About this role
Job summary
We have an exciting opportunity for a skilled and proactive People Business Partner to join our operational HR team.
We are seeking a motivated and skilled HR professional with a proven track record in operational HR. You will bring strong problem-solving skills, a strategic mindset and apassion for driving organisational success through effective people management.
Confident in navigating complex HR issues, you will provide support to senior leaders, helping to build a culture of high performance, staff engagement, and wellbeing.
As the trusted People Partner for your division, you will provide expert, proactive advice across all areas of people management. This includes employee relations casework, workforce planning, engagement initiatives, and organisational development. Your support will be pivotal in helping the division achieve its goals and in delivering our People Strategy effectively.
You will also be responsible for the day-to-day line management of your HR team, comprising of 4 colleagues that support your division offering you the opportunity to coach, mentor and support their development.
This role offers a unique opportunity to influence at a senior level, contribute to organisational improvement, and join a supportive and inclusive team committed to making a difference.
Your contracted base will be at Upton Hospital, Slough, with an expectation to travel to other Trust sites across Berkshire as required, although the role is predominantly home-based.
Main duties of the job
HR Expertise: Provide specialist HR advice on all aspects of people management, ensuring consistent, objective, and customer-focused service delivery.
Casework Management: Ensure timely resolution of casework, particularly disciplinary and early resolution cases, and meet Trust performance targets. Act as a point of escalation for complex queries.
Operational Support: Work with service managers to address people issues at the lowest level, facilitating mediation and coaching where needed. Provide guidance on handling sickness absence, monitoring metrics, and ensuring best practice.
Leadership: Supervise the HR Advisor and provide day-to-day guidance, ensuring alignment with Trust policies and procedures.
Data & Reporting: Analyse workforce data on sickness, turnover, and other key metrics, producing reports and identifying actions to address hot spots.
Organisational Development: Assist managers with OD interventions and staff engagement strategies. Work closely with the Learning & Development team to identify training needs and ensure delivery of relevant programs.
Policy & Compliance: Support bi-annual policy reviews, ensuring best practices are embedded and aligned with employment legislation. Help managers apply HR policies in complex business scenarios.
Employee Engagement: Assist in analysing the Staff Survey results, develop action plans for improvement, and work closely with managers to enhance employee engagement across the division.
About us
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health and community health services trust. Rated 'outstanding' by the CQC, we're committed to providing the best possible care to people across Berkshire. As an employer, we're committed to offering an inclusive and compassionate environment where our people share in a sense of belonging and are supported to flourish.
Our values at Berkshire Healthcare are
- Caring for and about you is our top priority
- Committed to providing good quality, safe services
- Working Together with you to develop innovative solutions
Your wellbeing is important to us. Some of the benefits of working for us include:
- Flexible working options to support work-life balance
- 27 days' annual leave rising with service + opportunity to buy and sell
- Generous NHS pension scheme
- Excellent learning and career development opportunities
- 'Cycle to Work' and car leasing scheme including electric vehicles
- Access to a range of wellbeing tools and services
- Discounts at hundreds of popular retailers and restaurants
- Staff networks for race, diversity, disabilities, the environment and armed forces community to support equality
- Generous maternity, paternity, adoption and special leave
- Free parking across Trust sites
Job description
Job responsibilities
The must haves for this role
- Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Level 7 diploma or equivalent HR qualification or experience.
- Extensive experience in providing HR advice to managers on all aspects of operational case work.
- Extensive experience of working in a complex unionised environment and demonstrable experience of developing effective relations and partnership working across a diverse range of unions and professional associations.
For further information about the role, please see attached job description and person specification.
We strongly encourage you to review how you meet the criteria in the person specification and write about this point-by-point in your supporting statement for the best chance of being shortlisted.
Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role. We recognise that AI tools can support accessibility, equity and confidence for applicants. However, its important that examples and responses given in your supporting statement genuinely reflect your own experience and abilities, as these will be explored further during the selection process. AI must not be used to provide misleading or false information during any stage of the application journey.
In addition to explaining how you meet the person specification, you must complete your employment history for at least the last five years. Any experience, skills or responsibilities referenced in your supporting statement should be evidenced within your employment history. Applications that do not include sufficient employment history to support the experience claimed may not be shortlisted.
We're committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our commitment to inclusion is reflected in our accreditations: Race Equality Matters Silver Trailblazer, Neurodiversity in Business Corporate Member, Disability Confident Leader, Carer Confident Level 2, and the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to candidates as needed.
We welcome a conversation about flexibility and any other questions you may have. Please don't hesitate to email: Mike Thomas on [email protected] who'll be delighted to help.
Please note, if we receive a high number of applications, we may close this role earlier than the advertised closing date, so please submit your application as soon as possible.
Person Specification
Education/Qualifications
Essential
- Degree or equivalent knowledge gained through any combination of alternative study or employment
- Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Level 7 or equivalent HR or management qualification or experience
- Further knowledge of specialist areas acquired through experience and/or attendance at courses
Previous Experience
Essential
- Experience of staff management, either as a line manager or in an HR advisory/management role. Sufficient experience to advise line managers on dealing with the full range of staffing issues likely to be encountered in a large and complex organisation
- Experience of leading on or providing the HR expertise to organisational change programmes and projects
- Experience of implementing significant employment change (for example changes to terms and conditions of employment, transfers of undertaking, systems change, and/or large scale policy/process change)
- Extensive experience of working in a complex unionised environment and demonstrable experience of managing effective relations and partnership working across a diverse range of unions and professional bodies
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Essential
- Expert knowledge of current and impending employment law and ability to apply to the working environment
- Knowledge and current thinking of effective and efficient HR best practice
- Exceptional interpersonal, influencing and communication skills and the ability to develop and maintain communication, both verbally and in writing, to all levels of staff about complex and difficult matters and in sometimes difficult situations
- Ability to develop and maintain networks of relationships that facilitate the achievement of individual and team objectives
- Ability to advise on both informal and formal approaches to resolving individual performance, conduct and grievance issues, based on sound knowledge
- Ability to identify key issues and problems in a situation and to plan a logical sequence of actions appropriate to achieve objectives
- Able to empathise, be supportive and sensitive to the needs of others as well as being able to cope with conflicting and competing demands, a willingness to be challenged and a confident approach in managing complex change and working well under pressure
- Ability to prepare written reports/proposals on HR topics and to make presentations to a wide range of stakeholder groups. Able to produce meaningful management information that is of value
- Advanced IT skills and the ability to navigate around various systems and software packages. Able to analyse, interpret and manipulate data and information
- Able to deliver training to different groups, being able to modify the delivery and content to suit the needs of the audience
- Ability to facilitate formal meetings (involving different professions and levels of seniority) and to engage, motivate and lead teams and other resources, reprioritising work and that of others work to reflect changing needs.
- Able to work flexibly and travel independently between locations to fulfil the requirements of the position
Desirable
- Knowledge of national health policy and how to interpret this into best practice people and performance management
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Certificate of Sponsorship
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Employer details
Employer name
Berkshire Healthcare Foundation Trust
Address
Upton Hospital, Albert Street, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 2BJ
Slough
SL1 2BJ
United Kingdom
Employer's website
https://www.berkshirehealthcare.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)