Employee Relations (ER) Manager

We are seeking an Employee Relations (ER) Manager to join our team based from our Head Office in London Bridge (hybrid working). In this role you will support the delivery of fair, consistent, and legally compliant employee relations across Southeastern Railway. This role enables managers to address workplace issues confidently by providing clear, timely advice and support aligned with employment legislation, internal policy, and best practice. The postholder will manage their own case portfolio via the case management system, working collaboratively with managers and trade union representatives to promote constructive working relationships and early resolution. This role is field based and will travel across the Southeastern network with flexibility in line with our agile working policy.,

• Support delivery of communications plans and projects across the Communications & Stakeholder Team.
• Manage a full range of employee relations cases via the case management system, ensuring all cases are accurately recorded, progressed promptly, and closed with appropriate outcomes.
• Provide clear, practical guidance to managers on disciplinary, grievance, absence, and performance matters, aligned with policy and legislation.
• Build strong working relationships with trade union representatives at a local level, supporting early resolution and positive engagement on ER matters.
• Attend and advise at formal hearings, including Gross Misconduct, Stage 3 Attendance, and Capability cases, ensuring policy and procedure are correctly followed.
• Contribute to the review, development and communication of ER policies, procedures and guidance materials.
• Deliver or support training sessions to build line manager confidence and competence in managing people matters.
• Identify and escalate emerging ER themes, risks or trends to the Senior Employee Relations Manager for consideration at a strategic level.
• Support consultation processes and change activity as required, ensuring compliance with legal and procedural requirements.
  
  You are an ER pro - 3-5 years experience in ER. Anything you don't know about employee relations is not worth knowing, preferably within a highly unionised workforce
• You dot the I's and cross the T's - You understand employee relations processes and have strong working knowledge of ACAS and UK Employment Legislation
• ERA25 you say - You understand the impact that employment law changes have on organisations and are experienced at providing sound advice & coaching to leaders, keeping up to date with changes in employment law landscape.
• You can spin the plates - You take ownership, and have experience managing a complex caseload with competing priorities to meet deadlines and SLA 's
• You can manage the moving parts - You build effective relationships with managers, leaders and trade union reps CIPD Level 5 - or equivalent HR qualification would be desirable
As proud members of the Armed Forces Covenant and Disability Confident Scheme, we will offer you an interview if you apply under these schemes and meet the minimum criteria for the role. Find out more here.

We're one of Britain's busiest train operators, serving London, Kent and parts of East Sussex. We run over 1,700 trains a day, carrying more than 500,000 passengers and serving 180 stations. However, working on our railway is more than getting passengers from A to B. It's about all the little moments that make a difference to their journey. It's also about making our railway a great place to work. With a team that represents the communities we serve. This is a journey we're fully committed to and we're proud to have been named a 'Great Place to Work' at the 2023 National Rail Awards and endorsed as a WORK180 Employer for Women. Our ways of working are what we expect of everyone at Southeastern. They are powerful. Tiny moments, every day, from every one of us, add up to massive, positive change. Improving how it feels to work here and how it feels to travel with us. At the heart of everything we do, our Safeguarding Team works to keep our customers, colleagues, and the public safe by improving safeguarding measures and knowledge making sure everyone gets home safe, every day.