Human Resources Business Partner - temp 6 month position ending March 2027
We are proud to be One Team at East Midlands Railway (EMR). We are passionate about keeping people safe, delighting our customers, doing the right thing and putting customers at the heart of our sustainable railway for the East Midlands. With over 2,600 employees, our people are the reason we are so successful, and our employees make a crucial contribution to this.
Ten times accredited as a Top Employer and Gold accredited for Inclusive Employers Standards, we value our people and are dedicated to making sure that everybody feels empowered to bring their authentic self to work.
At EMR we want to proactively embrace diversity across our workforce and recognise that we are under-represented in some areas. We’re therefore taking positive steps to promote a positive and inclusive culture, and we welcome applications from everyone to help us better represent our communities.
We are looking to recruit an experienced HR professional on a temporary basis into our friendly and high performing HR team.
This role is being brought in during a busy HR period to provide case management support to the business on all people related matters. We work in a unionised environment with complex terms and conditions and the successful candidate is going to need to be adept at resolving complex Employment Relations (ER) cases to positive resolution. In addition to ER casework, you will partner the area with the delivery and evaluation of our people strategy. We are looking for HR Advisers or BPs with ER case management experience who are ready for the next move.
This role is required to travel across the East Midlands Railway network, and we work in a hybrid way with “more time together than apart”. You will have a first-class duty travel pass on our trains for this, which will allow you to work while on the move.
As HR Business Partner you will:
- Provide coaching and training to line managers to develop their capability in managing people issues to enable optimum performance from their teams
- Ensure that employee relations cases are managed in a timely, professional and legal manner in accordance with employment legislation and business policy
- S Support the business as we apply our collective bargaining framework, including through policy development and training
- Drive the employee engagement scores for your customer base by providing support to the management teams with their action planning and providing appropriate HR interventions where required
- Assist your customers in the completion of robust succession plans and talent maps
To be successful in this role you should:
- Be CIPD level 5 or above qualified or equivalent relevant work experience in the HR profession.
- Possess excellent communication skills, with the ability to coach, influence and negotiate at all levels whilst building long-term relationships and maintain partnerships and collaboration.
- Have a comprehensive working knowledge of employment legislation and experience of applying this in a pragmatic way to meet organisational need.
- Well-developed understanding of HR policies and the ability to update or change these (and accompanying guidance) as necessary.
- Demonstrate high levels of resilience, a “can do” attitude and enthusiasm for proactively addressing people issues.
- Ideally would have previous experience of working within Human Resources in a unionised environment as well as experience in resolving the full range of employee relations matters in a pragmatic and compliant manner.
- Be a team player and able to work collaboratively with and through others
As well as a competitive salary, we’ll also offer you:
- 32 days annual leave (including bank holidays), rising to 34 days after 2 years of service
- Free travel on East Midlands Railway and other train companies operated by Transport UK
- 75% discount on other national rail train companies, including for partners and dependants
- Discounted friends and family tickets on the EMR network
- Various personal development and progression opportunities
- Excellent pension scheme
This position is based in our Derby Head office, but we've adopted a flexible hybrid working model that creates the opportunity to work in your own way at home but also provides great spaces for in-person collaboration. The HR team usually works 3-4 days a week in the office/at our stations.
We are open minded to applications from people who wish to have flexible working. Many of our staff work flexibly in many ways. Please talk to us at interview about the flexibility you need. We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want, but we do promise not to judge you for asking.
Informal enquiries welcome to Simone Dickens HR Manager; simone.dickens@eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk
Ready to take on this exciting opportunity? Submit your online application form and upload your CV. As we operate a blind screening process, please remove all personal information including your name from your CV.
Important Notice to Candidate: AI Use Monitoring
Please be advised that all responses to questions on this application form will be carefully monitored for indications of AI assistance. It is important to us that you are being your authentic self so please base your answers on your personal knowledge and experience.
Any detected use of AI-generated content will result in disqualification from the application process. We value integrity and transparency in all applications and appreciate your cooperation in maintaining these standards.
Supporting Our Frontline
If you're successful in this role, you'll be expected to support our frontline colleagues at some points throughout the year. This might be undertaking safety critical work, for which you'll receive training, but it could just be helping out with Customer Service when our stations are busy. We're One Team, and that means our managers step up for the frontline, not just manage from a distance. Supporting frontline colleagues is part of our DNA at EMR.
We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds, we promote equal opportunities for all. East Midlands Railway is a non-discriminatory employer committed to the recruitment and promotion of all on the basis of ability and merit irrespective of disability, race, gender, health, social class, sexual preference, marital status, nationality, religion, employment status or age. We’ll treat your application fairly and assess you for the job based on merit and skills.