Senior HR Business Partner

Job description / Role

About the Role
The post holder will implement people strategies and provide consultative HR leadership, guidance, and support across the region.

The post holder will partner with leadership teams to lead scalable best HR practices, including talent and succession, performance management, total rewards and engagement, workforce planning and employee relations to drive forward the GEMS People strategy and vision across the region.

In addition, delivering all HR aspects as per transitional plans for new school projects and acquisitions.

New School Projects Integration
- Responsible for the implementation of the school HR plan in collaboration with SSC HR.
- Manage HR procedure, policy and system integration.
- Responsible for the transfer of employees to GEMS contracts and relevant regulatory approvals as per the transition plan.
- Responsible for managing the people budget and compensation and benefits alignment if applicable.
- Accountable for implementing an effective workforce transition plan including the recruitment of transitional vacancies required.
- Engaging with relevant regulatory bodies within the region to ensure full compliance with laws and regulations.

Leadership and Operational Support
- Lead HR strategy across assigned business units, setting operational targets focussed on excellence and growth across all people matters.
- Provide advice and strategic guidance to the leadership team on all people matters and be accountable for their effectiveness using robust performance management systems.
- Coach and mentor teams to enhance future people's capacity and drive internal succession planning.
- Understand the effects and implications of government policies, legislation and directives, developing effective strategies for current initiatives and long-term planning.
- To manage the relevant people budgets and expenditures, ensuring optimal financial management.
- Responsible for day-to-day people operations across the region including monthly payroll, letter requests, visas and work permits, teacher licensing and any other administrative requirements in place.

Recruitment, Onboarding and Induction
- Own the resourcing requirements for the region, being the point of contact for GEMS leadership, on workforce planning, identifying future requirements, and supporting department re-structures as required.
- Oversee the induction experience to ensure a smooth process for all new joiners in the region, ensuring regulatory and Company policy compliance and continuous enhancement and improvement of processes
- Accountable for employer branding initiatives and the onboarding experience across the region ensuring compliance with regulators and local authorities and internal policy and procedures.
- Ensure compliance with Saudisation regulations; lead Saudisation initiatives for the region.

Employee Relations
- Act as a trusted advisor to leaders for all employee relations matters across the region.
- Lead on employee relations issues & Labour Law cases.
- Lead on whistle-blower cases, accountable for ensuring investigations are completed effectively and reporting outcomes.
- Ensure all leavers complete relevant procedures, and conduct exit interviews establishing reason for leaving the organization.
- Identify process and policy improvements on an ongoing basis.

Performance Development
- Accountable for ensuring an effective and robust performance management process is in place across the region.
- Training of all employees on the performance management cycle including goal setting, and facilitating/delivering training for line managers on how to have performance conversations, and evaluate employees.
- Reporting on trends and findings with effective solutions for improvements
- Lead on strategy for training and development across the region, launch an LMS and ensure compliance with GEMS mandatory training courses.

Talent and Succession
- Devise a talent and succession strategy for the region and implement succession planning processes to identify and develop talent across the region.
- Support career mapping of key/high potential individuals, ensuring their engagement and retention.
- Responsible for creating a Learning and Development framework, and making relevant opportunities available for staff across the region.
- Responsible for the implementation of a High Potential Programme with long-term company growth plans in mind.

Total Rewards
- Liaise with the GEMS Head of Total Rewards on creating and implementing effective compensation structures to attract and retain top-performing employees across the region.
- Develop an employee-oriented high-performance culture that emphasizes behaviour & GEMS core values
- Complete benchmarking exercises to ensure an effective understanding of competitive reward tools and payscales across the region.

Engagement
- Devise and lead the employee engagement strategy for the region.
- Responsible for implementing employee engagement surveys, and providing reports and metrics as required by senior management.
- Interpret survey outcomes and provide guidance to drive relevant change projects, including leading on action-planning
- Supporting engagement initiatives across the region.

Data and Reporting
- Own the HR data for the region
- Ensure people systems are fit for purpose and implemented successfully
- Collaborate with GEMS data leads in GEMS SSC on data governance and literacy projects; and future data improvement planning.
- Interpret people data to draw out key findings to lead into strategic outcomes and future planning.
- Provide periodic data analysis for leadership.

Requirements

Expected Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree or equivalent
- CIPD or SHRM Qualification

Expected Experience:
- At least 2 years of HR leadership experience within the GCC.
- At least 5 years of progressively responsible HR Generalist/HR Manager experience

Job-Specific Knowledge & Skills:
- Demonstrated ability to drive the achievement of results, displaying high levels of energy and commitment. Ensures plans, resources and processes are in place to enable the efficient delivery of results
- Ability to liaise effectively with key stakeholders, adapting approaches as necessary, creating compelling cases to influence, and negotiating the best outcomes for GEMS Education.
- Continuously looks for new/innovative ways to approach job requirements and adjusts rapidly to new situations, manages change effectively and successfully implements change initiatives.
- Delivers clear, proactive and effective two-way communication
- Seeks to develop self and others. Creates capability through learning and development opportunities and sets an example, encouraging knowledge sharing across the organisation.
- Superior interpersonal abilities. Ability to get along and work with diverse personalities; tactful, mature
- Participative management style and an advocate of one team concept
- Understands and demonstrates an understanding of the business, priorities, opportunities and challenges and external influencing factors

About the Company

GEMS Education is a pioneering education company with an international network of award winning K-12 schools. Over the past 55 years GEMS has grown from one school to being a truly global company with one incredible mission – to make quality education available to every student. Over 20,000 education professionals unlock the potential of over 250,000 students across 14 countries each and every day, preparing children of all ages for real world success.