HR Director – Pay and Reward

House of Commons

The House of Commons a unique and exciting place to work right at the heart of the UK’s thriving democratic system.

Behind the scenes, the House of Commons Service is made up of more than 3,000 employees who support and facilitate the smooth day to day running of the House. They provide professional services to Members of Parliament, their staff, and the wider parliamentary community.

Staff Benefits

In addition to your salary, we offer an attractive range of benefits including:

• 30 days’ annual leave (increasing to 35 days after first full leave year).
• Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
• Access to training and development.
• Flexible working.
• Interest free season ticket loan and bicycle loan.

Introduction

The People and Culture Team provides a range of people related services to the staff of the House of Commons and Joint Parliamentary departments as well as Members of Parliament and their staff. Additionally, the team provides Health and Wellbeing services across the Parliamentary community.

The team work collaboratively with colleagues across the House Service to steer and track progress and to support the employee journey across the wider organisation. In doing so we will utilise and improve digital technologies and are currently implementing a new HR and Payroll system which will support organisational decision making and the delivery of successful outcomes.

The Role

This exciting role helps to deliver the people strategy of the House Service and joint departments, support the House of Commons Commission and its Committees, to support the transformation across HR and to build and develop capability across the organisation and support a truly engaged workforce.

You will lead our corporate approach to the reward and recognition of colleagues, and to lead on the strategic engagement with our trade union colleagues and is a key stakeholder in the engagement with the wider parliamentary community. You will be key to the successful delivery of the People Strategy and driving employee engagement at a time of significant financial pressures, a cost-of-living crisis, wide-ranging change programmes and in the significant changing workplace driven by hybrid working.

The role is responsible for leading a team of Employee Relations and Reward specialists including the Head of Reward and the Head of Employee Relations.

Some of the responsibilities for this role include:

• Provide strong corporate leadership across the employee engagement, reward and employee value proposition agenda.
• Act as the leading source of expertise on reward and remuneration within the House, providing guidance to the Commons Executive Board, Commission and Finance Committee.
• Support and develop strategic engagement across the employee lifecycle including, pay and reward, aligning with the People Strategy and successful delivery of the House Strategy.
• Facilitate and proactively develop formal and ad hoc consultation and engagement mechanisms with Trade unions.
• Lead on the delivery of relevant recommendations of the Independent Review of Financial Management (Morse report).

Skills and Experience

Qualifications:

Qualified HR Professional – Chartered member of CIPD – with evidence of continuous professional development across a broad range of HR including Employee Relations and Reward, post qualification.

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate:

• Deep and broad up-to-date knowledge and understanding of employee relations including employee engagement, reward and remuneration strategy, with significant senior level experience designing, delivering and evaluating effective initiatives including HR Transformation and pay negotiations within a multi trade union environment.
• Experience of managing teams and projects, working across a complex organisation to deliver, business as usual, cultural change and excellent customer service across a range of activities, projects and programmes.
• Significant experience of working with high-profile senior stakeholders. Demonstrable political awareness, diplomacy and discretion, able to work closely with senior stakeholders to reconcile different views in sensitive areas.
• Sound judgement with an ability to make agile decisions, ensure that priorities are redrawn where events dictate, and deliver appropriate interventions to address organisational challenges.
• Broad experience of working effectively with multiple Trade Unions at all levels, handling complex and sensitive casework and employee relations issues including litigation, complaints and matters relating to senior staff.

Next Steps and Additional Information

• CV & Supporting Statement
  – If you would like to apply for this role, please submit your CV and covering letter with a 500 word limit.

More information on the role and the full criteria can be found in the Job Description.

This role can be offered as a secondment option for candidates from other civil service departments and public bodies. The secondment will be offered for a period of up to a maximum 24 months.

Please note that most job offers will be made at the minimum of the salary range, other than in exceptional circumstances.

We may close the vacancy prior to the closing date stated due to a high volume of applications.