Employee Relations Business Partner - Specified Purpose Contract

• Help design, deliver and, when required, lead the ROI’s employee relations, colleague

listening and business change strategies and plans

• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with Unions (by

• leading or supporting, as appropriate, with the communication, consultation, or
• negotiation between parties) to create a proactive partnership with each union which,
• at its heart, jointly delivers business benefit and positive colleague engagement.

• Work closely with key stakeholders, to develop and deliver toolkits, training

• interventions and upskilling strategies which raise line manager ER capability and
• confidence to ensure policies are applied correctly; colleague experience is enhanced;
• business change is implemented appropriately; and trade union partners are properly
• engaged.

• Provide expert employee relations advice and input into business change

• programmes. This includes partnering with ROI People Partners and M&S UK CoE’s
• as necessary to ensure the effective delivery and end- to-end management of
• operational or transformational change which can include, when required, assisting
• or leading trade union negotiations/consultation.

• Develop and simplify ROI people policies and processes to ensure they are legal,

• competitive, practical, meet future business needs, and enhance the M&S brand and
• colleague experience. This includes ensuring that ROI policies and processes are
• communicated effectively, and their delivery is supported, when required, with
• appropriate training.

• Partner with subject matter experts to ensure any policy related system change

• requirements and dependencies are fully understood, resource-effective, will be
• supported by robust user acceptance testing and, if necessary, launched with user
• training to ensure successful deployment.

• Monitor and interpret changes to ROI employment legislation and undertake external

• benchmarking to ensure M&S remains compliant and a best practice and innovative
• employer.

• Lead (from design to post implementation review) projects as required and act as

• the ROI’s subject matter expert by providing guidance and support to HR colleagues,
• line managers, and colleagues on policy, employee relations and colleague
• engagement and listening matters.

• Manage and provide expertise to line managers on how complex casework should

• be handled and progressed (working with Legal and other specialists) to the case’s
• successful conclusion.

• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, by seeking feedback, designing and

• developing metrics and incorporating insights and learning to refine policies and
• processes and to measure their effectiveness.

• Create and maintain effective working relationships with M&S’s UK Policy and ER

• specialists (and other UK CoEs) to ensure ROI and UK policy and people strategies
• are (when appropriate) congruent and jointly promote the M&S brand whilst
• minimising any ER risks or issues across the company’s island of Ireland operation.

• Work effectively with the rest of the Ireland People Team, by contributing ideas and

• expertise and acting as a fully participative team member to assist colleagues in the
• delivery of all elements of the People Plan and to be a high-performance team.