Assistant People & OD Partner

The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust is the only major trauma centre & main acute healthcare provider for the population of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We are a diverse team of over 5,000 colleagues, all committed to providing Brilliant Care for the community and its many visitors.

The People and Organisational Directorate provides support for all staff-related functions – from recruitment, to payroll, training, human resources, and staff health & wellbeing.

The role of the Assistant HR People Partner is to provide a comprehensive & professional HR service to support Managers and employees across all of our hospital sites, by offering support on a range of workforce issues including, but not confined to, employee relations matters such as, absence and performance management, disciplinary issues, resolution and bullying and harassment. You will provide coaching/advice to support managers to deliver effective people management in line with our Values & Just Culture approach. You will also support in the delivery of our wider portfolio – which includes diversity & inclusion, recruitment, workforce planning & transformation and learning & development. Ideally you will have a sound understanding of employment law and will be passionate about improving how we manage, support and develop our people.

If you enjoy working in a busy, friendly team with plenty of variety as well as opportunities for learning and growth, we’d love to hear from you.

Secondments will be considered.

To provide for People Partner activity to a CITS project and to a Care Group, driving continuous improvement and delivery of high-quality care through great leadership and management of our people. This includes, but is not limited to, workforce planning, developing recruitment strategies, analysis of People and Organisational Development data to identify people trends and the coaching and mentoring of leaders.

To be a role model within the HR team and for the team both within the Trust and externally, demonstrating the Trust values at all times. To develop and maintain effective working relationships at all levels of the organisation including at the senior level.

Sustainability is integral to the Trust achieving the NHS Net Zero target. All staff are therefore actively encouraged and supported to implement new ways of working within their field of expertise.

On behalf of the People Partners, and OD Partners, as required, work with managers and management teams in Care Groups to improve the standard of HR and OD practice ensuring that best practice is developed in terms of workforce management development and employee relations for all staff including the medical workforce. Work with the OD team to develop new ideas and approaches to common issues identified by daily work matters.

To work with the Workforce Analyst team as required to ensure that effective information is provided to Care Groups and other management groups on HR and OD performance measures e.g. turnover, appraisal, vacancies, and sickness. To provide advice in the light of this information and to work with managers in designated areas to improve performance and support the development of effective leadership, including clinical leadership.

As a primary function, work on a variety of Employee Relations casework, which may include but is not limited to, gathering evidence, talking to involved parties, advising managers, seeing the process through from start to finish, supporting the People Partners and Care Group Management.

To advise and support managers with regard to employment law, Trust policies and procedures, Agenda for Change and medical workforce terms and conditions of employment, liaising with the relevant expertise in POD.

Be fully aware of Restorative Just Culture practices and methodologies and how to implement such processes.

Promote the use of informal resolution (RJC methodologies) of people management issues within the client groups to ensure that the number of formal cases is kept to a minimum.

To carry out specific work in liaison with the Workforce Information Systems team, to maximise the effective use of the Electronic Staff record (ESR).

To ensure that appropriate HR systems for all relevant activity, e.g., sickness and ER issues, are developed, maintained, and updated so that all appropriate activity and information is captured in an accurate, timely, and efficient manner in accordance with data protection, employment legislation and Trust policies.

In particular, to be conversive in the use of Selenity (Allocate) ER tracker system and maintain all case management data on that system, supplying at any time, a report on all active cases and their status.

To carry out delegated work to improve and develop ESR and other HR systems so that relevant and up-to-date information is stored efficiently, accurately and confidentially in line with the Data Protection Act.

Support the delivery of National and Local HR performance standards and provide evidence including to external bodies e.g. for Care Quality Commission (CQC) NHSLA.

Assist in the production of formal reports covering, evaluation of Care Group/Trust wide data.

To work with the People Partner, OD experts and managers within POD and specified Care Group(s) across the trust to drive the improvement in organisational development, efficiency and performance of the Trust, enabling on-going improvements to be delivered in the quality, service and cost effectiveness of Trust services.

To work collaboratively with colleagues in IT, Finance, and management across the Trust on delegated Corporate and Operational projects to change and improve services and their efficiency. The HR role in these projects is to provide challenge and advice to facilitate delivery of projects which maximise the efficient working of staff and their engagement.

Provide effective support and advice to help shape change management and business transformation initiatives in line with Trust policy, OD guidance, and with support as needed from the People Partner.

Work to support and facilitate staff survey and staff engagement, including helping to interpret data and proactively support the implementation of any resulting actions plans.

Ensure key workforce issues are fully considered and that effective long-term plans are drawn up to develop the workforce to best and most efficiently achieve the Trust’s objectives, as guided by the People Partner.

Provide support into the annual business planning cycle, ensuring that an integrated approach is taken to workforce planning including wider workforce projects.

Ensure that Care Group workforce plans are developed which properly reflect the agreed and budgeted changes to services and those necessary actions are implemented to ensure the on-going supply of colleagues with the skills to carry out the work required, as guided by the People Partner.

Work with the People Partner to implement, monitor and revise workforce plans as required

Please see attached job description.