People Services Manager

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Job Description

Permanent Full-Time
Location: Hybrid (Sale, Manchester)
Salary: £40,000 to £50,000
Reports to: Head of People Services
Line Management Responsibilities: The People team which consists of 3 People Partners and a Recruitment Lead, who manages a team of 2 Recruiters.

Overview

Training Qualifications UK, part of the AQA Group, is the fastest-growing Awarding Organisation in the UK and a market-leading Apprenticeship Assessment Organisation. We work with over 500 schools, colleges, universities, and training providers across the world to provide qualification certificates, endorsements, and apprenticeships to over 150,000 learners.

What's the secret to our success? Simply put, we do things differently here!

Our people are our most important asset and the HR team work tirelessly to ensure that TQUK is a brilliant place to work and that we hire, retain, develop and recognise our talent appropriately. Due to growth an exciting opportunity has arisen for a People Services Manager to lead our existing team.

The People Services team consists of 3 People Partners, who specialise in Employee Relations, and a Recruitment Lead, who manages a team of 2 recruiters. The job holder will be responsible for managing and developing this talented team of individuals. The Recruitment team are responsible for finding the very best talent for our permanent vacancies and also supports the recruitment process for our large bank of external freelancers that deliver our services. You will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of this recruitment.

This is an excellent opportunity to join the organisation and lead the team in delivering the people strategy, ensuring the company can achieve its wider strategic objectives.

TQUK is entering a period of significant growth. Alongside this, a key priority for the coming year is to further develop our policies, practices and culture so that colleagues feel valued, are able to perform at their best, and enjoy a consistent, positive experience throughout their employment journey. The People Services Manager will play a central role in delivering these priorities. As part of the Management Team, the postholder will also contribute to the overall operational success of both the team and the wider organisation.

This is a broad HR generalist role. While you will have a team supporting delivery, you will also take ownership of more complex, higher-level operational work.

You will be responsible for ensuring employees are equipped to carry out their roles effectively, and that all people processes are managed in a fair, consistent and legally compliant way. A key focus will be on fostering a positive working environment, building strong employee relations, and maintaining high levels of engagement and satisfaction.

Key responsibilities

Team Management

• Line Management responsibility for the team including holding regular team meetings, completing 1 2 1's and setting meaningful objectives.
• Development of the team through coaching, knowledge sharing and demonstration of what 'good looks like' in a high performing HR team.
• Setting, managing and reviewing Service Level Agreements (SLA's) across the team ensuring excellent service provisionin line with team capacity.
• Working closely with the Head of People Services to deliver objectives in line with the People Strategy, in essence turning strategic plans into meaningful operational action.
• Ensure the People Services Team are 'fit for growth' this includes developing the team, ensuring all policy, procedure and process is scalable as we grow and drive efficiencies across the entire function.

Employee Life Cycle

• Responsible for overseeing the recruitment of new employees ensuring that new vacancies are identified and recruited in a timely and cost-effective manner. Ensuring that all applicants have a good experience and impression of the Company regardless of whether they are successful in their application or otherwise.
• Responsible for overseeing the onboarding process of new hires. Ensuring the process is fit for purpose and delivered in an effective and timely manner providing new hires with a fully engaged experience.

Policy & Compliance

• Ensuring that all employee related policies and procedures are up to date, legally compliant, fit for purpose and communicated to employees.
• Responsible for ensuring that offer letters and employment contracts are up to date and in line with other associated policies.

Reward

• Developing and managing the employee reward strategy. Including managing the annual salary review process ensuring that salaries and benefits are fair and competitive. Completion of regular salary benchmarking within the industry.
• Regularly review employee benefits and look for new additional benefits that can be offered.
• Support with the ongoing development of the staff recognition strategy.
• Ensure employees are informed of changes to employee benefits such as the pension scheme etc.

Performance Development

• Responsible for the ongoing development and management of the Company Performance Development process. Ensuring this is effective, fit for purpose and fully integrated with the PeopleHR system.
• Assist managers in dealing with instances of poor performance, including attending improvement meetings, agreeing Performance Improvement Plans, coaching staff and managers to improve performance.

Employee Engagement

• Regularly seek the views of employees both informally and through formal systems such as our annual employee engagement survey Gallup. Communicate feedback to the full management team and employees aiming to increase employee satisfaction rates.
• Support managers with the introduction of initiatives that have the aim of developing and increasing employee engagement.

Employee Relations

• Responsible for overseeing all guidance and interventions, supporting the People Partner (ER) and working with staff and managers to ensure good employee relations and where appropriate dealing with complex employee relations issues arising through either the grievance or disciplinary procedure.
• Monitoring sickness absence, supporting managers with return-to-work interviews and dealing with any unsatisfactory sickness patterns in line with the Company absence procedure.
• Encourage good employee relations through the use of Company behaviours ensuring all staff are regularly encouraged to think about demonstrating good behaviours in line with these.

Learning and Development

• Supporting our Learning and Development strategy which is to 'create a culture of learning and development of all employees' that supports the needs of the business.
• Working with managers to ensure that all employees are equipped with the necessary skills to do their job well. Ensuring that Learning and Development opportunities are available to all employees and encouraging a learning culture.
• Developing and delivering HR related training to upskill managers, employees and HR team.

HR Reporting

• Report monthly on key HR data including sickness rates, attrition, holidays etc.
• Monitor trends identified as part of HR data reporting and propose action as required.
• Identify, report and mitigate risks associated with HR activities.

Other responsibilities

• Brief Head of People Services, and the full management team on HR related issues.
• Ensure all aspects of GDPR are adhered to in relation to the processing of employee data.
• Support with group level and local Health & Safety compliance such as First Aiders and Fire Safety.
• Manage resources and work with other managers to ensure needs and objectives of business are met.
• Supporting the smooth onboarding of all new starters including equipment & DSE requirements and welcome arrangements.
• Report to Head of People Services compliance, risk and operational issues across area of responsibility.
• Maintain an understanding of TQUK's strategy and contribute to its implementation, identifying implications for own department.
• Work with Managers to ensure department's views, needs and resources and risks are properly represented at senior level.
• Make authoritative, consistent, and consequential decisions relating to areas of responsibility.
• Drive a commitment culture, modelling, enforcing and recognising key non-negotiable behaviours in self and others.
• Understand the financial position of own area, the organisation and the wider economy and recognise impacts of this when delivering HR services.
• Understand the regulatory position of the organisation and frame all decisions in own area of responsibility within scope of regulatory requirements.
• Take responsibility for compliance of own departments, reporting, escalating, monitoring and resolving issues and improvements as required.
• Champion principles of equality and diversity in all activities.

Key requirements

• Proven experience of working in a similar role for a significant period.
• Experience working for a SME would be beneficial.
• Experience of working as a HR generalist is essential.
• CIPD Qualified Level 5 minimum, level 7 preferred or apprenticeship alternative.
• A good understanding of current employment law is essential but with a pragmatic approach to solving everyday work problems.
• Ability to work in a busy fast paced environment with good organisation and prioritising skills.
• Experience of working in a regulated industry is not essential but would be beneficial.
• Experience working in a fast-paced multi-faceted HR Generalist role.
• Excellent IT skills proficient in Microsoft office package.
• Experience using a HRIS, ideally PeopleHR.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.
• Exceptional organisation and prioritisation skills.
• Experience and ability to enable high levels of trust when dealing with difficult situations and confidential and sensitive information.

Key characteristics

Here are just a few of the essential softer skills you will need to successfully join our team:

• Good problem-solving skills are essential, as is the ability to think outside of the box.
• Flexibility: no two days will look the same and you must be comfortable working on multiple things at once, moving between priorities as required.
• Good relationship building skills.
• Ability to influence.
• Diplomatic, sensible, practical and empathic.
• Enjoy working in a fast-paced environment.
• Good attention to detail.
• Supportive, we value looking after each other.
• Sense of humour: we try and have fun in everything that we do so being able to laugh is a must!

Key Benefits

• Training, Qualifications & Apprenticeships. It's what we do!
• Company sick pay upon completion of probation.
• 25 days annual leave plus 8 days Bank Holiday (33 in total).
• Additional annual leave day each year, after 2 years of continuous service (up to 28 days).
• An extra day off to celebrate your birthday.
• Annual Loyalty Bonus.
• Annual salary review.
• Bupa healthcare benefits.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• NEST pension.
• Cycle-to-work scheme.
• A positive and supportive working environment.
• Comprehensive onboarding.
• A workplace that supports a healthy work/life balance.

*We are an equal opportunities employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Should you require any additional support during the recruitment process due to a disability, please contact us so we can assist you.*