About the Role
Cancer Research UK is seeking an Employee Relations Specialist to join their Employee Relations (ER) Team. This role is crucial in supporting the HR department's mission to engage and inspire the organization's workforce by delivering operational transformation, governance, and an exceptional employee experience. The specialist will manage and advise on a wide range of ER cases, support line managers, and foster a culture of openness and trust. The goal is to positively impact the employee experience, creating an environment where employees feel they belong and can contribute to the charity's lifesaving work.
Responsibilities
- Providing expert advice, coaching, and development to managers to resolve ER cases effectively and in line with legislative requirements and Cancer Research UK’s policies and procedures.
- Managing a caseload of approximately 30-40 cases at a time.
- Supporting case managers to make sound, unbiased decisions through robust, credible ER advice and support.
- Collaborating with colleague representatives and case managers to ensure efficient case resolution and mitigate organizational risks.
- Mediating and facilitating conflict resolution between parties by promoting open communication, mutual understanding, and constructive dialogue.
- Accurately recording and maintaining case information, ensuring all case-associated paperwork is professional and meets GDPR and data protection regulations.
- Identifying opportunities to improve business processes and approaches and collaborating with colleagues to implement them.
Requirements
- Experienced Employee Relations and/or Human Resources Advisor (or equivalent) with a background in medium to large-sized organisations.
- Proven success managing 30+ employee relations cases at any one time involving senior stakeholders, end-to-end with strong attention to detail, organisation, and prioritisation.
- Thorough knowledge of employment law, regulations, and best practices related to employee relations.
- Strong understanding of HR policies and procedures, disciplinary and grievance processes, and employee engagement strategies.
- Experience training and coaching case managers and senior stakeholders to conduct investigations and manage employee relations cases with sensitivity, confidentiality, and impartiality.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to effectively interact and build relationships with employees at all levels.
- Experience generating professional reports and writing ER letters.
- Ability to provide practical, solution-oriented advice and guidance to employees and management on employee relations matters.
- Strong problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills with the ability to remain resilient, calm, and composed in challenging situations.
- Ideally, available on one month's notice or less.
- Must be eligible to work in the UK.
Skills
- Employee Relations
- Human Resources
- Case Management
- Employment Law
- HR Policies and Procedures
- Conflict Resolution
- Interpersonal Skills
- Communication Skills
- Problem-Solving
- Report Generation
- Coaching
- Mediation
Location
- Stratford, London
Work Type
- Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)
- Full time
- 12 month fixed-term contract
Experience Level
- Experienced
Salary/Compensations
- £32,000 - £39,000 per annum
Benefits
- Generous benefits package
- Wide range of career and personal development opportunities
- High-quality tools
- Work-life balance support
About the Company
- Cancer Research UK exists to beat cancer.
- They are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day.
- Their vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do.
- They are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential.
- Their organisation values are: Bold, Credible, Human, Together.
Equal Opportunity
- We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
- We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.
- We believe that a diverse workforce will help us to beat cancer sooner.
- We want to see every candidate performing at their best throughout the job application process, interview process and whilst at work. We therefore ask you to inform us of any concerns you have or any adjustments you might need to enable this to happen.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.
