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Joining us, you get to work for not just one high performing London Borough, but two.

Kingston and Sutton councils have a number of shared services serving both authorities, with some teams and roles more focussed on one council than the other, but the majority are shared across both, meaning you get multiple opportunities to learn from a wider pool of activities and two different political bodies.

We work flexibly in both Kingston and Sutton offices, and support working at home or flexible working patterns that enable you to tailor your working and personal life. We provide the equipment and tools to enable you to work flexibly, and in return ask you to use that flexibility to be creative and ambitious in the services we deliver.

There are some really exciting things happening in both boroughs. In Sutton, we are developing the London Cancer Hub, a world leading cancer research and treatment hub that will bring together professionals from across different sectors to identify and test new treatments and therapies. Over in Kingston, we are undertaking the largest housing regeneration programme ever delivered in the borough, building new energy efficient housing that will transform some of our oldest Council owned housing. Both boroughs have publicly committed to doing what they can to tackle the climate emergency and are investing in new technologies and societal change that will help bring carbon emissions down and improve our climate impact.

You should choose Kingston and Sutton if you are looking for an opportunity that will challenge you to deliver more, support you to achieve personal ambitions, and expect you to put borough residents at the heart of what you do.

Kingston is a beautiful Royal borough with a historic setting on the banks of the Thames with excellent schools and a bustling retail centre, all surrounded by open green spaces such as Richmond Park and Bushey Park, former recreation grounds for Tudor Kings and Queens. The Council is controlled by a Liberal Democrat Administration and has a council plan “Greener, Fairer, Safer, Together”, that sets out a vision to be a vibrant, diverse and inclusive borough where residents are active, empowered, engaged and able to remain independent and resilient. The Council engages with residents through a number of forums and events through the year, and like Sutton plays a leading role in developing the South West Region of London.

Sutton is a well connected attractive part of London that has a reputation for excellent schools, green and leafy open spaces, and a history that drives a thriving heritage and culture offer through our museums and libraries. The Council is controlled by a long established Liberal Democrat Administration and has high ambitions set out in its corporate plan “Ambitious for Sutton”, that will ensure Sutton remains a great place to live, work and raise a family. The Council plays a leading role in a number of local partnerships and places great emphasis on engaging effectively with its residents, listening to local voices and making their message heard across London Government.

As an Employee Relations Manager, you will actively deliver a professional Employee Relations Advisory and Policy service to a range of customers to support them on complex HR issues, providing professional advice and guidance to support them in the day to day operational management of their services. The role is part of a shared service and the role will predominantly focus on the activities of one borough and some of our traded partners.

A typical day in the life of an Employee Relations Manager would consist of:

• Providing advice on employment terms and conditions, as well on grievances, disciplinaries, absence management, staff capability and performance management and related employment matters.
• Managing an ER caseload.
• Supporting presenting officers on investigations where necessary, including their preparation and collation of documentation and correspondence or supporting managers at hearings.
• Advising on organisational change and any associated staff redeployment, transfer, or redundancy matters.
• Working with trade unions to resolve complex employment matters at an early stage.

When joining us, you would be working on projects such as policy development & review, restructures, organisational change & transformation.

The post holder will manage a small team consisting of a Senior HR Advisor/HR Advisor and have some management oversight of an apprentice.

We are a hybrid working organisation and for this post, we ask that the post holder come into the office once a week.

The Royal Borough of Kingston and the London Borough of Sutton share their services in HR, Finance, Customer Service, Neighbourhoods, Environment and ICT. This is a highly rewarding way of working that will help you develop new skills as you manage relationships and provide a consistent service across multiple partners.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a progressive HR and Organisational Development (OD) Shared Service that focuses on our customers’ needs across Kingston Council, Sutton Council and our traded services. We are building a strategically focused OD service that is responsive to our internal customer needs and enables them to provide the services needed for the communities we work with. This is a great place to be a HR and OD Professional!

We are an award winning HR Shared Service, because people are at the heart of everything we do and our Service is very proud to have won the MJ Award 2022 for community diversity and inclusion and the PPMA 2023 Award for Best Inclusion & Diversity Programme/Initiative!

The Employee Relations and Policy team has 11 staff, and provides an advisory service to over 2000 clients (excluding schools) across shared service and single service clients. The team advise on complex employment matters relating to contract and HR policy as well as change programmes and transformation.

This role is perfect for the next step up the ladder from a HR Advisor/Generalist or Senior HR Advisor role!

To be successful in this role, you would need the following skills, knowledge and experience:

• Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), equivalent qualification and/or evidence of equivalent knowledge and experience.
• Experience of benchmarking, analysing and interpreting data and information to identify trends (including data trends) and translate this into insight to effectively provide advice, support informed decision making and enhance policy review.
• Experience of managing an ER caseload and advising on change programmes/restructuring/TUPE.
• In-depth knowledge of the underlying principles and practice of people management and employment law.
• A detailed and up-to-date knowledge and understanding of employment legislation, HR policy and procedures and experience of interpreting and applying this to inform HR policy and support the business.
• A detailed and up-to-date knowledge and understanding of employment legislation, HR policy and procedures and experience of interpreting and applying this in practice.
• An understanding of Public Sector terms and conditions, the role of local and national agreements, with experience of delivering HR services in a highly unionised environment.
• Ability to work quickly, accurately and to tight deadlines, managing casework and projects across a range of related subjects.
• An ability to juggle multiple priorities.
• Highly developed organisational skills with the ability to identify and manage high workloads often with competing deadlines, including the outputs required from those who you may have responsibility for.

For a more in depth understanding of the role, please look at the job description and structure chart attached at the bottom of the page.

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

In addition we offer a modern and flexible working environment for our staff supported by our IT infrastructure, Google Chromebooks and Google Apps, which have acted as a key enabler for collaborative and streamlined working. The COVID-19 pandemic has required us to be even more flexible in how we work and manage staff workloads, ensuring they have the correct equipment and resources to be able to maximise their talents and looking after their wellbeing.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits, some of which include:

• Generous annual leave entitlement plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply)
• Three volunteering days per year
• Flexible and agile working arrangements
• Comprehensive learning and development programme
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Free eye tests and contribution towards glasses
• Confidential wellbeing and counselling support
• Subsidised gym membership

We pride ourselves on being a diverse, tolerant and welcoming Borough and we aim to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve. We are respectful of difference and realise the positive value of diversity in our workforce. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds and particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and disabled candidates as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.

We are proud to be recognised as a Disability Confident employer, and are committed to thinking differently about disability and taking action to improve how we recruit, retain and develop disabled people. We guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums, and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are an accredited London Living Wage Employer and this means that everyone working at the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or third-party contractors and suppliers receive the London Living Wage. The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum, or National Living Wage, and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay that is based on the actual cost of living.

The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.