People Advisor
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About Embrace the Middle East
Embrace the Middle East is a Christian charity with over 160 years' experience of helping people of all faiths and none to free themselves from a life of poverty and injustice. We partner with local Christian communities in the Middle East as they provide education, healthcare and community development projects to those in the greatest need.
Job purpose (Job Summary)
A pivotal role within the organisation, the People Advisor will provide expert people management support and guidance across the charity, championing initiatives to enhance employee experience, engagement and operational efficiency. Responsibilities include managing Embrace’s cloud-based HR platform (Employment Hero), coordinating recruitment, designing and implementing initiatives that foster an inclusive, diverse culture where all staff can thrive and flourish in a remote/hybrid working environment. This is a permanent, part-time role (28-30 hours a week) based hybridly with at least one day a week in our High Wycombe office.
Key responsibilities:
- Recruitment & Selection (internal and external)
- Co-ordinate staff recruitment, onboarding, role transitions and off boarding processes.
- Work closely with hiring managers to identify role requirements alongside the skills, knowledge and experience needed.
- Manage Embrace’s careers webpage and applicant tracking system (linked to HR platform).
- Co-ordinate recruitment advertising campaign to attract diverse candidate pool.
- Work with hiring managers to deliver a fair and inclusive recruitment selection process.
- Arrange external job evaluations for all new roles to confirm level of responsibility and pay within Embrace’s job band structure.
- Advise and manage the application of a genuine occupational requirement.
- Ensure final recruitment decision reflects best practice, inclusivity and fairness.
- Manage offer process, completing new staff checks (disclosure/references), issuing contract of employment and manage their onboarding journey.
- HR Advice & Guidance
- Develop and review HR policies ensuring these remain legally compliant and support Embrace’s values, culture and remote and flexible working arrangements.
- Provide HR advice to staff and managers on work related policies and procedures, ensuring these are effectively communicated and adhered to.
- Work with Line Manager to advise, manage and resolve any employee relations that arise (e.g. grievances, disciplinaries, bullying and harassment, whistleblowing, safeguarding, absence management, flexible working, dismissals, performance management and capability issues).
- Provide HR data and insights, reporting on KPIs and monitoring trends to inform senior leadership decisions.
- Support Embrace’s HR Consultant in the preparation of reports on employment matters.
- Act as Embrace’s Internal Safeguarding lead, managing the information gathering and reporting process of safeguarding concerns affecting staff members in accordance with Embrace’s policy.
- Ensure internal practices and policies comply with Health & Safety at work regulations.
- Point of contact for staff queries related to Embrace’s shared office space at Patch High Wycombe.
- Manage HR budget and raise purchase orders in line with Financial Controls Policy.
- Play a pro-active role in supporting the health & wellbeing of all staff.
- Keep up to date with developments/changes in UK employment law, HR best practice, pay & benefits and make recommendations to the Leadership Group (LG) to ensure Embrace’s policies and practice remains compliant and aligned with sector standards.
- Performance, Training & Development
- Work closely with managers and suggest learning and development opportunities for staff, promoting a culture of continuous learning.
- Facilitate the delivery of regular staff surveys, highlighting key learnings and work with LG on developing and implementing action plans.
- Work with managers to co-ordinate the onboarding and induction of new staff ensuring relevant training to succeed, are aware of and understand our culture, key people policies and procedures.
- Review Embrace’s performance management process and procedure to ensure it aligns with the charity’s values, mission and strategy.
- Provide regular and relevant opportunities for staff to stay connected with Embrace’s mission whilst working mainly remotely – eg. content/updates to share at weekly staff meeting (via Teams), arranging staff coming together events 3 times a year.
- Evaluate all staff’s performance reviews, provide advice and support to managers to enable staff to further improve their skills and expertise relevant to their role.
- HR Systems and Processes (including payroll)
- Manage Embrace’s cloud-based HR platform (for Staff and Trustees), ensuring the collection, recording and reporting of data is held securely and accurately.
- Provide updates to ensure staff and managers are well supported and informed to maximise benefit of the features and resources available within the platform.
- Work closely with Embrace’s Management Accountant to ensure authorised staff salaries and pension contributions are processed accurately.
- Set up performance reviews on HR system, including up to date copy of Job Description.
- Manage staff acceptance of policies / changes.
- Manage staff onboarding / offboarding process through the platform.
- Assist with staff with leave (eg. holiday, absence) queries.
- Arrange weekly staff meetings and all staff coming together events.
- Keep Organisation chart up to date and communicate internal staff changes.
- Account management of HR software / Reward platform / Pay & Benefits advisors.
- To support the Charity in every way possible to fulfil its vision and charitable aims
- Pro-actively contribute to the overall success of Embrace through championing HR initiatives that have a positive impact on the charity’s people and culture.
- Develop excellent working relationships with colleagues throughout the charity.
- Model the Charity’s core values of excellence, accountability, respect, integrity, trust and compassion at all times.
- Develop effective external networks to enable the sharing of best practice and knowledge with other HR professionals.
- Ensure you fully understand and uphold your safeguarding responsibilities and trust inherent with your role.
- To maintain professional boundaries with those you come into contact with and avoid behaviour which might be misinterpreted as inappropriate use of the trust inherent with your role at Embrace.
- Ensure Embrace data management remains compliant with GDPR and other relevant regulations.
- Adhere to Embrace’s policies and procedures at all times.
- Undertake any other duties compatible with the role as required.
- To maintain sympathy with the Christian character of the Charity.
- Be proactive in reviewing and evaluating own performance and identifying and acting upon areas for improvement and development.
- Attend and participate in staff and team meetings.
- Undertake as required any other duties compatible with the role.
Person specification
| Attribute | Essential | Desirable |
|---|---|---|
| General education | Full understanding of UK employment law and HR best practice. | CIPD qualification level 5 or above |
| Skills / abilities / Experience | Proven ability to advise and manage all areas of HR, including but not limited to; recruitment & selection, training & development, pay & benefits, performance management, equality, diversity & inclusion, managing contractual terms and conditions of employment. Experience of managing a wide range of employee relations (eg. disciplinary, grievance, performance improvement, absence management), policy development and health & safety compliance. Experience of managing a cloud-based HR system, integrated with payroll, for the whole organisation. Good analytical skills with the ability to draw out useful information to inform reports and actions. Ability to confidently and cogently influence and support managers at all levels, including leadership and board. Proactive, and solutions focused, with excellent interpersonal and organisational skills. Experience managing and maintaining HR systems and reporting tools. Excellent IT skills, including Microsoft Office 365, Excel, HR and payroll cloud-based systems. Proven strong organisational and administrative skills, including excellent attention to detail and ability to retain a broad range of information. Excellent written and spoken English. Excellent communication and people skills. Confidence to present to all staff and at Trustees Board meetings. Skilled at recognising sensitive and personal information and maintaining strict confidentiality. |
Experience of providing HR support for a remote and flexible working organisation. Experience of working for a small to medium sized organisation in a HR standalone role. Experience of contributing to the creation of a values-led, inclusive and high-performing organisational culture. Experience of working in a HR capacity within the charity or non-profit sector. |
| Personal | Strong desire to serve the people of the organisation and maintain a positive working culture. Professional, intuitive and compassionate. Able to demonstrate excellent interpersonal skills. Self-motivated, pro-active and able to work under pressure and prioritise effectively, delivering to demanding deadlines. Good team player prepared to contribute to the overall success of the organisation. Flexible in a multi-task environment and ‘can do’ attitude. Able to maintain absolute confidentiality regarding sensitive HR, financial and commercial information. |
Sympathy with the Christian ethos of the charity and commitment to serve Embrace’s faith inspired mission. |
Benefits at Embrace the Middle East:
- To support every member of staff to work as effectively as possible, Embrace offers remote and flexible working arrangements. This includes flexitime and home-working arrangements.
- Embrace’s flexitime framework means that staff can vary, by agreement with their manager, their start and finish times, considering the needs of their work and personal preference/circumstance. Staff are required to start work between 7:30am – 10:00am and finish between 3:00pm – 6:00pm. Our core collaborative working hours are between 10:00am to 3:00pm.
- Pension - option to join from day 1. Maximum employer contribution of 10%.
- Holiday - 32 days, including 8 bank holidays – includes 1 birthday leave day, rising to 33 days after 5 years' service and 34 days after 10 years' service, plus 3 days leave between Christmas and the New Year (pro-rata for part-time hours).
- Financial support for home-working costs.
- Reimbursement of pre-agreed travel expenses.
- Life Assurance - 3x salary.
- Employee Assistant Programme (confidential counselling, legal and financial advice) and GP helpline – both available 24 /7, 365 days a year.
- Training and development programme for all employees.
- Commitment to staff health & wellbeing.
Probationary period: 6 months
How to apply
To apply, please go to our website: www.embraceme.org/vacancies.
Assumed Application Deadline: June 19, 2025 (Please check the official Embrace the Middle East careers page for the definitive deadline and application link).
