HR Business Partner

This is an incredible opportunity for you to make a difference and join a great team of people in a supportive environment within the Head Office of a values-led organisation. Ormiston Academies Trust (OAT) is one of the largest not-for-profit multi-academy trusts (MATs) in England. MATs are charities that run schools. We have been around since 2009 which makes us one of the longest established trusts. We are also one of the largest with almost 5,000 staff and 30,000 students.

Our mission is to become the Trust that makes the biggest difference, both inside and outside the classroom. 

The OAT HR team have worked closely with our academies and external stakeholders to deliver significant positive change over the last few years and although Covid has somewhat derailed us, we are committed to continuing the journey.

We are now looking to further strengthen the central team by appointing an Academies HR Business Partner.

This is a hands-on and varied role, supporting the Head of Academies HR, working as a trusted partner to stakeholders; driving capability, ensuring people plans are delivered, providing training and guidance on performance management and supporting with restructures. You will be working collaboratively with our partners providing HR/ER advice as well as helping with policy writing and MI reporting, job evaluation and supporting on various other people projects and communications across the business.

A customer centric approach combined with exceptional stakeholder management skills are essential, as is the ability to 'get into the detail' to produce meaningful MI and statistical information to help aid business decisions.

You should be extremely IT literate (Excel in particular), be able to quickly build strong, robust and collaborative relationships with people at all levels, possess good employment law knowledge and be comfortable working in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment.

This will be a really exciting year for the OAT HR team with two major projects to plan and deliver which will have a far reaching impact across all of our academies, including the review of our HR and Payroll service provision and the further development of our new ATS system.  Your recent on-the-job experience of working with similar platforms will be invaluable to the team and you could make a real difference to the service we deliver to our academies.

Key accountabilities

• Deliver a range of training as required, ensure that training is arranged for new starters in academy HR roles on the relevant systems and policies.
• Support with recruitment and retention, induction and training activities to improve and enhance the processes in our academies.
• Work collaboratively with our HR and Payroll provider to ensure the service levels are met, and the advisory team support academies in order to progress individual academy and Trust wide objectives.
• Create reports from our data dashboard as required.
• Utilise HR KPI's to target and improvement in attendance, retention, engagement and performance.
• A specific focus in the first year of this role will be on improving attendance across our academies working with local line management.
• Work with the Head of Academies HR to deliver HR projects such as the new payroll and HR tender, restructures and TUPE.
• Work alongside our external HR partner and our legal team to support managers with casework matters.
• Create and encourage a positive performance culture, succession planning and development for support staff. Promote opportunities for support staff learning, INSET opportunities and apprenticeship funding etc
• Work with the OAT recruitment and training manager to develop and improve the use of the ATS systems and the recruitment attraction brand.
• Oversee the correct application of OAT pay policies and pay ranges in schools, work with our payroll partner to agree and manage requests for pay evaluation.
• Review and or develop HR policies as required.
• Contribute to HR forums and events such as the JCC with our TU partners.
• Train on relevant job evaluation scoring schemes as required.

What skills are we looking for?

• Proven experience within a HR Manager role in a school setting.
• Knowledge of HR policies and procedures in schools.
• A good understanding of Support Staff and Teacher terms and conditions.
• Strong generalist HR experience within a fast-paced environment.
• CIPD level 5 or willingness to work toward with support.
• Safer recruitment trained.
• Knowledge of KCSIE and managing allegations against staff.
• Experience of managing complex HR issues including TUPE, redundancies, sickness and dismissals.
• Excellent relationship builder with strong communication skills.
• Confident and professional.
• IT literate - confident using HR systems, Excel/Word, Outlook, Teams
• Calm under pressure and resilient.
• Able to prioritise workload and work at pace.
• Able to impact change.

If you would like to know more about this fantastic opportunity, please contact Melanie Wheeler on melanie.wheeler@ormistonacademies.co.uk to arrange an informal discussion.

How to apply:

OAT is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and the expectation is that all staff will share this commitment. Therefore, the successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced DBS check.

Location

Flexible – travel to OAT HO locations in the Midlands and all OAT academies will be required. Can be based at home, an OAT location or a hybrid mix.

Closing date: 4 May 2021 at 12 noon.
Interviews: week commencing 10 May 2021.