WHAT DOES A GLOBAL HR BUSINESS PARTNER DO?
Published: Apr 24, 2025 – The Global HR Business Partner acts as a strategic HR advisor and drives people-related initiatives that align with business goals across the Offshore division. This position shapes organizational effectiveness by leading workforce planning, talent development, leadership capability, and performance practices. The partner also collaborates closely with senior stakeholders to embed a high-performance culture and ensure the successful execution of HR programs and policies.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Global HR Business Partner
1. Global HR Business Partner Key Accountabilities
- Strategic Alignment: Ensure that the HR priorities in the defined functions are in line with the overall business needs
- Coaching and Advising: Acts as a coach and advisor to Leaders and Managers, influencing and shaping the people's agenda
- Change Management: Lead change initiatives and implement specific HR strategies to achieve the organization's goals and objectives
- Project Leadership: Participate in/lead global and functional HR projects, striving for continuous improvement
- Performance Management: Responsible for delivering cyclical performance activity in named function (pay reviews, goal setting, performance management, employee engagement, bonus, etc.)
- Talent Acquisition: Own and coordinate high-growth global hiring, coaching hiring leaders on hiring processes and good practices, ensuring a high hiring bar is in place
- Employee Relations: Counsel and coach management and employees on performance and employee relations-related matters, handling all cases successfully
- Business Acumen: Have a deep understanding of the business and possess business acumen
- HR Analytics: Understand and embrace the use of technology and data to provide management information and analytics to key stakeholders
- Cultural Leadership: Be an ambassador for the IFS culture, a role model for the Company values
- Customer Focus: Develop and drive a culture of customer focus, active responsibility, and continuous improvement within the business area in support of delivery and business objectives
2. Global HR Business Partner General Responsibilities
- HR Implementation: Drives the implementation of all HR processes within the area of responsibility, Global and Local
- Workforce Planning: Take responsibility for workforce planning, succession planning, performance management, and other processes
- HR Influence: Influence colleagues within the immediate HR network to achieve business targets through business and HR action plans (including country-level)
- Local HR Responsibility: Responsible in the hosting country for the same scope (SCM, OPS, Quality)
- Strategic HR Planning: Participate in the definition of long-term business objectives for the assigned area and define the strategic HR priorities to support the relevant business strategy on a global basis
- HR Consulting: Understand business needs and provide consulting support and advice in applying HR policy and process to achieve long-term objectives
- HR Delivery: Leverage the HR functional expertise and operational capacity to deliver results through high-quality and efficient solutions that meet the needs of the business
- Change Leadership: Lead change management initiatives across an area of responsibility, supporting leaders, staff, and HR colleagues in implementing new initiatives and driving behavioral change
- Compliance Management: Ensure compliance with legislation and HR policies, mainly in Common Shared Services, and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety and compliance standards in all areas of responsibility
- HR Organization: Ensure that the area of responsibility is properly organized, staffed, skilled, and directed
- People Development: Guide, motivate, and develop direct and indirect subordinates within HR policies
3. Global HR Business Partner Role Purpose
- HR Planning: Define HR plans for the business, in line with JM culture and values, and the overall people strategy, to contribute to the achievement of the MDC Business objectives
- HR Implementation: Drive the implementation of HR plans and programmes and deploy Group policies and processes to deliver a high-performing workforce
- Strategic Partnership: Partner with senior leaders (MD and Business Leadership Team) to identify, prioritise, and develop solutions for people issues that are aligned to Business, Sector, and Group people plans
- Change Management: Provide change management support to help implement changes to the operating model, tools and processes, new capabilities, and ways of working
- People Analytics: Analyse people trends and metrics to diagnose underlying causes of key business issues and identify opportunities to enhance employee engagement and/or improve business performance
- HR Budgeting: Provide insight and data to support the development of the HR budget and mid-term plan to ensure that the needs of the business unit/function are represented in the planning process
- Team Leadership: Lead and manage a team of HR professionals to provide advice, support, and development so that people matters are dealt with effectively at the site level
- Learning and Development: Work with the HR CoEs, identify technical learning requirements for the business area or function so that training interventions can be deployed effectively
- Talent Management: Work with Talent Management, deliver talent management programmes and processes in alignment with Group policies and procedures to ensure the talent needs of the business unit/function are met
- Manager Coaching: Educate and coach line managers in developing their people management and leadership skills, and work with the business to adopt an HR self-service approach as the shared services capabilities are developed
- Issue Resolution: Own the resolution of more complex HR issues, drawing on the expertise of HR CoEs and HR shared business services to enable a successful outcome
4. Global HR Business Partner Essential Functions
- HR Advisory: Provide professional guidance for line managers on a diverse range of HR matters along the employee life cycle, ensuring that core HR processes are applied appropriately
- Strategic HR Coordination: Coordinate strategic HR activities and global projects that contribute to attracting, developing, and retaining high-performing talent in a designated business unit
- HRM Consulting: HRM consult services related to employee relations, performance management, compensation and reward, succession planning, and change management
- Labor Law Advisory: Provide comprehensive advice on labor law issues such as international transfers of staff, restructuring, disciplinary actions, etc., close cooperation with legal counsel, and local HR teams
- Business Partnership: Build a partnership with the business, coaching and maintaining trusted, positive relationships with the executives
- Policy Alignment: Ensure that all movement aligns with company leveling guides and policy
- Talent Acquisition: Partner with the client group to effectively acquire professional, management, and leadership-level talent for the assigned client group
- Onboarding Planning: Develop detailed onboarding plans for new leaders
- Employee Relations: Conduct complex Employee Relations investigations and consult with managers and ER counsel on outcomes and next steps
- HR Metrics: Report monthly metrics to HR leadership and aim to ensure that countermeasures are in place when not hitting targets. Uses data to coach clients and drive correct behaviors
- HR Mentoring: Mentor and coach more junior HR colleagues and support the site HR leader on confidential projects
5. Global HR Business Partner Additional Details
- HR Partnership: Act as a trusted and credible HR Partner, change agent, and implementation consultant
- Strategic HR Advisory: Provide strategic HR advice to the Global Head of Sales and Projects and Senior management of the Offshore business division, and develop and integrate the people dimension into business plans
- Workforce Consulting: Consult and support key stakeholders in important decisions concerning workforce-related topics, such as organizational design, culture development, compensation and performance practices, and leadership development
- People Strategy: Highlight the implication of business objectives and shape people strategy to ensure a highly motivated workforce with the right set of capabilities to fulfill business goals
- Leadership Coaching: Develop a high-performing culture and climate by coaching and influencing key stakeholders to become excellent leaders and up-skill and emphasize people-related topics
- Stakeholder Management: Manage relationships with key stakeholders to understand business requirements and top priorities, and represent the interests of the Offshore business division towards the Global Head of Offshore HR to shape the HR strategy accordingly
- HR Program Deployment: Translate business strategy into people-related actions and programs, and ensure successful deployment of respective initiatives and projects together with the HR Business Partner team
- HR Coordination: Manage expectations towards HR delivery and coordinate the requirements-input for HR instruments, policies, and templates towards the Centers of Expertise and HR Services to reflect divisional-specific needs
- Executive Recruitment: Secure and consult in the recruitment of top management positions, talent development and pipeline, strategic workforce, and succession planning
- HR Information Management: Drive the creation and circulation of HR Management information throughout the business division and propagate the use of best practices among HR Business Partners (Functional and Regional)