Specialist, Employee Relations - Standard Chartered Bank

We’re an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 160 years, we’ve worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you’re looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents. And we can’t wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity,  together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you’ll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion. Together we:

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• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Be better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations
• Time-off including annual, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 weeks maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies – everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.

Recruitment assessments – some of our roles use assessments to help us understand how suitable you are for the role you’ve applied to. If you are invited to take an assessment, this is great news. It means your application has progressed to an important stage of our recruitment process.

The Role Responsibilities

Strategy

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• Responsible for shaping Country behaviours and culture through protecting the Bank against employee-related risk. The role holder will lead the Country Employee Relations (ER)teams, ensuring that the relationship between the Bank and its employees is managed appropriately within the Group ER framework and is underpinned by clear procedures, policies and relevant employment law. The role holder will provide country leadership regarding the ERe.g. Disciplinary , Grievance, Performance, Redundancy, Union and Offboarding Management   and will effectively manage key external stakeholder relationships with employee representative bodies, legal firms and local labour ministries.

Business

Effectively manage key stakeholder relationships.

• Build external networks (e.g. ER Forums, Employee Associations, etc) and remain up to date with ER and legislative change/developments and be viewed both internally and externally as an expert in the ER field.
• Build internal networks with HRBPs and business stakeholders where required.
• Collaborate with HR Legal and Compliance and/or external legal counsel for advice on interpretation of local laws and regulations and ER policies, procedures, cases in-country
• Collaborate with Labour consultants re development and application of government policy.

Processes

• End to End Case Management of Grievance Cases
  • Work with business and country/regional ER Head to agree the Grievance representative/s to investigate and hear the Grievance.
  • Make arrangements for Grievance Hearing including issuing hearing invite/statement of complaint.
  • Conduct the Grievance hearing or support the Grievance representative to conduct the Grievance hearing as the case may be.
  • Complete analysis of data/facts and reach a fair and consistent resolution/conclusion which minimises the risk to the Bank.
  • Update ERCMS at the initiation and conclusion of Grievance.
  • Update relevant stakeholders with key findings including any disciplinary actions recommended

• End to End Case Management of Complex Disciplinary Cases
  • Level of Involvement and support with the Investigations phase based on case nature and complexity.
  • Conduct due fact finding and investigatory interviews including preparation of witness statements and investigation report.
  • Make arrangements for the Disciplinary Hearing including issuing hearing invite/statement of disciplinary case and provision of evidence.
  • Conduct of the Disciplinary hearing through supporting the hearing manager as required.
  • Complete analysis of data/facts and reach a fair and consistent conclusion which minimises the risk to the Bank.
  • Update relevant stakeholders with key findings and any relevant information, including any recommendations.
  • Update ERCMS at the initiation of the hearing and conclusion of disciplinary hearing and/or appeal.
  • Update HRBP and/or PRC team in case of a disciplinary action so that it could be highlighted for any potential P3 impact.
• Management of Restructure and Redundancies: Supporting the Business and HR stakeholders in the execution of Restructures and Redundancies.
• Management of challenging Poor Performance cases: Supporting PLs in managing challenging poor performance cases.
• Management of Mutual Separation Agreements: Supporting Business and HR stakeholders in the management of MSAs
• Communication and coordination with Unions and Labour consultants.

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Work closely with the West Africa ER head to :

• Build external networks and remain up to date with legislative change / developments, maintaining and successfully demonstrating expertise within the field of ER.
• Collaborate with country HR L&C and / or external legal firms for advice and interpretation of local laws, regulations, ER policies, procedures and cases in country.
• Maintain effective communication with local labour ministries on ER matters and HR related policies and procedures.

People and Talent

• Support in capability building of HR Business Partners and People Leaders

Risk Management

Defining and managing employee related risk across the region

• Identify, assess and monitor country ER process risks in line with overall operational risk management framework, creating and implementing suitable actions to mitigate identified risks.
• Anticipate and minimise employee related risks by developing an understanding of employee trends and current employment and discrimination law in local and international jurisdictions.
• Effective management of relevant Group policy and process dispensations across the country .
• Effective resolution of sensitive / complex disciplinary and grievance cases in the region that pose a risk to the Bank.

Governance

• Provision of ER governance in order to facilitate positive employment relationships which reflect the Bank’s values and support behaviours which are Here for Good and consistent with the Code of Conduct.

Regulatory & Business Conduct

• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
• Lead the  ER to achieve the outcomes set out in the Company’s Conduct Principles.
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.

Key Stakeholders

Internal

• Country/Business Management Groups
• Global ER team
• Country HRBPs/ Country Head of HR
• HR Legal and Compliance
• Country Financial Crime Risk and SIS
• Country PRB (Performance, Reward and Benefits)

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External

• Legal firms
• Regulatory & Compliance Consultant
• ER Forums
• Labour Consultant Employee Representative Bodies
• Unions
• Employment / Labour Government department
• Legal firms

Other Responsibilities

• To sign and issue letters of suspension, dismissal and such other related Human Resources/Industrial Relations issues, when decided by the Bank.
• Embed Here for Good and Group’s brand and values in the ER team and across key stakeholder area
• Perform other responsibilities assigned under Group, Country, Business or Functional policies and procedures

Our Ideal Candidate

Essential

• Minimum of 3-5 years of work experience as a qualified employment lawyer or ER specialist.
• An understanding and appreciation of local legislative and regulatory policies.
• Strong networking skills and a proven track record of influencing at an organisational level.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills and keen commercial awareness.

Desirable

• Degree in an HR
• Post-graduate qualification in a business or related disciple (e.g. MA, PhD, CIPD).
• Professional legal background.
• A mixture of both ER specialist and HRBP experience.
• Experience of designing and delivering organisational development interventions.