Senior Employee Relations Consultant - 12 month Fixed Term Contract

Nationwide Building Society; Swindon, London, Sheffield, Wakefield, Bournemouth; Hybrid; GBP 30,000 - 60,000

Job description

At Nationwide, having a clear focus on our performance and people is critical to successfully delivering our strategic drivers and creating the best service for our customers. Our HR Case Management team have always played a pivotal role in providing both specialist employee relations advice to managers, and end to end support regarding performance management, misconduct, sickness absence, whistleblowing and resolving all workplace disputes.

Further investment has been secured to support our evolved operating model, increasing our agility and capacity to coach managers, whilst continuing to provide the trusted, specialist advice in difficult situations that we are valued for.

As a Senior Employee Relations Consultant on a 12 month Fixed Term Contract basis, you’ll be a pivotal part of embedding Nationwide’s new performance management framework, working as part of a specialist HR team supporting business leaders with the most complex people management employee relations cases through to resolution, building trusted relationships with key business functions.

At Nationwide we offer hybrid working wherever possible. More rewarding relationships are supported through our hybrid approach, bringing colleagues together across our UK wide estate, whilst also supporting generous access to home working. We value our time in the office to solve problems, to learn, and to feel connected.

For this job you'll be located at our nearest regional hub. There will be a need to regularly connect with colleagues for collaboration events in one of our office sites. This is anticipated to be every 6 to 8 weeks in Swindon plus ad hoc travel to attend other appointments (a hearing as an example). If your application is successful, your hiring manager will provide further details on how this works.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll be part of a well-valued and supportive team, acting as a trusted advisor to business leaders at all levels, building strong relationships and managing a complex Employee Relations caseload. You’ll operate at pace, with pragmatism, accuracy and a commercial lens, delivering quality, consistent and risk-based end-to-end people management advice and solutions. As well as providing hands-on support for complex investigations, whistleblowing cases, formal hearings, meetings and appeals.

In addition, you will ensure we get leaders the right support for their needs, working across the team to embed an evolved operating model, minimising handoffs and encouraging end-to-end ownership. You’ll provide expert coaching, tailored training and ER surgeries to line managers facilitating the practical implementation of Nationwide’s people policies and procedures.

About you

• Demonstrable experience in complex Employee Relations case management, preferably in a fast-paced regulated, financial services or unionised environment
• A strong relationship builder with the ability and passion to influence, partner and coach managers on challenging people management issues
• A sound knowledge of employment law and ACAS guidelines and applying this with a commercial lens in a workplace setting
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal, with experience in report writing
• Excellent attention to detail with the ability to balance workloads from different sources, and prioritise cases appropriately, managing stakeholder expectations
• Experience of identifying trends, process improvements and proposing suitable solutions

Our customer first behaviours put customers and members at the heart of how we work together. They are the set of behaviours that every colleague needs to display, in every role:

• Feel what customers feel - We step into our customers’ shoes, using their feedback and insights to empathise with them and to understand their needs, so that every decision we make starts and finishes with our customers in mind
• Say it straight - We are brave in speaking out and saying what we think – we’re honest and direct with good intent, openly sharing diverse perspectives to reach the best conclusions and using language everyone can understand
• Push for better - We don’t settle for mediocrity, we challenge the status quo, taking responsibility for continuous improvement and personal development
• Get it done - We prioritise what will have the greatest impact, we are decisive, and we take accountability for delivering brilliant customer outcomes

You can strengthen your application by showing how our customer first behaviours resonate with you, and where you may have already demonstrated these.

The extras you’ll get

There are all sorts of employee benefits available at Nationwide, including:

• A personal pension – if you put in 7% of your salary, we’ll top up by a further 16%
• Up to 2 days of paid volunteering a year
• Life assurance worth 8x your salary
• A great selection of additional benefits through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Wellhub – Access to a range of free and paid options for health and wellness
• Access to an annual performance related bonus
• Access to training to help you develop and progress your career
• 25 days holiday, pro rata

Banking – but fairer, more rewarding, and for the good of society

We forge our own path at Nationwide.

As a mutual, we’re owned by our members - those customers who bank, save or have a mortgage with us. We challenge the financial sector status quo. We don’t see customers as the engine of our own profit. We share our profits with them and put their needs first. Always there when they need us. Supporting them and their lives.

If you’re inspired by fairer finances, passionate about making a meaningful impact, and truly care about our customers, you’re one of us.

At Nationwide, you are challenged to grow and rewarded for doing so. Valued. Recognised. Inspired to be your best. As a community we want our working lives to count. As a team, we celebrate what we achieve. As a standard-setter, we work for the good of customers, communities, and broader society.

We are Purpose-driven. Uncompromisingly Customer. Unstoppably Nationwide.

What to do next

If this role is for you, please click the ‘Apply Now’ button. You’ll need to attach your up to date CV and answer a few quick questions for us.

We respond to everyone, so we will be in contact shortly after the closing date to let you know the outcome of your application.