HR Business Partner

What does great HR mean to you?

Is it about striking the right balance between supporting your business and challenging it? Keeping things simple and human, and striving to make a difference in all aspects of working life? If so, this could be the opportunity for you…

We’re currently on the lookout for an HR Business Partner to work with a range of Publishing and Group departments across our UK business.

The team

The HR Generalist team act as trusted HR partners, bringing business and HR strategies together to deliver advice and expertise which is commercially minded, and people focused. We focus on upskilling and empowering People Managers to create a culture of inclusion and high-performance within their teams. With the aim to cultivate a psychologically safe and positive work environment for people at all levels.

The role

This is a full spectrum HR Business Partner role where you will work with key stakeholders to build and implement people plans and translate business requirements into effective HR practices that align with business objectives. 

You’ll use both your compassionate ear and pragmatic head as you partner with senior leaders and their teams through both day-to-day business and more challenging moments like restructures and ER cases.

Promoting an environment of positive employee relations and ensuring that issues are dealt with fairly and effectively whilst also coaching and equipping managers to handle complex situations will be a key part of this position. To achieve this, you’ll have excellent communication skills, attention to detail and an empathetic approach to your work.

You’ll champion effective talent management within your division and support leaders to develop talent and succession plans, working closely with our L&D and recruitment teams.

You will also work with, and challenge, senior management to create a culture of prioritising employee wellbeing and encourage all employees and your business areas to think and act inclusively, demonstrating a commitment to being an ally of inclusivity.

You will manage one HR Advisor, creating a positive work environment and focusing on their development. You’ll support them in all aspects of their role, acting as a point of escalation and advice.

What you’ll bring

Essential criteria:

• Significant experience in a HR generalist role, with up-to-date knowledge of employment law, experience handling complex, and sensitive situations, and experience managing the entire remit of HR activities.

• Experience of business transformation including change management and reorganisation.

• Being an expert on people challenges – especially talent, performance and change.

• Business acumen, understanding the impact of the latest economic and industry trends on the organisation.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across different levels of the organisation, and with multiple stakeholders.

• The ability to partner with senior members of the organisation is critical and requires strong listening, coaching and questioning skills with high emotional intelligence and a curious nature.

• Agility, able to spot opportunities and risks, and act to implement change.

Preferred criteria:

• If you are CIPD qualified this would be a plus.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Tuesday 8th April.

Salary

£55,000 - £67,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.

What you can expect from us

Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition.

Our benefits include:

• Financial – income protection, life assurance, childcare allowance

• Wellbeing – healthcare cash plan, critical illness cover, health checks

• Lifestyle – enhanced parental leave, tech scheme, free and discounted books

For our full benefits list please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/what-we-offer/

Hybrid working

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you’ll be in the office at least two days per week.

About Penguin

We’re the UK’s largest publisher; made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you’ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

The recruitment process

You can read about our recruitment process at https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/how-we-hire/

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview.

We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your request.

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.

Company: Penguin Books Limited 

Country: United Kingdom 

State/Region: London 

City: London 

Postal Code: SW11 7BW 

Job ID: 278712