Employee Relations (Er) Assistant

People and Culture As a section, People and Culture is working towards the agenda set out in our People Supporting Strategy, which is aimed at supporting the University’s strategic goals. The People and Culture section consists of three sub-sections, Employee Relations and Reward, Organisational Development and Workplace Health and Wellbeing. Duties of the Role The Employee Relations Assistant is the first point of contact for all HR matters including first line advice as well as guidance on policy, process and procedures. Working closely with colleagues across HR, this position will ensure a seamless service to our customers. Responsibilities will include, but are not limited to the following;  Onboarding new members of staff and processing employee life cycle documents including contracts, maternity/paternity/extension letters, organisation structure changes, leave of absence recording, office holder allowances and flexible Providing advice and guidance across RTW and visa types; ensuring compliance in line with Home Office legislation. Work closely with, Reward (Payroll and Pensions) and Resourcing team to ensure that a high quality and integrated P&C service is offered to colleagues. You will assist and support employees with queries relating to employee self-service, annual leave, leave of absence and HR policies, along with managing weekly and monthly reporting and complying with data protection and information security regulations. Skills and Qualifications required It is essential that you have strong proven experience in an administrative role and experience of delivering excellent customer service, as well as evidence of a high level of IT competency.  Excellent oral and written communication skills are essential, as well as high attention to detail and the ability to prioritise own workload to deal with a range of varied and competing tasks. Being able to manage and build relationships with colleagues at all levels is also key to deliver an efficient and effective HR service. This appointment is for a fixed-term of 12 months from May 2024 – May 2025 in order to provide cover for a permanent member of staff who is absent from work on maternity leave. You should note that there is provision in the terms of appointment for this fixed-term post to end earlier by due notice (1 month) if the permanent member of staff decides to return early to her post. Please use the 'Apply' button to read further information about this role including the full job description and person specification which outlines the full duties, skills, qualifications and experience needed for this role. You will also find details of how to make your application here. Our website http://www.essex.ac.uk contains more information about the University of Essex. If you have a disability and would like information in a different format, please email resourcing@essex.ac.uk.