HR Officer

Purpose of the Role 

The HR Officer provides comprehensive HR support across the organisation, ensuring best practice and compliance with employment legislation. This role covers the full employee lifecycle, HR administration & HR system admin, policy implementation, and coordinating employee engagement initiatives, while contributing to long-term HR projects and organisational change. 

Key Responsibilities 

Employee Lifecycle Management 

• Act as the first point of contact for employee queries and concerns. 

• Coordinate recruitment processes, including building job packs, setting up roles on BrightHR, advertising vacancies, and supporting shortlisting. 

• Schedule and coordinate interviews. 

• Prepare employment contracts and issue HR letters (e.g., annual pay reviews, leave requests). 

• Manage pre-employment checks and ensure new employees receive starter information. 

• Plan and oversee induction for all new staff. 

• Support probation reviews and oversee the bi-annual appraisal processes. 

HR Administration 

• Maintain accurate employee records in BrightHR and BrightSafe. 

• Complete regular HR admin activities and manage queries from staff and managers. 

• Track and report monthly staff absence data. 

• Inform the payroll bureau of monthly changes affecting pay (salary/hour changes, joiner/leaver, bank account changes, maternity, sickness, etc.) and liaise with Finance to verify payroll. 

• Ensure Data Protection procedures are followed for all HR records. 

Policy & Compliance 

• Support the implementation and periodic review of HR policies and procedures. 

• Maintaining the policy register. 

• Conduct regular audits to ensure compliance with employment legislation. 

• Provide advice and guidance to managers and staff on HR policies and legal obligations. 

• Ensuring DBS checks are carried out for colleagues having access to children’s data and visiting schools 

Employee Engagement & Wellbeing 

• Help coordinate the wellbeing committee. 

• Promote staff benefits, including eye care vouchers, pension schemes, and electric car salary sacrifice. 

• Manage the staff training programme in BrightHR and BrightSafe, ensuring completion of mandatory training and promoting non-mandatory development opportunities. 

Projects & Organisational Development 

• Lead and support HR projects to improve processes and systems. 

• Assist with organisational change initiatives and contribute to HR strategy development. 

• Support long-term projects such as benefits review and pension provider transition. 

Offboarding 

• Handle the leaver process, ensuring smooth offboarding and accurate record updates. 

• Ensuring the exit interview is carried out, share with the line managers and ELT 

Supporting ELT (approximately 5 hours per week) 

• Coordinating multi-calendar meetings 

• Analysis and research to support initiatives 

• Coordinating projects 

Skills & Experience 

• CIPD Level 5 (preferred) 

• Strong knowledge of HR best practices and employment legislation. 

• Excellent organisational and communication skills. 

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and work collaboratively with managers and staff. 

• Knowledge and skills in managing an HR system. 

• Experience in HR administration and employee relations. 

• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion.