Job summary
- Main area
- Human Resources
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 6
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 435-C035-26
- Employer
- East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- RBH
- Town
- Blackburn
- Salary
- £39,959 - £48,117 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 22/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Human Resources Operational Manager
NHS AfC: Band 6
At East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust our vision is to be widely recognised for providing safe, personal and effective care. We currently provide high quality services and treat over 600,000 people across East Lancashire and the surrounding area. We employ over 9,500 staff, many of whom are internationally renowned and have won awards for their work.
Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for the post of HR Operations Manager to support the ongoing work in the Trust and the Medicine and Emergency Care Division
The postholder will manage and oversee the HR Operations of Agenda for Change colleagues and support medical colleagues within their nominated Divisions. They will provide HR advice, support and information on a range of operational HR issues, when required escalating highly complex issues to the Senior HR Business Partner.
The HR Operational Manager role will also support the Senior HR Business Partner as directed on strategic issues by leading the implementation of interventions within the Divisions.
Main duties of the job
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You will work with HR and Organisational Development colleagues in the provision of a professional and comprehensive service to divisions within our organisation. This will include:
· Providing proactive, professional guidance to senior managers on a range of workforce issues. Providing regular reports, analysis and recommendations for action against key performance indicators and transformational change objectives. Supporting the management of employee relations casework, ensuring any concerns and issues.
It is a really exciting time to join the HR team and we would love to hear from you if you:
· Thrive on working in a fast paced / change focused role.
· Can work independently and are comfortable making autonomous decisions as well as working collaboratively.
· Have significant HR experience at HR operations level
· Have significant experience of supporting organisational change
· Can build effective relationships with managers
· Can work flexibly and under pressure to meet deadlines.
Working for our organisation
Working for your organisation
So what can we offer you? Well, you will be working for the ELHT family who prides itself on safe, personal and effective care with strong core values set out in our behaviour framework. You will be supported by a strong and dedicated team of colleagues who work hard and look out for one another. We will help you develop your skills, give you opportunities to try new things and we actively encourage you to challenge us to continuously improve what we do.
You can work agilely and we will consider requests for flexible working to help you maintain work/life balance. Our benefits package is comprehensive with access to salary sacrifice schemes, discounts and great standard of wellbeing support.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
1. Lead Employee Relations provision within designated Division(s) providing advice and guidance to Assistant HR Operations Manager and HR Officer(s).
2. Provide expert specialist guidance and support managers on aspects of Human resource Management e.g., disciplinary, resolution - covering grievance and Bullying and Harassment, capability, redeployment.
3. Champion the resolution approach and encourage the resolution of employee relations issues wherever appropriate.
4. Manage Divisional Operational HR workload of Divisional HR Team and co-ordinate and disseminate work across the team, assessing the complexity of cases and resource availability to ensure service needs and HR standards are met in a timely way. Using resource from wider HR Operational Team as required.
5. Support Senior Managers with the commissioning of investigations within Division via HR policy, providing advice/guidance throughout, including supporting with the investigation decision-making process, drafting of the Terms of Reference and considerations for complex cases, including identifying/assessing potential suspension cases and escalating appropriately/actions short of suspension.
6. Delegate investigations appropriately within the Divisional Team
7. Act as HR support to the Panel chair in formal hearings (disciplinary, resolution - grievance and Bullying and Harassment capability), including supporting with the relevant outcome documents and recommendations.
8. Support MHPS/complex investigations directly, advising and coaching the Case Investigator to ensure that the investigation is completed in a reasonable timeframe and to an acceptable quality standard. If required, attend any resultant hearing, providing advice and support to the Case Investigator and acting as minute taker.
9. Act as the lead HR support for managers in the planning and implementation of organisational change
10. Support the Senior HRBP with TUPE transfers in and out of the organisation.
11. Monitor the implementation of the sickness absence policy within the Divisions and escalate issues to the Senior HR Business Partner as appropriate.
12. Where required, support the management of complex long term sickness cases, through advising and supporting managers and interacting with Occupational Health department. Including supporting the creation of a statement of case, and, if required, attendance at hearing.
13. Support the Senior HR Business Partner in the delivery of action plans to deliver workforce projects and initiatives, which could include:
· Organisational development – supporting culture change programmes which will enable an improvement in overall workforce KPI’s within the Directorate. E.g., Behavioural Framework.
· Workforce planning - assist with the design, review and monitoring of workforce plans to achieve service objectives and business plans in relation to specific projects.
· Transformational change – including the implementation of large-scale change programmes within Divisions.
14. Working alongside the Engagement Team and Divisional Management Team, to support the delivery of the Staff Survey and Big Conversations
15. Produce and deliver reports using multiple sources of information, for example Power BI, E-roster and Staff Survey, as standard practice or on an ad hoc basis. Tailoring the reports to target audience. Support with actions as a result of HR KPIs addressed in reports.
16. If required, attend Directorate meetings providing regular and detailed KPI and HR Update reports.
17. Deputise at Divisional Management Board as delegated from the Senior HRBP providing regular and detailed reporting of actions and achievements in line with established or new KPI’s.
18. Attendance and participation at various Trust meetings where appropriate – such as Policy Group, Joint Negotiating Consultative Committee and Employee Sponsor Group meetings.
19. Use advanced coaching skills to improve people management skills, working closely with the L&D team to develop programmes to strengthen leadership and management skills across the Trust.
20. Interpret and advise on employment legislation, case law, HR policies/procedures and terms and conditions of service and at all times interpret accurately in a legally sound manner to ensure professional advice is given, taking into account local precedents and those in employment law.
21. Promote good practice in all areas of human resources management ensuring managers are fully aware of their responsibilities in relations to Trust policies and statutory requirements.
22. Analyse workforce information and work with managers to develop plans to support improvement and efficiency.
23. Lead the development of specific HR policies and procedures which will impact across the organisation ensuring they are user friendly, legal compliant and have been properly consulted on.
24. Provide expert advice on job evaluation panels and assist in the redesign of jobs to ensure there are commensurate with service requirements are correctly banded.
25. Assist the Senior HR Business Partner to assess the viability of tribunal claims, and lead the preparation of our case management alongside legal support, including attendance at tribunal where appropriate.
26. Lead the response to subject access requests that are received Within Divisions, delegating the preparation of documentation as appropriate within the HR Operational Team.
27. Responsible for adding temporary staff hours worked within the Employee Relations team to the e-roster system and locking down as per e-rostering procedures. Ensuring when necessary that the divisional re-charges are also followed through.
28. Deputise for Senior HRBP as appropriate.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Educated to a degree level/ or equivalent relevant work experience.
- CIPD Level 5
Desirable criteria
- Willingness to work towards CIPD Level 7
- Chartered Member of the CIPD
Experience
Essential criteria
- Experience of working with Trade Unions
- Experience of managing organisational change
Application numbers
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Lindsay Emmett
- Job title
- Senior HR Business Partner
- Email address
- [email protected]
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