Employee Relations Specialist Jobs

Employee Relations Specialist

At AstraZeneca, we make a difference every day by delivering life-changing medicines to millions of people globally. Our purpose is ambitious and so is our approach. Becoming a more agile and creative company means building an inspiring culture where we celebrate bold thinking. We are curious, creative, and open to new insights.

Our Employee Relations team is a group of highly qualified HR professionals contributing to a robust team. We help drive a performance-led culture enabling our managers to resolve people issues in a timely and effective way. This is achieved through issue support or more proactively through coaching and mentoring our leaders to ensure they approach performance development with openness and support that enables our people to excel in their areas of specialty. The ER Specialist will work with other HR professionals to ensure we live our value of AZ being a great place to work.

What you’ll do

The Employee Relations Specialist role requires a highly motivated, team-player who will use their strong HR skills, particularly in the areas of effective communication, project support and coaching, to assist client groups and ER Partners in professionally managing employee relations issues.

In this capacity, you will proactively help develop the capability of leaders and employees to build a respectful workplace that is highly ethical and consistent with AstraZeneca’s stated values. Additionally, they will help lead employee engagement activities to sense “the pulse” of the organization and proactively assist with developing strategies to influence positive change while crafting a motivating work environment.

Typical Accountabilities:

• Assist with special projects as needed (e.g., tracking and monitoring various ER-related compliance initiatives)
• Apply strong organizational skills to a variety of cases
• Serve as a mentor to the HR Services team and act as a point of contact for ER, maintaining open lines of communication with other HR functional areas
• Maintain thorough and organized documentation of all employee relations matters
• Conduct intake and review of all employee relations issues and inquiries; handle, assign, or escalate as appropriate
• Work collaboratively with ER Partners on specific cases as appropriate while maintaining a solid understanding of employment practices (policy, process, procedure and US legislative requirements)
• Support employees and line managers through to the conclusion of a case in line with employment policies, company practices and processes, as well as US legislation
• Provide counseling, training, and advice to line managers for the effective handling of transactional HR issues (e.g. performance (PIPs), driver care escalations, attendance management, disciplinary actions, etc.)
• Manage the AZEthics database by assisting users with its functionality and providing reports, as requested
• Assist employees and line managers through interpersonal conflict, and guide them through the process of reaching successful resolution

Essential Requirements:

• Excellent organizational, oral, and written communication skills
• Ability to navigate through difficult conversations with empathy and support
• Flexibility, resourcefulness, and capability to effectively manage change and transition
• 3 plus years’ experience
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Human Resources or related field, or equivalent experience
• Ability to build solid and positive relationships with partners
• HR Generalist with a strong Employee Relations background
• Excellent judgment and in-the-moment decision-making abilities that minimize organizational risk
• Effective time management capabilities that include the daily re-prioritization of multiple and often competing priorities to include the data entry of case updates and uploading of supporting documentation into AZ-ethics.

Preferred Background:

• Experience managing employee relations in a diverse work environment including an exempt and non-exempt employee population
• HR experience in Pharmaceuticals.
• Advanced degree in HR or related field
• Experience with conflict resolution and complaint investigation
• Experience with influencing management and critical stakeholders’ opinions and suggestions
• Experience of leading multiple cases through end-to-end process and within established timeframes

Why AstraZeneca?

At AstraZeneca when we see an opportunity for change, we seize it and make it happen, because any opportunity no matter how small, can be the start of something big. Delivering life-changing medicines is about being entrepreneurial - finding those moments and recognising their potential. Join us on our journey of building a new kind of organisation to reset expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be. This means we’re opening new ways to work, pioneering innovative methods and bringing unexpected teams together. Interested? Come and join our journey.

So, what’s next!

Are you ready to bring new ideas and fresh thinking to the table? Brilliant! We have one seat available and we hope it’s yours.

Where can I find out more?

Our Social Media, Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/

Inclusion & Diversity: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/inclusion-diversity

Career Site: https://careers.astrazeneca.com/