Job type: Full-time or part-time (minimum 30 hours per week but all working patterns considered)

Salary: £50,000 - £55,000 per annum FTE, depending on experience and location

Location: South West or South East based. This is a hybrid role where you’ll be mainly based from home but there’ll be regular travel for client and internal meetings.

A bit about us

We’re the full-service HR consultancy that synchronises seamlessly with our clients’ businesses. An outsourced team that feels like an in-house superpower.

We think that expert guidance on how to recruit, retain, develop and lead people should be available to every business, big or small. Because the right advice at the right time, from the right specialist, can be game-changing.

We’re here to make those conversations happen. We help our clients to recruit, manage and retain the best people for their organisations, whether as a one-off project or an ongoing service. The work we do with them enables them to create a culture where everyone can bring the best version of themselves to work.

Ultimately, people are the foundation of our clients’ success and we think they can be amazing if they’re given the right environment and support. Together, we help our clients create a great place to work and make sure they’re ready to conquer their corner of the world.

We know that even in the best of workplaces, difficult employee issues arise. We help our clients face these challenges, simplify the complex, and handle everything with care and consideration for their people and culture.

We eat, sleep and breathe this stuff. From people strategy to HR admin, we’re here to help – whether it’s a people team needing additional resource, or a business wanting to outsource their HR. However they need us we’ll be there: on call, or on site, whatever works best for them.

We’re on a mission to show brilliant companies what happens when they hire really smart people (that’s us) to help them be the very best employers they can be. The only thing we can’t handle? Letting our clients down.

What you’ll be doing

We're looking for an Employee Relations (ER) Specialist to join our growing ER team. In this role, you'll provide high quality support to our clients, working alongside the People Partnering team to offer expert advice and guidance on all things related to employee relations and workplace change. You’ll be applying your knowledge of employment law to a variety of real-world situations.

Your main focus will be to handle ER cases efficiently, ensuring they’re managed in a way that’s both commercially smart and fully compliant, so our clients feel confident and well-supported when dealing with tricky ER issues.

We think this is a super exciting role. Your responsibilities will be many and varied, but never boring. Here’s a brief summary of your day to day role:

• Confidently investigate and advise on a variety of complex ER cases—like grievances, disciplinaries, whistleblowing, and harassment—so our clients can achieve the best outcomes possible.
• Provide expert guidance and lead on business change processes, including redundancy, restructuring and TUPE, helping clients navigate these processes in a way that’s both commercially sound and legally compliant.
• Quality review work from the People Partnering team to make sure everything is accurate and of the highest standard.
• Create clear and transparent policies, procedures, and employment contracts.
• Attend or chair client meetings to provide hands-on support when needed.
• Produce a variety of documents, including everything from invite letters and scripts to detailed reports and employee handbooks.
• Get advice from experts outside the company when needed to make sure our work is always thorough, accurate, and legally sound.
• Share your knowledge and help create internal resources so our People Partnering team has everything they need to deliver a brilliant service to our clients.
• Stay on top of the latest changes in employment law and tribunal cases to keep your expertise fresh and up-to-date.

About you

With your solid grasp of HR principles and UK employment law, you know how to deliver results that really make a difference for our clients. You’ve got a strong background in supporting and advising managers on complex employee relations cases, all the way through to employment tribunals. You’re comfortable drafting policies and procedures and have experience managing business change processes like TUPE, redundancies, and restructures.

You hold a level 7 CIPD qualification (or an equivalent in employment law), which backs up your experience in handling complex ER investigations really well. You’ve been on the front line, advising managers on a variety of workplace issues, including discipline, grievances, performance, and absence management. You have a sound knowledge of TUPE legislation, and you know how to apply it practically. You’re skilled at identifying potential risks and will seek advice when needed.

You’re great at getting your message across: communication is your forte. You excel at writing clearly and persuasively, whether it's drafting detailed reports or outcome letters that effectively pull together a wide range of data. You have strong influencing skills, and you’re confident in managing relationships. You also enjoy collaborating with your colleagues, offering feedback and guidance to help everyone grow.

On top of that, you’re confident in using Microsoft Outlook, Excel, and Word, making it easy for you to handle the day-to-day tasks. A UK driving licence is a must for this role, and you’re able to travel regularly to meet clients where they are.

The Perks

We’re probably biased, but we think this role is exciting, interesting, fun, challenging, full of growth opportunities… we could go on. All that aside, we also offer:

• Competitive salary, £50,000 - £55,000 per annum FTE.
• 25 days holiday when you start employment with us, 27 days holiday after 1 year service, 29 days holiday after 2 years’ service + bank holidays.
• 4% employer pension contributions (4% minimum employee contribution).
• Medicash health cash plan insurance policy.
• Access to an employee assistance programme which includes features such as 24/7 helpline for emotional and practical support.
• Unlimited 24/7 remote GP appointments and mental health support.
• Wellbeing support including access to nutritional, fitness and lifestyle coaching sessions, and physiotherapy.
• Life assurance at 4 times basic salary.
• Shopping discounts platform.
• Monthly homeworking allowance with equipment provision.
• Supported career qualifications.
• Integration into a progressive, expanding business.
• Collaborative and supportive team environment.
• Social events and virtual gatherings.

How to Apply

There are a few stages in our application process which help you get to know us as much as it helps us get to know you. This includes a written assessment, a virtual interview, psychometric testing and a concluding in-person meeting.

If this sounds good, and you think Fitzgerald could be the place for you, APPLY NOW. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Closing Date: 13 October 2024

We really want our workforce to be more representative of all sections of society and so we actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.