Assistant People Business Partner

This role has a starting salary of £50,047 per annum, based on a 36 hour working week.

We are excited to be hiring a new Assistant People Business Partner to join our fantastic Business Partnering team within our People and Change function, based in Woodhatch Place, Reigate. This role will be supporting the Children, Families and Lifelong Learning (CFLL) directorate.

Rewards and Benefits

• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependants leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources

About the Role

As the Assistant People Business Partner, you will provide fundamental provision of support and guidance to the Children, Families and Lifelong Learning directorate. Children, Families and Lifelong Learning is the Council's largest directorate and includes social workers providing statutory services to children, young people and families, as well as the Council's early help provision and education support services, such as educational physiologists. Children, Families and Lifelong Learning have a number of large scale transformation projects and programmes underway and the Assistant People Business Partner role plays a key part in supporting the delivery of these changes.

You will also be working with the Business Partners on strategic workforce development and organisational development projects, both service and Council wide, this role essentially acts as an agent of change. You will be regularly liaising with senior managers and partners to understand the business dynamics at a local level and devise and implement creative and practical HR and OD solutions. In this role you'll enable business change through an understanding of culture, capability and structure, whilst identifying and mitigating people and organisational risks.

As the Assistant People Business Partner, you will have substantial generalist HR experience working in a large and complex environment and will be able to evidence a strong track record of leading the design and implementation of workforce strategies. You will be driven to deliver high quality outcomes and will model a strong performance culture. You'll be able to demonstrate successful change management experience that meets the needs of the customer and organisation, with a focus on increasing efficiency and better ways of working.

Key to this role will also be working with the Business Partners on strategic workforce planning and resourcing, working in partnership with colleagues in OD, Employment Practice, Reward and Policy and Recruitment as well as our Health Partners. You will also interpret and analyse business intelligence relating to the analysis of workforce performance data in order to design potential workforce strategies and inform decision making.

Shortlisting Criteria

To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your application will clearly evidence the following:

• Chartered MCIPD, or working towards, or equivalent experience
• Solid background in generalist HR, or in-depth experience in a specialist area with a learning towards change management
• Proven skills in the analysis and interpretation of data, identifying trends and testing solutions, presenting results and putting forward recommendations to support resolutions and decision making
• Building strong trusted relationships with stakeholders at all levels in order to influence management practice and behaviour
• Strong coaching and mentoring skills and a true collaborator

As part of your application, we would like you to answer the following three questions:

1. Can you give us an example of how you have used your interpersonal skills to build strong relationships with senior stakeholders?
2. Describe a scenario in which you utilised data to inform a business decision or strategy as a HR professional include the sources you relied on, analysis and insights.
3. Can you give us an example of a large-scale organisational change process that you have supported with as a HR professional?

Please contact us for any questions relating to the role. This could be to discuss flexible working requests, transferable skills or any barriers to employment.

The job advert closes at 23:59 on Monday 6th May 2024 with interviews planned for Thursday 16th May 2024.

We look forward to receiving your application, please click on the apply online button below to submit.

Our Commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.

We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.