Applications are encouraged from people who are under-represented in the union. We actively encourage Women, Ethnically Diverse/Global Majority Heritage, Disabled and LGBT+ people to apply.

JOB DESCRIPTION

GMB's National Office is seeking applications from individuals for two positions of HR & Development Advisor.

GMB is one of the UK and Ireland’s largest general trade unions: we’re proud to represent over half a million members from across the professional spectrum and all walks of life. We are proud of our strong values of fairness, equality, solidarity, and collective action.

We are currently seeking two HR & Development Advisors to join our national team based at GMB's head office in London. We are seeking individuals who will be able to demonstrate a key understanding of and affinity for trade union values as something you live in your professional practice. 

The successful post-holders will be all-round Generalists, able to support and cover the full employee life cycle of HR duties, leading on a variety of day-to-day operations including employee relation matters, general legal compliance of the department, training and development, recruitment, policy formation, HR projects, to name but a few. 

A key area of these roles will be to lead on all matters relating to employment law and protecting the Union against litigation by providing specialist knowledge and advice on legal proceedings against the union, and to define a strategic defense, recommending or approving settlement of disputes where warranted on the Union’s behalf.

You will act to support the Head of People to continuously review and improve human resources practices and objectives that will provide an employee-oriented, high-performance culture at GMB. You will lead on mitigating the union’s legal and compliance risks, across the union’s internal operations.

It’s our people and culture that define us, and the successful post-holders will help GMB through a period of cultural change that will ensure we are a workplace fit for a modern workforce.

Other key responsibilities for the role will include:

• Working with various departments, regions, and senior managers, assisting line managers to understand and implement policies and procedures
• Planning and delivering training - including inductions for new staff
• Interpreting, advising and leading on employment law issues
• Implementing performance management interventions and supporting absence management processes
• Drafting and/or revising various documents of legal nature, ensuring in particular that obligations stemming from legislation and regulations currently in force are complied with
• Assuming responsibility for various legal dossiers and following up on these
• Supporting various projects (e.g. review risk policies)
• Act as the legal liaison for the HR function to lead on corporate legal matters and union policies such as: related to contract management, GDPR, employee relations matters and other risk management activities
• To lead on the developments of UK employment law to support legal compliancy in line with the union’s needs, and share your expertise within the HR department
• To lead the processes of employee relations matters – grievance, disciplinary, absence management, capability, etc. and resolution processes including conflict resolution
• As a HR Generalist on other areas of HR including recruitment, training, policy review, job evaluation, HR Information and learning management systems, etc.

This is a varied and challenging role; if you think you may be who we're looking for and if you feel you meet the criteria outlined in the job description, we’d like to hear from you.

Information about the role

• The successful post-holder will be expected to attend regional or national meetings/events so must be willing to travel as part of the role.
• The hours of work for this post are designated as ‘unspecified’, and there will therefore be a requirement to work unsocial hours, including weekend or evening work, when required by the role.

We particularly welcome applications from candidates who reflect the diversity of our membership and who share our commitment to advancing workers’ rights.

In return, we offer excellent terms and benefits, including:

• Final Salary Pension Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Childcare Assistance Scheme
• Season Ticket Loan
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Generous holiday allowance
• Eye Care claim back Scheme
• Annual Leave Purchase Scheme
• Annual Health Check

This is a varied and challenging role; if you think you may be who we're looking for and if you feel you meet the criteria outlined in the person specification in the job description, we’d like to hear from you.

Please note:

Late or incomplete applications will not be considered, so please ensure you have completed all sections of the application form (including referee details) and submitted no later than the specified deadline.