Human Resources Manager

Human Resources Manager

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple – City of London

£55-60,000 plus excellent benefits

The Inn

The historic Middle Temple is one of the four Inns of Court which have the exclusive right to call men and women, who have completed the necessary academic qualifications, to the Bar of England and Wales. This entitles them, after a period of pupillage (vocational training) to practise as Barristers. As well as calling men and women to the bar, Middle Temple is a members’ organisation for barristers and provides them with various services and resources including accommodation, dining facilities, a library and other training. The HR function supports and advises all of the Inn’s staff as well as the Council of the Inns of Court (COIC), approximately 100 employees and workers in total.  Due to the nature of the organisation the Inn’s staff is made up from a diverse range of roles.  This makes the work carried out by the HR department very varied and interesting and is a fantastic opportunity for somebody looking to develop a career in HR to gain a broad experience of HR practices.

The role

We are looking for a Human Resources Manager to lead the Human Resources team in delivering the full range of HR services to the Inn. 

Requirements

The successful candidate will have:

• University degree or equivalent level of education.
• Working towards or achieved CIPD Level 7 qualification.
• Strong generalist HR experience in a professional membership organisation and/or similar relevant environment.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

How to apply

If you wish to apply please send your CV and a covering letter detailing why you believe you are the right person. The closing date for applications is Friday 4 December 2020.

Due to the volume of applications received, we cannot contact all unsuccessful applicants in person. If you do not hear from us within four weeks, please assume your application has not been successful on this occasion.

Middle Temple is an Equal Opportunities employer.

 

JOB TITLE: Human Resources Manager

REPORTS TO: Under Treasurer/CEO

DIRECT REPORTS: HR Officer, HR Administrator

 

Purpose of Role:

As lead professional for human resources and internal communications, maintain and build upon the existing function to ensure that it is comprehensive, quality driven, efficient and actively supports the management of the Inn.  

Main duties as lead HR & Internal Communications professional:

Provide the lead on HR services for all staff members, ensuring team wellbeing, that all functions have the staff resources they need, and that the Inn is legally compliant in terms of employment law.

Develop and implement a coherent human resources and internal communication strategy and detailed supporting work plans for agreement by the Under Treasurer.  These strategies and plans must be aligned with the overarching Inn strategic plan and must be driven by the business needs of the Inn.

Create and deliver HR policies, processes, systems and support services in line with the agreed HR work plans.  These will include:

1.         Workforce planning

• Ensure that there is an annual workforce plan in place detailing the number of posts agreed for each functional area and any changes to posts in terms of salary band.  Once agreed as part of the annual budget cycle, ensure that workforce changes are in line with the plan and no other changes are made without the approval of the Under Treasurer.

2.         Attracting and recruiting new employees

• Advise recruiting managers on best processes to attract, select and recruit staff ensuring that these processes are as cost-effective as possible.  Where possible recruitment should be undertaken in-house to avoid recruitment agency fees.
• Design recruitment processes appropriate to the level of the vacancy, incorporating skills and/or aptitude testing where relevant.
• Produce recruitment documentation, including advertisements, job descriptions, person specifications, employment contracts etc ensuring that it is legally compliant and adheres to the Inn’s brand guidelines.
• Arrange for all necessary pre- and post- recruitment checks to take place prior to confirming an offer of employment.  These include checking the candidate has the right to work in the UK and obtaining satisfactory employment references.

3.         Developing and maintaining processes to encourage continuous improvement in performance of individual employees and teams

• Manage the appraisal performance process and review regularly to ensure that it remains effective, including the provision of any training needed so that managers and employees can participate effectively in the process.
• Compile and implement an annual training plan for employees at all levels of the Inn ensuring that it covers statutory training requirements, individual development needs and group training requirements. Develop and deliver (in some cases via outsourced providers) the required training and development.
• Ensure that processes are in place to manage unsatisfactory performance and that managers across the Inn are comfortable using these when needed.
• Communicate desired behaviours via promulgation of Inn’s competence framework linking this to other HR processes where appropriate, e.g. recruitment and training.

4.         Raising levels of employee engagement

• Ensure that the Inn engages with employees as fully as possible on matters that affect employees and the organisation as a whole.  This will include designing and implementing an internal communication strategy and communication processes and creating opportunities for employees to raise and discuss work issues with their managers and other employees e.g. a staff forum.

5.         Managing the Inn’s reward systems

• Maintain and develop the Inn’s compensation and benefits schemes such that they are perceived as fair and  equitable by employees and are sufficiently competitive to recruit and retain employees where needed.
• Responsible for the administration of Middle Temple pensions arrangements (but not pension policy development as this sits within the Finance function)

6.         Promote good employee relations and employee well-being

• Support managers with difficult personnel cases, and ensure effective and transparent mechanisms are in place to enable staff to raise issues of concern, be it at personal level via dispute resolution processes or organisation-wide via a staff forum or other mechanism.
• Support the Inn’s managers in conducting any formal consultation processes that are required to ensure that these are conducted in line with legislative requirements and are handled sensitively and empathetically.
• Ensure that suitable occupational health and/or other health and welfare tools are available to support staff where needed.

7.         Manage the departure of employees

• Where employees leave the employment of the Inn voluntarily, ensure that processes are in place to issue final payments and leaver documentation, seek the return of any outstanding Middle Temple equipment and to conduct exit interviews.
• Ensure that processes are in place to manage the departure of non-voluntary leavers that are compliant with relevant employment legislation and that these incidences are handled in a way that does not expose the Inn to risk of successful legal challenge.

8.         Compliance with relevant legislation

• Ensure that robust processes are in place, and are audited regularly, to deliver compliance with employment legislation including the right to work in the UK and data protection requirements.

9.         HR administration

• Ensure the administrative foundations of the HR function are maintained to a high quality by regularly reviewing and updating HR policies, legal documents, processes and procedures.
• Produce and analyse HR metrics regularly to provide evidence of how the Inn is performing over time and recommend actions to address any areas of concern.  Metrics will include staff numbers, payroll costs/increases over time, staff turnover and sickness absence levels.
• Maintain a complete and accurate file for each employee of the Inn referencing all key employment documentation.  Set in place processes to enable information to be stored securely and accessed readily when needed in line with the Data Protection Act legislation.

10.       Budget

• Work with the Finance Department to develop, manage and monitor the Inn’s budget for HR & internal communications including preparation of costings as appropriate for any new developments/projects.

11.       COIC

• Support the members of the Council of the Inns of Court and the ICCA team with HR services.

Main responsibilities as employee:

Compliance with all policies and procedures of the Inn relating to employees as set out on the Inn-tranet, the Staff Handbook, your contract of employment and any other documents produced and issued from time to time.

Commitment to work within the principles of equal opportunities legislation and in an inclusive, open and transparent style.

Work within the Inn’s formal governance structures. 

Comply with all reasonable instructions given by the Under Treasurer and by Governance Committees of the Inn. Maintain a positive attitude and constructive behaviour at work at all times.