HR Business Partner

HR Business Partner – Talent, Performance and Organisational Development

ZEISS is an internationally leading technology enterprise operating in the optics and optoelectronics industries generating more than 11.8 billion euros in revenue with around 46,000 employees across 50 countries around the globe. We’re looking for a HR Business Partner in our Human Resources department to join the team in Johannesburg, Randburg

Your Role

The HR Business Partner partners with the Head of HR and the Heads of Department to deliver the organisation’s people strategy and build high-performing teams. The role leads key people to practices, including talent acquisition, performance management, employee development, succession planning and employee engagement.

Through effective business partnering and strong HR expertise, the role strengthens leadership capability, accountability and employee engagement, while ensuring that people practices are implemented consistently, timeously and to a high standard. The HR Business Partner enables the Heads of Department to build capable, engaged and future-ready teams that deliver sustainable organisational results

Talent Acquisition

• Facilitate workforce planning discussions with business leaders to identify future capability requirements, critical skills risks and resource requirements.
• Own and lead the end-to-end recruitment and selection process for approved positions, ensuring timeous, high-quality and compliant hiring decisions.
• Advise managers on workforce requirements and recruitment priorities based on business needs, capability gaps and succession risks.
• Partner with managers to define job requirements, competencies and selection criteria.
• Prepare and publish internal and external job advertisements, with administrative support where appropriate.
• Screen applications, prepare shortlists and coordinate interviews and assessments.
• Support managers in making fair, evidence-based and competency-based selection decisions.
• Maintain professional and timely communication with candidates throughout the recruitment process.
• Coordinate reference, qualification and other approved pre-employment checks.
• Build and maintain talent pipelines for critical and scarce-skills positions.
• Own and Lead the end to end onboarding and probation process

Performance Management

• Lead the annual Performance Development Review process and quarterly one-on-one discussions.
• Promote a high-performance culture based on clear expectations, regular feedback, employee development and accountability.
• Support managers in translating organisational and departmental priorities into measurable team and individual performance objectives.
• Guide managers in conducting fair, consistent and evidence-based performance evaluations.
• Monitor the completion and quality of performance agreements, reviews and individual development plans.
• Coordinate performance-calibration sessions with Senior Leadership.
• Support managers in recognising strong performance and addressing underperformance promptly and consistently.
• Guide the development and monitoring of performance-improvement plans.
• Analyse performance trends and recommend appropriate interventions.
• Support managers in addressing behaviours that negatively affect team performance.
• Reinforce management accountability for performance conversations, feedback, development and agreed improvement actions.

Talent, Succession and Development

• Talent, Succession and Development

• Lead talent-review and succession-planning processes in partnership with the Head of HR and managers.

• Identify critical positions, high-potential employees, key talent, capability gaps and succession risks.

• Develop and maintain credible succession plans for critical and leadership roles.

• Support managers in preparing practical development plans for key talent, potential successors and employees requiring further development.

• Identify employee and leadership development needs using performance outcomes, talent reviews, employee feedback and business priorities.

• Plan and coordinate development interventions arising from performance, talent, succession, Employment Equity and B-BBEE skills-development priorities.

• Coordinate leadership development, coaching, mentoring, graduate, trainee and emerging-talent programmes.

• Strengthen managers’ ability to build trust, communicate clearly, provide constructive feedback, coach employees and maintain accountability.

• Support newly appointed and promoted employees and managers in transitioning successfully into their roles.

• Promote internal career development, mobility and advancement opportunities.

• Monitor succession coverage, talent readiness, individual development plans and agreed development actions.

• Evaluate the impact of development interventions on capability, behaviour, performance and internal mobility.

• Partner with the HR Operations Administrator to coordinate nominations, invitations, attendance records and training follow-up activities.

• Provide the Head of HR with relevant talent insights, risks and recommendations, including areas requiring further development or external recruitment. Employee Engagement and Organisational Development

• Lead employee-engagement surveys, listening sessions and other feedback processes.

• Analyse employee feedback and organisational trends to identify factors affecting engagement, culture and team effectiveness.

• Partner with managers to develop and implement measurable action plans addressing identified organisational and employee-experience priorities.

• Design and coordinate targeted interventions that strengthen organisational culture, inclusion, collaboration, accountability and team performance.

• Support role clarification, team development and organisational change initiatives.

• Monitor the implementation and impact of agreed interventions and provide progress reports and recommendations to the Head of HR.

• Support organisational change initiatives through change readiness assessments, stakeholder engagement and adoption monitoring.

HR Business Partnering

• Build credible relationships with managers and develop a sound understanding of their business operations and people requirements.

• Support the Head of HR in translating the people strategy into practical departmental priorities and actions.

• Partner with managers to build capable, accountable, collaborative and results-focused teams.

• Provide advice on talent acquisition, employee development, succession planning, engagement, Employment Equity and relevant B-BBEE practices.

• Use people data and business insights to support workforce decisions, challenge assumptions and identify emerging people risks.

• Identify organisational capability gaps and people-related barriers affecting team and business performance.

• Encourage managers to take ownership of employee performance, development, succession and engagement, while providing strong HR guidance and process leadership.

• Monitor agreed people interventions and provide progress reports and recommendations to the Head of HR.

• Constructively challenge management decisions or practices that are inconsistent with organisational values, people policies or the objective of building high-performing teams. HR Reporting, Governance and Projects

• Maintain accurate, complete and confidential HR records and prepare timely reports on key people processes.

• Monitor compliance with applicable legislation, Employment Equity, B-BBEE, POPIA and HR policies, and ensure identified gaps are addressed.

• Support managers in disciplinary, grievance, incapacity, and absenteeism management processes, escalating complex matters to the Head of HR as required.

• Support statutory submissions, committees, audits and governance reviews within the role’s area of responsibility.

• Analyse people data to identify