People And Culture Advisor

People & Culture Advisor  

About UK Dementia research Institute 

Today, over 1M people in the UK are living with dementia and related neurodegenerative disorders (D-NDDs) such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and motor neuron disease (MND). The impact of these incurable and progressive conditions on individuals and their families is devastating. Societal costs are staggering and growing as the population ages. 

Due to major advances in our understanding of the biology of D-NDDs, the field is at an inflection point with the next decade promising to deliver transformative breakthroughs in therapies and a new era of predictive, preventative, and precision medicine for D-NDDs. The UK is well placed to play a leading role in this revolution due to its strengths in the discovery and delivery science of D-NDDs led by the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) working with our world class University based centres. We are a globally leading multidisciplinary research institute of over 700 staff investigating the spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders causing dementia, driving a step change in our understanding of neurodegeneration, and accelerating the discovery, development and delivery of interventions that will help diagnose, treat, and ultimately prevent dementia. 

Our principal funder is the MRC. Together with our strategic partners including LifeArc, BHF, ARUK and Alzheimer’s Society we have a 5-year budget of over £200m. Our 62 internationally leading Group Leaders are located at 7 dedicated UK DRI centres based at University College London, University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, Edinburgh University, Imperial College London, and King’s College London.

Role Purpose

The UK DRI had an outstanding first quinquennial review (2017-22), and its ambitious five-year strategic plan has been approved. This includes financial provision for a number of research initiatives to encourage innovative, collaborative and bold research at all career levels. 

The People and Culture Advisor will support the Chief People & Culture Officer in implementing the design, transformation and delivery of services, policies, systems and process and will play a key part insupporting the delivery of the People strategy and to become an employer of choice. 

The role holder will lead recruitment and onboarding activity, facilitate payroll, benefits and employee wellbeing working in partnership with outsourced suppliers. The People and Culture Advisor will provide guidance and support to employees on employee relations matters, support learning and development programmes, maintain policies and practices and help to shape and develop the people proposition as UKDRI continues to evolve. 

The role will report to the Chief People & Culture Officer and will assist managers and employees across the organisation on people matters, providing HR expertise as required.

Primary Accountabilities

HR Operations and Service Delivery 

·       Provide key services to deliver a professional and responsive service to UKDRI as it transforms.

·       Manage Payroll activity establishing good practice and working effectively with Finance colleagues. 

·       Assist with implementation of People Policies and ensure these are understood throughout the organisation.

·       Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements when providing guidance on HR related matters to manage employee concerns.  

·       Be a first point of contact for HR related queries, coaching managers to build knowledge in these areas, evolving to a self-service approach for core policies. 

·       Responsible for ensuring data is accurate to inform reliable reporting. 

·       Support immigration and visa applications for newly appointed employees identified for sponsorship. 

Employee relations

·       Act as the first point of contact for general HR/People related enquiries.

·       Provide pragmatic advice to line managers and employees on the implementation of all Peoplepolicies and processes.

·       Provide coaching and guidance to managers.

·       Oversee performance management processes and initiatives.

·       Maintain and update all people policies and processes within our continuous improvementframework.

·       Support and monitor the performance of employees through performance appraisal processes ensuring       performance development plans are in place that support the business objectives, talent and succession plans and personal development plans.

Recruitment and onboarding

·       Responsible for end-to-end recruitment of new staff, using job boards and drafting of advertisements, role profiles, benchmarking, and setting up interviews.

·       Working with the wider team and recruiting Managers to support all new starter onboarding and  induction activities resulting in high degrees of satisfaction fromcandidates and managers.

·       Identify and implement improvements to     the recruitment process, promoting good ED&I practices and track metrics to measure ED&I progress. 

Organisational development

·       Work with the Chief People & Culture Officer to deliver and evaluate a comprehensive wellbeingprogramme for employees.

·       Work with the Chief People & Culture Officer to develop and deliver organisational development projects in line with business needs.

·       Provide appropriate management information on a wide range of people activities as and when   required.

·       Work with the Chief People & Culture Officer to develop and deliver continual improvement plans from staff    engagement surveys and other activity.

·       Develop positive relationships with external stakeholders including outsourced HR and training providers.

·       Manage activity with outsourced suppliers on a day-to-day basis for all transactional HR services.

·       Take ownership for continued personal development, staying up to date with employment law and    current legislation.

Learning and Development

·       Support the development  and implementation of  L&D practices  and maintain the online training platform and training records . 

·       Work with the Chief People & Culture Officer in compiling information from training needs analyses, implementing the   resulting training programmes, and evaluate and develop internaltraining in line with business needs.

·       Deliver internal training workshops – particularly HR focussed workshops – when required.

·       Work with the Chief People & Culture Officer to design, deliver and report on  organisationalcompliance training.

Reward and Wellbeing 

·       Facilitate the pay review process aligned to UKDRI’s Values, ensuring benchmarking and reward and benefits programme to build trust and engagement amongst employees. 

·       Manage benefits activity, working with key suppliers and implementing communications to all employees. 

Other

·    Carry out all other reasonable duties as and when required.

·    Provide cover for colleagues within the People and Culture team as required.

Key Relationships

·       Strong contributor and partner to the line managers and employees to deliver an effective People and Culture service. 

·       Work closely with the Finance team to ensure payroll and reporting is accurate and compliant. 

·       Work with Communications team to ensure employee communications engage and inform. 

Person Specification

Experience and attributes

·       Experience of working in a generalist HR role with a broad understanding and interest in all keyareas to include the recruitment of talent .

·       Demonstrable experience of building trust and confidence within an organisation, especially in  maintaining confidentiality on sensitive issues.

·       Sound knowledge of current UK HR legislation.

·       Strong analytical skills, to think in a logical manner, identify root causes of problems, and be able to  make systematic and rational judgements based on relevant information.

·       Ability to work autonomously, take responsibility for own actions and make decisions with minimal      direction.

·       Ability to think creatively and solve problems and ‘ roll sleeves up ‘ to get things done  and achieve results .

·       Strong organisational skills.

·       Good understanding of immigration law and compliance with UK regulations . 

·       Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal and ability to influence others .

·       Highly effective at relationship building and able to work collaboratively.

·       Comfortable with ambiguity, with the ability to manage changing and competing demands in a fast- paced environment.

·       Experience of designing and delivering training programmes.

·       Proficiency in IT systems, with the ability to develop and maintain processes.

·       Experience of working in organisations which are developing and growing the business operation.  

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Qualifications 

o   Chartered (L5) member of CIPD. 

o   Honours degree 

ED&I Statement

UKDRI promotes equality and is an inclusive workplace and aims to treat all employees, consultants and applicants fairly. It is ourpolicy to provide employment equality to all, irrespective of:

·       Gender, including gender reassignment.

·       Marital or civil partnership status

·       Having or not having dependants

·       Religion or belief

·       Race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins)

·       Disability

·       Sexual orientation

·       Age.

We are opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination. All job applicants and employees who work for us will be treated fairly and will not be unfairly discriminated against on any of the above grounds. Decisions about recruitment and selection,promotion, training or any other benefit will be made objectively and without unlawful discrimination.