Employee Relations Lead

Job description / Role

We believe our Talent Team is an exciting and challenging environment in which to develop your career. As a leading professional services firm, we know that our strength and capability come from our people - their different perspectives, experiences and backgrounds.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the MENA Talent Leader, the role actively aims to manage relationships between EY and its' employees. To provide fair and consistent treatment to all employees through policies and procedures and dependable practices which abide by local laws and EY's Global approach. The primary function of Employee Relations is to strategically prevent problems arising from situations in the workplace. The secondary function of Employee Relations is to manage occurrences as an when they do inevitably arise

Your Key Responsibilities:

- Conduct and lead independent investigations of highly complex employee matters, and other escalations and complaints to thoroughly fact find, resolve the issue(s), and to mitigate risk to the firm within prescribed timeframes.
- Provide consultation, guidance, and coaching to Talent team members and business partners on the appropriate handling and resolution of employee relations matters where ER is not investigating the particular matter(s) or where the responsibility has been delegated to another appropriate partner (e.g. local HR or external)
- Develop the Talent team capability in the understanding and application of MENA employment laws, policies, and practices to ensure consistency and manage risk.
- Track and analyze ER issue trends, diagnose root causes, and develop recommendations for corrective strategies.
- Develop a reporting mechanism for employee relations analytics and data, as required
- Work with internal legal counsel and external lawyers in formulating the guidelines that can foster a productive and healthy employee-employee relationship.
- Work with internal legal counsel, Internal Risk and external lawyers on all legal and risk associated areas of HR.
- Formulate (where required), review and update all the HR polices and guidelines in conjunction with the respective HR functions and legal and risk counsel.
- Approve and implement ER programs for fostering inter-employee relationships.
- Point of contract for all internal and external Employee and HR legal advice
- Create and maintain all legal documentation throughout the Employee life cycle
- Ensure all contracts and legal Employee documentation are up to date
- Govern and manage all disciplinary and grievance investigation and related policies, procedures, scripts and documentation
- Advise on and manage all involuntary terminations
- Provide advice and act as the center of excellence to the business and Talent team members on Employee Relations activities and cases
- Advise and coach the business to ensure the most appropriate course of action for an ER issues
- Provide legal updates to the business and Talent team.
- Proactively manage and reduce ER risk

Requirements

Skills and attributes for success:

- Proven ability to influence at senior levels in the organization
- Display expertise and knowledge of contemporary HR and organizational development practices and a sound understanding of the SL businesses
- An HR generalist profile as well as legal or ER expertise would be beneficial
- Demonstrate strong relationship building and networking skills
- Demonstrate competency to work in virtual teams
- Demonstrate strong commercial acumen
- Demonstrate excellence in coaching and developing executives
- Strong project management skills ideally gained within an international/cross-border context
- Ability to understand and integrate cultural differences, and motivate/lead cross cultural teams
- Strong oral and written English language skills are required
- Arabic language would be an advantage

To qualify for the role:

- 10+ years of experience working in a regional ER role ideally with a legal and employment law background.
- Build and maintain influential relationships with business leaders and managers, working closely with them to co-develop solutions to meet their business needs
- Establish effective relationship across HR to ensure that centrally developed products and initiatives meet legal, risk and Employee well-being criteria
- Work with specialist HR team members such as Total Reward and Talent Development to deliver processes and initiatives that are risk free and legally sound
- Advise on and manage any sensitive cases regarding performance management and probation reviews
- Maintain up to date Government information on Nationalization quotes and targets and provide reporting and oversight to the SLs and broader Talent Team
- Work on developing new designs/mediums/strategies to develop and nurture positive Employee Relations

Ideally, you'll also have

- A passion to pursue your CIPD in the future or already have this qualification
- Strong communication skills and the ability to articulate process and procedures clearly
- An enthusiastic, can do approach and be a strong team player

What we look for

We are interested in professionals who wishes to pursue a career in HR to gain valuable skills providing support to the wider team. We're looking for someone like you who has the autonomy to manage their stakeholders, offering advice on best practice delivering high quality administrative support to your team.

What we offer

We offer a competitive compensation package where you'll be rewarded based on performance and recognized for the value you bring to our business. Plus, we offer:

- Continuous learning : You'll develop the mindset and skills to navigate whatever comes next.
- Success as defined by you : We'll provide the tools and flexibility, so you can make a meaningful impact, your way.
- Transformative leadership : We'll give you the insights, coaching and confidence to be the leader the world needs.
- Diverse and inclusive culture: You'll be embraced for who you are and empowered to use your voice to help others find theirs.

If you can demonstrate that you meet the criteria above, please contact us as soon as possible. The exceptional EY experience. It's yours to build.

EY | Building a better working world

EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

About the Company

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available on our site.

The MENA practice of EY has been operating in the region since 1923. For over 95 years, we have grown to over 7,500 people united across 21 offices and 16 countries, sharing the same values and an unwavering commitment to quality. As an organization, we continue to develop outstanding leaders who deliver exceptional services to our clients and who contribute to our communities. We are proud of our accomplishments over the years, reaffirming our position as the largest and most established professional services organization in the region