Employee Relations Director

Employee Relations Director

Manchester or London, UK (Hybrid)

About The Role

We're representing a national multi-site employer — 6,000+ people across retail and logistics — professionalising how it handles the hard stuff. Case volumes are up, managers are stretched, and the business wants ER treated as a craft, not an inbox. This is for the ER specialist who's quietly brilliant at the work nobody sees when it goes right — and who's ready to lead it rather than just carry it.

What You'd Own

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• Lead a small ER team handling disciplinaries, grievances, absence, and performance cases end-to-end
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• Own collective matters: consultation, union relationships, and restructure support done properly
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• Coach line managers to handle the 80% of cases that should never reach HR
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• Build the case-management rhythm : triage, SLAs, and data the People Director can act on
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• Manage tribunal risk hands-on: ACAS early conciliation, witness prep, working with counsel
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• Spot the patterns behind the cases and fix the system, not just the symptom
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What You'll Bring

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• 7+ years in UK employee relations, with depth in complex and collective casework
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• Solid working command of UK employment law, you know when to hold and when to call the lawyers
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• Experience with unionised or multi-site workforces
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• Evidence of reducing case volumes or tribunal exposure, not just processing them
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• The judgment to be firm, fair, and human in the same conversation
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You'll Thrive Here If

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• You're the person colleagues bring the messy ones to — and you like that
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• You believe most ER problems are management-capability problems wearing a disguise
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• You want your work measured in problems prevented, not cases closed
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Compensation: £65,000–£78,000 base + bonus. Hybrid working, strong benefits.

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Don't tick every box? Apply anyway. Most people won't put themselves forward unless they meet every line — we'd rather you did. We know our clients well. If you're close, we'll champion you and advise them accordingly.