Job summary
Join our dynamic HR Operations team as an Assistant HR Advisor, where you'll play a pivotal role in delivering a professional and trusted HR service to our divisions. You will support HR Advisors and HR Business Partners, providing expert advice on employee relations and managing absence processes.
This is an excellent opportunity for individuals passionate about HR who enjoy working closely with stakeholders and ensuring compliance with HR policies and best practices.
This role can be based at Whiston Hospital or Ormskirk hospital, with travel across sites as required to meet the needs of the service.
Main duties of the job
Key Responsibilities:
- Act as the primary contact within the HR Advisory team for attendance management and HR advice.
- Monitor sickness absence triggers and ensure timely reviews with managers and stakeholders.
- Assist in delivering training to managers on absence management policies and processes.
- Provide expert advice on HR metrics, data analysis, and trends to stakeholders.
- Support managers with less complex employee relations cases, offering guidance in line with Trust policies.
- Ensure consistent communication with employees, HR Advisors, and other stakeholders.
- Maintain accurate employee data and records via HR systems and trackers.
Requirements:
- Previous experience in HR or a related field, with knowledge of HR processes and systems.
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to present HR policies to stakeholders effectively.
- Attention to detail, with strong analytical skills for managing HR data and producing reports.
- Ability to work both independently and as part of a team.
- Willingness to travel between hospital sites as needed.
Why Join Us?
- Be part of a collaborative and supportive HR team committed to delivering excellence.
- Contribute to the continuous improvement of HR services within the NHS Trust.
- Opportunities for professional development and career growth within HR.
About us
Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust serves a population of over 600,000 with a workforce of over 9000 dedicated and skilled staff across 21 sites.
We strongly believe that the communities we serve should all have access to Five Star Patient Care.
Our Services
Acute Care
Providing emergency and maternity services at Whiston, Southport and Ormskirk hospitals, and medical and surgical specialties across all our sites.
Primary Care
Providing primary care services at Marshalls Cross Medical Centre situated in St Helens Hospital.
Community Services
Providing adult community services for St Helens and a wheelchair service in Chorley, South Ribble, and West Lancashire. Our inpatient unit at Newton Community Hospital is where patients needing acute hospital beds can continue rehabilitation, freeing up space for more unwell patients. We also provide urgent care at our Urgent Treatment Centre located in St Helens town centre.
Specialist Regional Services
We provide the Mersey Regional Burns & Plastic Surgery Unit at Whiston Hospital and the Spinal Injuries Unit at Southport Hospital to more than 4 million people across the whole of Merseyside, West Lancashire, Cheshire, Isle of Man and North Wales.
Achievements:
o Rated Outstanding by CQC Inspection August 2018
o Top 100 places to work in the NHS (NHS Employers & Health Service Journal)
o National Preceptorship Accreditation (2023) for Nursing & AHP Preceptorship Programme
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- To be one of the main points of contact within the HR Advisory Team and to engage with stakeholders with regards to the attendance management processes and offer any necessary support.
- Ensure sickness absence triggers are monitored and highlighted to relevant stakeholders in a timely way to ensure reviews are held within set timescales.
- Attend meetings to provide HR advice to management who are meeting with currently absent members of staff or members of staff who have repeated absences
- Work with HR Advisors in 1:1 training for stakeholders
- To provide advice and guidance to managers regarding information collated through analysis of HR metrics/statistics including highlighting trends within a department as well as individual records
- Undertake administration and undertake procedural tasks as required by HRBP .
- Note taking at meetings as required including disciplinary, ill-health capability meetings.
- Comment on and contribute to the review and continuous improvement of absence related Policies and Procedures.
- Seek customer service feedback from designated area of responsibility and make recommendations to the HR Advisors and Business Partners
- Coach and guide managers on absence processes, emphasizing the importance of good record keeping and data protection
- To coordinate and signpost the employee to the relevant support services, both internal and external including Health, Work and Well Being, the Employee Assistance Provider, mediation etc
- To ensure adherence to Trust policies and standards and legislative requirements, within boundaries set by the Human Resource Business Partner and HR Advisor.
- To ensure that all changes to Trust policies and procedures are implemented across the Trust when advising managers and attending meetings.
- To support managers with less complex employee relations cases and/or queries in accordance with the appropriate policy
Job description
Job responsibilities
KEY DUTIES
- To be one of the main points of contact within the HR Advisory Team and to engage with stakeholders with regards to the attendance management processes and offer any necessary support.
- Ensure sickness absence triggers are monitored and highlighted to relevant stakeholders in a timely way to ensure reviews are held within set timescales.
- Attend meetings to provide HR advice to management who are meeting with currently absent members of staff or members of staff who have repeated absences
- Work with HR Advisors in 1:1 training for stakeholders
- To provide advice and guidance to managers regarding information collated through analysis of HR metrics/statistics including highlighting trends within a department as well as individual records
- Undertake administration and undertake procedural tasks as required by HRBP .
- Note taking at meetings as required including disciplinary, ill-health capability meetings.
- Comment on and contribute to the review and continuous improvement of absence related Policies and Procedures.
- Seek customer service feedback from designated area of responsibility and make recommendations to the HR Advisors and Business Partners
- Coach and guide managers on absence processes, emphasizing the importance of good record keeping and data protection
- To coordinate and signpost the employee to the relevant support services, both internal and external including Health, Work and Well Being, the Employee Assistance Provider, mediation etc
- To ensure adherence to Trust policies and standards and legislative requirements, within boundaries set by the Human Resource Business Partner and HR Advisor.
- To ensure that all changes to Trust policies and procedures are implemented across the Trust when advising managers and attending meetings.
- To support managers with less complex employee relations cases and/or queries in accordance with the appropriate policy
Person Specification
Other
Essential
- Ability to plan effectively and work to tight deadlines
- Attention to detail
- Flexible approach - ability to attend meetings off site
- Achievement focused - ability to set targets and get things done
- Good interpersonal skills and ability to develop good working relationships with people at various levels
- Open and honest
- Treats colleagues with dignity and respect
- Shows commitment and resilience
- Customer focused
- Ability to work alone and within a team
Skills
Essential
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Well organised and ability to work under pressure
- Ability to analyse and interpret HR statistics
- Competent user of Information Technology and Microsoft packages
- The ability to empathise and handle sensitive issues
- Good understanding of the challenges affecting the NHS
- Ability to identify and solve problems and awareness of when to escalate to management
- Ability to maintain strict confidentiality
- The ability to present data in an informative and user friendly format
Desirable
- Knowledge of NHS terms and conditions of employment
- Knowledge of HR policies and procedures
Knowledge
Essential
- Experience within HR/ Customer Service and/or Resourcing team
- Experience of coordinating meetings, training events or conferences
- Experience of systems for collating data, processing and reporting
- Experience in providing advice on policies and procedures
Desirable
- Experience of providing advice to stakeholders on Attendance Management processes
- Experience of working in a HR role in the NHS or public sector organisation
Qualifications
Essential
- NVQ Level 3 in administration or equivalent level of knowledge
- Achievement of, or a willingness to work towards a CIPD Level 3 Certificate
Person Specification
Other
Essential
- Ability to plan effectively and work to tight deadlines
- Attention to detail
- Flexible approach - ability to attend meetings off site
- Achievement focused - ability to set targets and get things done
- Good interpersonal skills and ability to develop good working relationships with people at various levels
- Open and honest
- Treats colleagues with dignity and respect
- Shows commitment and resilience
- Customer focused
- Ability to work alone and within a team
Skills
Essential
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Well organised and ability to work under pressure
- Ability to analyse and interpret HR statistics
- Competent user of Information Technology and Microsoft packages
- The ability to empathise and handle sensitive issues
- Good understanding of the challenges affecting the NHS
- Ability to identify and solve problems and awareness of when to escalate to management
- Ability to maintain strict confidentiality
- The ability to present data in an informative and user friendly format
Desirable
- Knowledge of NHS terms and conditions of employment
- Knowledge of HR policies and procedures
Knowledge
Essential
- Experience within HR/ Customer Service and/or Resourcing team
- Experience of coordinating meetings, training events or conferences
- Experience of systems for collating data, processing and reporting
- Experience in providing advice on policies and procedures
Desirable
- Experience of providing advice to stakeholders on Attendance Management processes
- Experience of working in a HR role in the NHS or public sector organisation
Qualifications
Essential
- NVQ Level 3 in administration or equivalent level of knowledge
- Achievement of, or a willingness to work towards a CIPD Level 3 Certificate
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.
