Human Resources Manager (Maternity cover)

We are looking for an interim HR Manager to join the HR team to cover a maternity leave and to provide a broad range of Human Resources support to give legal practice groups: Digital, Commerce & Creative; Corporate; Dispute Resolution; Intellectual Property and Real Estate. Within the groups we have 42 Partners and around 80 specialist lawyers, plus divisional support staff. The majority of our lawyers are based at our London office in the Bankside area (close to Blackfriars), but we also have offices in Cardiff, Dublin, Belfast, Oxford, Manchester, Leeds and Hong Kong and other lawyers who work remotely.

Main Purpose of Role:

• To provide effective HR Business Partner support to the Joint Managing Partner and/or the Co-COO.
• Responsible for resourcing, reward, talent management, learning and development and employee relations issues for all staff within the practice groups.
• Also responsible for providing support to the Chief People Officer in the achievement of firmwide strategy, HR objectives and projects.
• To interface with the wider HR team and collaborate effectively with other support professionals across the firm.
• The post-holder will also supervise and support an HR Officer.

Operational HR duties for designated departments

• Ensuring the effective delivery of appraisal and career development programmes within the division, including programme planning and facilitation of identified Learning and Development objectives (with the support of the Learning and Development Manager).
• Responsible for supporting and/or leading organisation changes and restructures.
• Managing the annual salary review and budgeting processes in liaison with the Joint Managing Partner and Co-COO, with input from the Chief People Officer and HR Operations team.
• Working with the Learning and Development Manager to ensure design and delivery of relevant high quality training across all roles within the practice groups.
• Managing risk and handling day-to-day employee relations issues.
• Conducting disciplinary, performance review and grievance hearings.
• Responsibility for sickness absence management, including referrals to Occupational Health and acting upon any recommendations accordingly.
• Advising staff and managers on matters of HR policy and queries relating to terms and conditions.
• Attendance at appropriate management meetings and contributing to management reports.
• Informal mentoring, coaching and counselling of staff as appropriate
• Conducting exit interviews with senior leavers and acting upon key trends identified.
• Managing flexible working requests and liaising with the Flexible Working Committee when required.
• Support the Recruitment team as necessary with the recruitment process of partners, associates and business services staff. This will involve liaising with the Joint Managing Partner, Co-COO and appropriate Partners.
• Ensuring Joiner and Leaver procedures are effectively implemented.

Learning & Development duties

• Working with the Central HR team, Joint Managing Partner and Training Partner to undertake training needs analysis following the annual appraisal process and considering strategic objectives of the practice groups and the firm.
• Work with the Chief People Officer and central HR team on the development of relevant training and evaluate effectiveness of outcomes.

• Support the development and occasional delivery of key training across the firm (eg recruitment skills workshops / diversity training / appraisals, etc) and any strategic projects, as and when required.

Firmwide HR projects

Overseeing the timely delivery of firm wide HR projects including:

• Devising and owning the HR project plan.
• Ensuring key milestones are identified and communicated to key stakeholders.
• Identifying and implementing solutions for any issues arising along the way.

Supporting the firmwide development and delivery of key projects such as:

• Inclusion and future talent strategy, ensuring that all reasonable steps are being taken to promote career development for female lawyers, other women within the business.
• Employee wellbeing in a hybrid working environment.
• The future of work

HR Departmental Responsibilities

• Working together with the other HR Managers to ensure all HR policies are kept up to date in line with best practice and statute.
• Supporting the Chief People Officer as required.

Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will have a professional manner and first-class communication skills. They will enjoy internal and external client contact and involvement. They will be highly organised and able to demonstrate a pro-active approach to their work and be able to work on their own initiative. They will enjoy working in an involved team environment and be keen to guide and motivate others. They will be responsive to client demands and have a co-operative and willing attitude for this hands-on role.

Specialist experience:

• Minimum five years generalist experience, including at least two years as a HR Manager.
• Strong employment law knowledge and employee relations experience.
• Change management experience.
• Recruitment experience.
• Learning and development experience
• Experience of working in a law firm or similar professional services environment
• Line management experience, or experience of supervising a team

Abilities and desired qualities:

• Excellent organisational skills and ability to prioritise – must be highly organised and able to organise others.
• Ability to manage a varied and demanding workload.
• Analytical skills.
• Strong report writing skills.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines in a pressurised environment at times.
• Ability to be pro-active and work on own initiative.
• Client-focused.
• Good attention to detail.
• Maintain discretion and absolute confidentiality at all times.
• Confident and natural communication skills – able to communicate at all levels.
• Highly professional in conduct and appearance.
• Team player and enthusiastic – flexible and willing attitude.
• Ability to work overtime and travel to regional offices as required.

IT Skills Required

Proficient IT Skills – Microsoft Office. Experience of working with a document management system (NetDocs) and HR Database (Cascade) would be an advantage, although full in-house training will be provided.

Educational and professional qualifications required:

• Educated to degree level (or equivalent).
• Level 7 CIPD qualification would be an advantage
• Fluent spoken and written English