WHAT DOES AN EMPLOYEE RELATIONS ADVISOR DO?
Updated: Jun 02, 2025 - The Employee Relations Advisor leverages expertise in employee relations to investigate complex issues, summarize findings, and make disciplinary recommendations while ensuring effective resolutions of employment matters. This position provides guidance to management on performance improvement plans, monitors the effectiveness of existing policies, and recommends improvements to enhance efficiency. This role collaborates with Corporate Compliance and Corporate Security to deliver comprehensive employee relations solutions and manage strategic team projects.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Employee Relations Advisor
1. Employee Relations Advisor Duties
- Employee Relations: Resolve employee relations issues over the phone by problem-solving and providing consultation to employees and leaders.
- Case Management: Handle cases in a timely manner from intake through research, investigation, tracking, documentation, and resolution.
- Compliance: Maintain compliance with relevant laws, company policies, and practices.
- Consistency Review: Review other cases to ensure consistent solutions.
- Documentation: Effectively and accurately maintain documentation of ER cases.
- Policy Interpretation: Provide coaching, information, and feedback to leaders and employees by interpreting organizational policies to apply to specific scenarios.
- Performance Improvement: Partner with leaders on the Performance Improvement Process, offering support from start to finish.
- Leader Education: Educate leaders on the process, ensuring conversations and warnings, expectations are clear, and documents are legally sound.
- Leave Administration: Administer the company's leave of absence program for assigned lines of business.
- Vendor Coordination: Serve as the primary point of contact for the third-party leave of absence vendor.
- Information Management: Provide support and information to leaders and employees on processes related to leave, personnel files, subpoenas, severance, rehire eligibility, reporting, and unemployment.
2. Employee Relations Advisor Details
- Case Management: Directly handle high-profile or sensitive cases, escalating to the Head of Employee Relations.
- Compliance: Work with the global HR team to collect and collate ER information, documentation, and data, ensuring compliance with local legislation and accurate reporting.
- Network Coordination: Coordinate and facilitate the development of a global virtual ER network across HR markets and functions.
- Knowledge Sharing: Support HR colleagues by maintaining and updating ER guidelines and process documents.
- Process Improvement: Support the Head of Employee Relations in reviewing and improving ER practices and processes to foster positive working relationships.
- Policy Development: Assist with identifying new people policies and driving ER initiatives, including training development and delivery.
- Redundancy Monitoring: Proactively track and monitor redundancy exits across the organization.
- Change Management: Assist with organizational change programs to ensure effective and minimally disruptive processes.
- Risk Management: Work with Employment Law and HR Operations teams to mitigate risks and ensure compliance with global ER processes and documentation.
- Collaboration: Build productive and effective relationships across the global HR team.
- Employee Advocacy: Act as an advocate for ER, educating the team on goals and priorities.
- Legal Liaison: Assist the Head of Employee Relations in liaising with the Employment Law team on complex or high-risk cases.
- Project Support: Assist with reactive projects with potential ER implications.
- Law and Best Practices: Maintain up-to-date knowledge of Employee Relations law and best practices, and support dissemination within the organization.
- People Agenda: Contribute to the progress of the overall people agenda by supporting new activities aligned with the function’s goals.
3. Employee Relations Advisor Responsibilities
- Employee Relations Advisory: Advise line managers on the application of HR policies and procedures for specific employee relations issues (“cases”) so that these are fully owned and handled by line managers, in line with organizational policies and procedures and best practices.
- Risk Assessment: Assess the complexity and risks within each case, and as a result flex the advice and support delivered.
- Training and Coaching: Develop, and take part in delivering, an ongoing program of training and coaching of line managers so that they have the confidence and capability to manage cases with reducing reliance on HR or other external advice.
- Professional Development: Proactively manage own continuing professional development and share legislative and best practice updates with own team and other HR colleagues, to maintain the excellence of expertise available in the business.
- Relationship Building: Work with, and build relationships throughout the business, and in particular with HR Business Partners, Talent team, Occupational Health, and Business Support Group.
- HR Support Delivery: Ensuring that the method of delivery of HR support to the business is understood and support is delivered efficiently and effectively.
- Union Relations: Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with trades union representatives and colleagues, helping to build understanding and trust at all levels.
- Project Management: Provide support for and/or manage the delivery of project work relating to HR policies, employment legislation, and other employee relations work by business needs.
- Data Management: Support the provision of Management Information on case activity, logging work carried out and analyzing trends to inform management action, where such information is not readily available to line managers independently.
- Organisational Change Support: Support the HR Business Partners with specific cases of organizational change.
- Policy Communication: Develop, and take part in implementing, the ongoing communication of HR Policies and Procedures to line managers and colleagues, in order to promote awareness and understanding and to develop trust and transparency.
4. Employee Relations Advisor Job Summary
- Employee Relations Expertise: Leverage deep expertise in employee relations to investigate complex employee relations issues, working with appropriate internal and external parties, including efficiently summarizing findings and making disciplinary recommendations.
- Coaching and Counseling: Coach, counsel, and advise management and staff to ensure effective resolution of employment-related matters.
- Dispute Resolution: In response to employee complaints, identify and lead interventions in response to resolve disputes.
- Performance Management: Advise managers regarding Performance Improvement Plans, assist in plan creation and oversee implementation.
- Documentation and Reporting: Use exceptional writing skills to maintain documentation and tracking of all employee relations issues and close all matters effectively, including, but not limited to, providing follow-up documentation.
- Program Evaluation: Monitor the effectiveness of existing employee relations programs, policies, practices, and procedures and recommend changes to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of operations and services.
- Project Management: Participate in, manage, and execute strategic employee relations-focused team projects.
- Policy Interpretation and Improvement: Interpret policies and applications and provide suggestions for improvements to policies.
- Strategic Guidance: Provide proactive strategic guidance and direction to the management team regarding all aspects of employee relations.
- Process Development: Create and update process flows, and internal department training.
- Collaboration: Partner with both Corporate Compliance and Corporate Security for comprehensive employee relations solutions.
5. Employee Relations Advisor Accountabilities
- HR Policy Implementation: Implement/update HR policy and procedures, ensuring it fits local business needs while ensuring consistency and compliance.
- Policy Development: Develop and communicate new or revised policies.
- Employee Relations Procedure Development: Responsible for the development of effective and streamlined employee relations procedures.
- HR Advisory Support: Provide advice and support to HR business partners and personnel across key HR areas (change management, TUPE, absence management, maternity, disciplinary, performance management, grievance, and redundancy).
- Documentation Management: Prepare necessary paperwork and manage relevant consultations with employees.
- Record Keeping and Reporting: Maintain excellent records and provide reports of activity.
- Works Council Development: Lead on the successful development and implementation of staff delegates or works councils to ensure compliance with legal obligations in European territories.
- Legal Compliance: Liaise with external legal providers to ensure employment law compliance in relation to all practices and procedures and live cases including tribunal claims.
- Coaching and Advising: Coach and advise managers and employees in dealing with employee relations situations, resulting in improved understanding and ability to prevent and/or manage future issues.
- Collaboration with HRBP: Effective collaboration with the global HRBP team on various matters such as advising on local policy and processes and the complexity of employment legislation across different regions, to deliver a seamless one-team service to the business.
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Work collaboratively with internal stakeholders in the wider HR teams to ensure internal processes support the effective administration and application of HR policies and look for opportunities to educate the wider business on ER.