Senior People Business Partner

Job Purpose:

The incumbent will be responsible for providing an effective and efficient human resource generalist function that is aligned with departmental and company/brand strategic goals. This role assesses and anticipates People and Culture related needs and delivers value added service to management and employees (who are mainly academic staff across all the schools within the Brand Division). The incumbent will be expected to successfully develop and implement People and Culture strategy and deliver comprehensive People and Culture support and service to all employees within this school division. The responsibilities will include inter alia strategic partnership, organisation design, recruitment and selection, employee diversity and transformation, salary and benefits management, employee relations (culture-building), talent acquisition and retention, performance management, change management, diversity management, skills development, policies and procedures, People and Culture reporting, People and Culture projects and managing staff.

Main Outputs and Responsibilities for this Position

Brand People and Culture Plan:

• Proactively formulate and manage complex People and Culture aspects of the Departmental / Operational Plan which includes all facets of Talent Management.
• Act as a strategic Business Partner and Advisor to the respective Brand in support of all People and Culture related matters and in support of the People and Culture Strategy.
• In partnership with the brand’s Management team, develop and implement the People and Culture plan including a customised employee value proposition to enable the business in achieving business objectives and actively identify gaps, propose and implement changes necessary to cover people related risks and associated change management.
• Provide proactive support, advice and solutions to school leadership teams and head-office based leaders that enables the business strategy and goals.
• Continuously develop ideas and identify opportunities for leveraging Human Resource competitive advantage in support of business objectives.
• Analyse performance data and trends to identify risks, gaps, and improvement opportunities, and provide evidence-based recommendations to leadership.

Talent Management:

• Implement the Talent Management Framework in line with Organisational Design (OD) Standards and Framework.
• Monitor the implementation of Talent Management initiatives, Performance Management, etc. and ensure compliance and alignment with Advtech strategic objectives and policies.
• Support the Division with the management development of their people, providing advice, guidance and ad-hoc training on Personal Development Plans.
• Advise and implement organisational change management (including restructuring/re-organisation) initiatives and processes in line with OD Standards and Framework.
• Design succession plan and assist line managers in completing these (succession) plans and identifying key talent within their respective business units.
• Identify and propose effective talent retention programmes for key/scarce skills.

Transformation:

• Support processes and initiatives to achieve Employment Equity (EE) and Transformation objectives.
• Continuously develop ideas and identify opportunities for leveraging Human Resource competitive advantage while pursuing transformation targets.
• Identify or create opportunities to identify, recruit and retain diverse talent.
• Ensure tracking and monitoring of EE targets as per Department of Labour targets.
• Actively lead initiatives that expand diversity of thinking and approach.

Talent Sourcing, Planning & Onboarding:

• Develop a recruitment plan and create a ‘key/scarce’ skills pipeline in anticipation of business trends and growth.
• Co-ordinate the recruitment process from vacancy to placement in line with the Workforce Plan of the Brands within this School Division.
• Ensure an effective on-boarding process for new staff, including conducting post-appointment interviews and the management of probationary periods. Ensure various tiers of staff are addressed.
• Guideline managers on the application of relevant selection methodologies as per resourcing policy.
• Advise and help design fit for purpose org charts for the business as part of optimising business performance and maintaining accountability.

Talent Development and Coaching/Mentorship:

• Develop and implement a talent development plan.
• Ensure sufficient development opportunities are made available to staff.
• Support the management team in ensuring that they give feedback and development opportunities to their key talent.
• Advise/ guide staff in personal and career development.
• Implement a robust coaching and mentorship programme for key talent and management team.
• Training and development as per agreed Performance Development Plan.
• Keep abreast of talent development trends in line with supporting business growth.

Performance Management:

• Act as the performance improvement driver, assisting line managers to give continuous feedback to their teams.
• Ensure the performance management process is simplified, well understood and enables managers in managing their employees.
• Advise and guide managers in managing the performance of their staff so as to foster productive working relationships.

Comp and benefits (total rewards):

• Oversee the position management and related budget for respective Brand.
• Compile Annual Workforce plan per Brand (plan to include retirement, resignations, vacancies, achievement of EE targets etc.)
• Guide and advise line on status of positions (vacant and filled) and the related budget thereof.
• Prepare monthly reports for line on the status and budget of positions and ensure that changes to the posts and budget, where necessary, are implemented.
• Manage Salary benchmarking and compile comparative ratios to ensure internal equity and external competitiveness.
• Identify salary anomalies and problem areas and advise on solutions.
• Undertake ad hoc market surveys of competitive salaries and benefits, when required and make recommendations.
• Respond to temporary budget queries from respective environments in conjunction with People and Culture Admin.

Employee Relations:

• Provide advice, support and guidance to line managers and employees on employment legislation, implementation of conditions of services, policies, procedures, and general employee relations matters.
• Provide first line resolution to ER related matters/issues.
• Identify and address possible risk situations proactively, in consultation with the Line Manager.
• Manages the employee movement process and procedures (e.g. employee transfers, promotions, redeployment and rotation).
• Manages the employee separation process and procedures (e.g. resignation, retirement, retrenchment, dismissal, ill health, death and incapacity).
• Attend disciplinary hearings as an observer to guide process.
• Driving processes related to TTI and IOD claims together with the custodians of such processes.
• Consult with employees after potentially traumatic experiences and subsequently referring them for counselling.

People And Culture Analytics and Reporting:

• Compile and present meaningful, accurate and timeous People and Culture reports incorporating interpretation, comparisons and trend analyses.
• Oversees the process of ensuring data integrity of People and Culture system.
• Interprets relevant research on best practice as it relates to People and Culture analytics.

People And Culture Governance / Risk and compliance:

• Implement People and Culture business processes and report on levels of compliance.
• Identify and report People and Culture related risks (including potential risks) and develop strategies and implementation plans to minimize/eliminate risk.
• Comply with Group People and Culture Policies and service level agreements as agr