Senior Human Resources Advisor

The primary focus of this role will be to provide on the ground proactive first level HR support to the Belfast office. The post holder will work closely with the Belfast partners together with the London HR Business Partner (“HRBP”) teams to deliver the full employee lifecycle, effectively and efficiently for all Belfast employees. The role will also provide the opportunity to work with the wider HR team on firmwide people projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Working closely with the London HRBP teams, in providing proactive support to the Belfast partners, line managers and relevant business teams on all people-related matters, including employee relations issues.
• Acting as first point of call and trusted advisor to the Belfast partners ensuring any decisions are applied fairly and consistently.
• Supporting line managers with performance management issues and providing best practice guidance.
• Advising line managers and employees on all matters of HR policy, process and culture.
• Responsible for managing parent leave arrangements, including the provision of new parent support.
• Managing the flexible working process, including individual flexible working requests, as well as wider hybrid working patterns.
• Managing the probationary review process and supporting partners and/or line managers with any performance management concerns and next steps in line with the firm’s policies, where appropriate.
• Working alongside the Talent Acquisition team, supporting the recruitment process for roles across the Belfast team. This will include liaising with stakeholders, clarifying role requirements.
• Working closely with the People Operations team, having oversight of, and ensuring joiner and leaver procedures are effectively implemented and maintained. This will include coordination of onboarding arrangements, as well as having regular new joiner catch-ups to ensure effective integration of new staff.
• Undertaking exit interviews as needed and analysing leaver data to draw out any themes which may require further investigation.
• Working closely with the Talent Development team to design and deliver relevant high-quality development initiatives across all roles within the Belfast office.
• Absence management and follow up, including conducting return to work interviews where sickness absence trigger points have been reached and making occupational health referrals where necessary.
• Providing advice and support to line managers and employees in relation to ongoing health and wellbeing concerns and/or disabilities, ensuring appropriate external advice is sought as required, and that reasonable adjustments are implemented effectively, and regularly reviewed.
• Ensuring payroll changes are provided to the People Operations team in a timely and efficient manner and ensuring employment paperwork and changes to terms and conditions are updated as required within the relevant systems.
• Create and produce management information as required.
• Provide input to regular reports and papers as required.
• Assisting the London Senior HR Advisor(s) with slide preparation and information for the EIR monthly meetings and the EIR Exco meetings as and when necessary.
• Participation in the timely delivery of the firm’s appraisal, salary review and bonus and promotion processes, working closely with the London HRBP teams and Reward team and taking a proactive approach throughout to completion.
• Keeping the HRBP teams up to date with all HR activity across the Belfast office, providing regular updates on activity and on-going matters.
• Additional ad hoc people projects, as required.
• Any other reasonable duty in line with the level of the role.

About you

You will have a professional manner, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and have previous relevant experience working within an HR Advisor role. You’ll have a flexible nature and will enjoy working within a fast-paced team and will be highly organised. You’ll also possess strong numeracy and attention to detail skills, which will be key within this role. We are looking for someone who is passionate about being a team player and who is keen to support others.

Our ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• Prior experience of working in an HR capacity at HR Advisor level or above, ideally gained in professional services, partnership or a law firm environment.
• Experience of using employee database software and online management tools.
• Ability to organise workload, meet deadlines and work under pressure when necessary.
• Possess an interest in, and be active in, keeping up to date with HR trends and legal updates, remaining mindful of potential impacts on the duties of the role, or wider HR policies and procedures.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to build successful relationships at all levels.
• Excellent numeracy skills with experience using Word and Excel.

At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to supporting candidates throughout the recruitment process by supporting anyone who requires adjustments, in order to ensure they have the opportunity to perform at their best. All applicants will be considered equally and fairly. If you’d like to request any adjustments throughout the recruitment process, or would like to discuss flexible working patterns, please email the recruitment team in confidence (recruitment@lewissilkin.com).