HR Operations Administrator - Human Resources - 96540 - Grade 4

Position Details

Human Resources

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £25,866 to £27,518, with potential progression once in post to £30,820

Grade: 4

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to December 2025

Closing date: 17th March 2025

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University, and depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high-quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus, we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum, and botanical gardens.

Role Summary

You will provide end-to-end HR service administration support within the HR Operations Team in the Central Staff Hub. You will ensure that advice and guidance provided are professional and customer focused at all times within our agreed service standards.

This role operates from within an integrated HR service structured to enable focused tasks and embedded knowledge which supports colleagues across our community, to better meet the needs of the University.

Main Duties

Support managers, staff and wider HR colleagues through the provision of fit for purpose HR advice and processes by:

• Providing a knowledgeable, professional and efficient first line HR Service to the University
• Providing cover for both the reception area of HR Services and the telephones, ensuring that all visitors are greeted, and all telephone calls are answered
• Being responsible for self-allocation of work from within the HR Service Portal, ensuring that the response service standard is met (all cases should be assigned to a person within 24 hours of being raised)
• Being the first point of contact for staff on all HR related enquiries, providing support where appropriate and triaging and escalating more complex queries
• Developing sound customer relations, taking the time to listen to customer requirements to ensure appropriate action is taken
• Taking responsibility for resolving queries and delivering customer responses even when wider support or expertise is required
• Working collaboratively with both the Admin coordinators and team colleagues in the prioritisation and handling of workloads, supporting others within HR Service Delivery and the wider HR function as required
• Dealing with a full range of transactional work including but not limited to:
• Responding to basic policy queries, meeting the ‘one-touch’ aim of the HR Service
• Production of standard and manuals letters including:
• Increase/decrease of hours
• Regrades
• Sickness
• Payroll processing, including:
• Processing of joiners, transfers and leavers
• Processing of changes and post administration
• Maintenance of staff data within the HR systems; e.g. changes to name
• Processing of DBS and BPSS clearances and Research Passports
• Producing Staff ID Cards
• Sending and chasing recruitment references
• Ensuring staff personnel files and data in all HR systems is up to date, complete and in line with policy and good practice

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• GCSEs to a minimum of grade C/4 in English and Mathematics grade C minimum (or equivalent level 2 qualification)
• Good IT skills with working knowledge of standard Microsoft Office software
• Ability to take responsibility for specific tasks, carrying out duties without needing to refer to others, with scope for some choice and using your own judgment
• Ability to work on your own initiative
• Ability to proactively contribute to improving processes and for proposing new ways of working
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with others
• Well organised with the ability to prioritise work proactively, independently and as part of a team
• A good understanding of how to deliver excellent customer service
• Experience of using and maintaining complex work systems e.g. student databases/finance record systems/HR systems or equivalent, and an aptitude for learning new IT packages and systems
• A willingness to learn and follow processes
• The ability to cope with change in a fast moving, dynamic environment where change is often required immediately
• An understanding of the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace
• The ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures and how to respond to issues in line with relevant policies and procedures

Dimensions

You will not be required to line manage anyone in this role or manage a budget.

Planning and Organising

You will be required to manage and prioritise a varied workload to deliver within required time frames. There is also a need to maintain an awareness of activity across the department and wider University as appropriate.

Problem Solving and Decision Making

You will be working under the direction of a senior manager, but with the autonomy to deliver the outputs required. You will be working within the framework of existing policies, processes and procedures for the department. You will take day to day decisions on what advice to give and for responding to and resolving queries.

Internal and External Relationships

This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and stakeholders, and external stakeholders as well with an expectation on maintaining good working relationships with all.

Informal enquiries to Mandy Dhaliwal, email: m.k.rana@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.