global ER team on complex, sensitive, or high-risk Speak Up matters where escalation or shared ownership is required under the governance.
- Contribute to the sharing of Speak Up trends, insights, and takeaways with Global ER to support GB-wide consistency and continuous improvement.
Policy Application, Change & Continuous Improvement
- Operationalize global and GB-specific ER and performance enablement policies across office-based and field-based populations.
- Provide targeted feedback to Global ER on recurring issues, risk trends, and policy or guidance gaps identified within the GB workforce.
- Support implementation of GB policy and legislative changes in partnership with Global ER, including readiness and communication activity.
Partnerships
- Act as a trusted ER advisor to line managers, Sales and Technical leaders, and HR BPs.
- Provide pragmatic, commercially balanced advice aligned with customer-facing and regulated operating environments.
- Collaborate closely with the Global ER team to ensure insight sharing and strong ER governance.
Experience
- Employment Law Expertise: In-depth knowledge and application of employment law.
- Risk Management: Skilled in identifying issues and managing risks with commercial insight.
- Strategic Problem Solving: Ability to solve problems strategically for positive impact.
- Employee Relations Leadership: Proven track record in delivering effective employee relations strategies.
- Policy Development: Competent in drafting employment policies with global applicability.
- Change Management & Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrated experience leading change initiatives and engaging partners effectively.
- Relationship Building: Excellent at influencing and building trusted relationships across all levels.
- Complex Investigations & Reporting: Experienced in conducting investigations and thematic data analysis.
- Business Insight & Adaptability: Strong business understanding; thrives in dynamic environments with an openness to innovation.
Gmail
Yahoomail