HR Officer

HR Officer

Application Deadline: 17 April 2025

Department: Human Resources

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Harborne, Birmingham, UK

Reporting To: Becky Horton

Compensation: £26,840 - £30,861 / year

Description

Are you a proactive and dedicated HR professional looking to make a real difference? Do you have a passion for supporting an inclusive and dynamic learning environment? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for you.

Queen Alexandra Charity is looking for a HR Officer to provide an excellent and efficient comprehensive and confidential generalist HR service to all staff, volunteers and stakeholders within the Charity. The post holder will contribute to the HR team by providing accurate advice and guidance on HR policy, and by leading or supporting on specialist activities e.g. recruitment and selection, induction, training, employee relations, attendance, management information, etc.

Key Responsibilities

Recruitment and Selection

1. Manage the end-to-end process from identification of need through to appointment for agreed vacancies ensuring compliance with legal requirements at all times.
2. Manage and administer the online recruitment system.
3. Plan and schedule each stage of the selection and recruitment process, representing HR on interview panels, liaising with managers and candidates accordingly ensuring necessary controls and standards are in place.
4. Monitor the effectiveness of each campaign and continuously improve the service.
5. Administer pre and post interview communications ensuring the reputation of the College is maintained and enhanced.
6. Manage the clearance processes for new starters ensuring compliance with DBS/Safeguarding requirements.
7. Maintain the recruitment tracker to enable overall reporting and analysis of performance.

Induction

1. Carry out short induction meetings with new starters on a one to one or one to group basis.
2. Contribute to larger induction training programmes as required.

Training

1. Co-ordinate annual or termly training days/weeks ensuring all events are appropriately scoped, organised, delivered, recorded and evaluated through liaison with relevant deliverers.
2. Source external training to meet identified needs of individuals or groups.
3. Support the HR Team to deliver training to staff on specialist HR topics as needed.
4. Administer the Professional Education scheme, keeping effective records and ensuring staff meet the terms and conditions of the scheme.
5. Maintain the training database and report on activity and spend.

Appraisal

1. Co-ordinate and monitor the returns of the annual appraisal process to achieve 100% success rate.
2. Co-ordinate the identification of individual training needs from responses to feed into wider planning processes.

Absence/Attendance

1. Ensure staff adhere to policy by providing appropriate advice, guidance and challenge.
2. Produce daily absence lists for college managers by 8.30am and facilitate cover arrangements if necessary, including liaising with Bank and/or Agency provision.
3. Produce weekly absence reports and identify trends and issues.
4. Undertake Return to Work interviews, and attendance meetings, in line with the policy.
5. Input absence data to record system on time and accurately to facilitate reporting.
6. Support in complex absence cases.
7. Undertake home visits, absence reviews, as appropriate.
8. Make recommendations for phased returns, liaising with Occupational Health and GP’s as required.

Employee Contract Management

1. Produce new contracts within legal timescales.
2. Provide timely advice to managers and employees on contractual entitlements, referring complex queries to HR Manager.
3. Administer all aspects of changes to employee contracts throughout the employee lifecycle eg promotion, pay review, maternity, paternity, resignation, job changes etc, efficiently and accurately.
4. Organise and support pay regrade panels by researching market data and documenting outcomes.

Disciplinary and Grievance

1. Provide advice and guidance to managers to enable appropriate investigations to take place and sensible outcomes to be achieved, following College policy and legal requirements. Provide HR support during investigations.
2. Organise meetings and relevant documentation, act as technical advisor in hearings, taking notes and supporting the Chair to reach decisions and communicating outcomes.
3. Support employees to raise issues of concern appropriately.

HR Policy

1. Provide accurately and timely advice and guidance on the full range of HR policies.
2. Keep up to date with changes in legislation and make recommendation for policy changes accordingly.

Reporting

1. Produce HR management information to support reports to Governors and managers as directed.

General administration

1. Clerk/minute formal HR related or confidential meetings as directed.
2. Produce and maintain staff rotas for the College: Vacation cover for senior managers, duty managers, duty secretary and reception cover, participating as required.
3. Provide a professional customer service to internal and external stakeholders at all times.
4. Respond to ad hoc requests via email, letter or telephone within agreed timescales.
5. Ensure all filing is up to date and accurate.
6. Input all changes to employee records onto Databridge records system accurately and efficiently.
7. Administer disabled staff overtime claims, access to work payments or any other supportive documentation required.
8. The post holder will be responsible for ensuring that all administration and record keeping associated with their areas of responsibility is kept up to date and accurate.
9. Ensure stationery orders are placed, produce finance requisition orders and log invoices.

Change management

1. Support the HR Team to implement new initiatives, changes to services or job roles as directed, ensuring compliance with employment legislation and good practice requirements.
2. Role model a positive approach to change at all times.
3. Participate in or lead HR projects from time to time as directed.

Personal Development

1. Participate in learning and development activity relevant to performance in the post or to the College as a whole.

Other Duties

1. Undertake any other duties not listed above that are commensurate with the role, as directed by the HR Team.

The above list is not exhaustive, but is indicative of the general nature and level of responsibility of the work to be undertaken. The responsibilities and duties may vary from time to time without changing the nature of the post. The post holder will be expected to adopt a flexible approach to enable the efficient and effective running of the College.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Minimum of Level 2 in English & Maths GCSE
• Full or part CIPD qualified
• Ability to manage high volume workload in a busy office, maintaining a high level of personal organisation and meeting deadlines
• Ability to demonstrate effective team working to deliver a comprehensive and consistent service
• Ability to communicate sensitively and assertively to a wide range of people and students, some with significant impairments, using a range of methods
• Ability to build effective relationships with managers and staff, inspiring trust and confidence
• Attention to detail and high level of accuracy, ensuring tasks are completed on time to required standards
• Ability to identify improvements and make changes based on best practice
• Open to change, flexible, and to be able to support others through a change process
• Actively undertakes personal development and seeks out opportunities to learn
• Knowledge of current employment legislation
• Strong Microsoft Office skills particularly Excel and knowledge of Microsoft 365.

Why work at Queen Alexandra Charity Birmingham

Join our team at Queen Alexandra Charity!

Are you passionate about making a difference to the lives of students with special educational needs? Do you thrive in an inclusive and supportive academic environment? If so, we want YOU to join our team. QAC has just gone through an exciting rebrand, dealt with a period of swift growth and academic improvement and this is your opportunity to become part of a vibrant College that is moving forward and making a real difference to the lives and futures of our students.

The newly structured Queen Alexandra Charity Birmingham offers you the chance to have a positive impact as you join a committed group of colleagues in ensuring that all students achieve their aims and aspirations. We are dedicated to providing exceptional education and support to students with diverse learning needs and life experiences. Our specialist setting fosters an inclusive community where every student is valued, supported, and empowered to reach their full potential.

QAC offers a vibrant, varied and enriching educational experience for both residential and day students. Our curriculum aims to maximise adult life, independence and work opportunities for all students. Class sizes are designed to meet specific needs and support levels are high.

Joining our supportive team, you will have the opportunity to:

• Work closely with students with SEN to achieve their goals
• Make a difference to the educational experience of young people
• Be a voice for students and staff in specialist education
• Foster a positive and inclusive learning environment, promoting academic growth, self-development and self-confidence
• Develop your own skills, aspirations and progress your career.

Our benefits include;

Academic Year 2024/25

• Access to on site car parking
• Use of QAC Fitness Centre (subject to opening hours)
• Cycle to Work Scheme (Salary Sacrifice)
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme Helpline (BHSF)
• Access to Education Support Free Helpline for Teachers & Education Staff
• QAC Mental Health First Aiders & activities to support health and wellbeing
• BHSF Benefits Package including Healthcare Plans, discounted shopping/services
• Annual Flu vaccination/voucher
• Access to other benefit/discount schemes (which may be subject to charge) e.g. Blue Light Card, TOTUM (NUS), Charity Worker Discounts, Discounts for Teachers
• Dell Advantage programme - a free programme that offers savings to students, parents and all staff at QAC - up to 20% off. https://www.dell.com/en-uk/lp/dell-advantage
• Health and Wellbeing Services (Occupational Health/Counselling)
• Free Tea/Coffee and Staff Room facilities
• Dining Room facilities with hot/cold food (free meal provided for those supporting students at mealtimes)
• Additional discretionary concessionary/closure days as part of leave entitlement (including closure over Christmas/New Year period)
• Reward and Recognition Policy – Living the Values Awards (team & individual) and long service
• Enhanced/Occupational paid leave e.g. maternity/paternity (subject to qualifying criteria)
• Occupational sick pay (based on length of service)
• On site wellbeing activities (e.g. yoga, meditation)
• Support for training/ CPD (either by way of study leave and/or funding)
• Flexible working arrangements including Flexible Working Policy Agreements, Time Off in Lieu (TOIL) in prior agreement with line manager.

We look forward to receiving your application and knowing more about your qualifications, skills, personal qualities and experience that you would bring to the role and to QAC. Please take time to review the job description above.

Please upload a CV/Resume* with details of your full employment history (since leaving school, including education, employment and voluntary work) including reasons for any gaps in employment. This should also include a statement of the personal qualities and experience you believe are relevant to your suitability for the post and how this meets the job description and person specification requirements. Your CV/Resume* will be re-produced in a standard format by the system (without personal identifiers) to assist us in our anonymised shortlisting process. Under Section 7 of SVGA 2006 it is an offence to apply for the role if the applicant is barred from engaging in regulated activity relevant to children. The College's Safeguarding Policies are available here.

As part of our commitment to safer recruitment, and in line with updated guidance published in September 2022, we will carry out an online search of all shortlisted candidates. This search may enable us to identify any incidents or issues that have happened, and publicly available for review online, which we may wish to explore with you in further detail during the interview process. As part of your application we have asked you to provide the account names, usernames and/or handles for any social media platform that you use, as well as the names of any websites that you own, post on, or contribute to. A Google search will also be conducted. These checks will only be conducted if you are shortlisted for interview. Please see our safer recruitment and selection policy for further information.