WHAT DOES AN EMPLOYEE RELATIONS SPECIALIST DO?

Updated: Jun 11, 2025 - The Employee Relations Specialist provides strong support in employee relations by managing cases related to probation, absence, disciplinary actions, grievances, and capability processes while ensuring effective risk management. This position enhances managerial capability through coaching, training development, and collaboration with HR partners to improve people management skills and policy implementation. The specialist also drives employee relations initiatives by analyzing trends, leading investigations, facilitating social dialogue, and ensuring a consistent approach to conflict resolution and disciplinary matters.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Employee Relations Specialist

1. Employee Relations Specialist General Responsibilities

  • Reporting: Create reports, dashboards, and high-level presentations.  
  • Content Management: Update and maintain the ER Center of Excellence intranet page.  
  • Policy Development: Revise policies and employee handbooks and draft employee communications.  
  • Employee Support: Respond to and handle inquiries from employees through the department mailbox.  
  • Compliance: Conduct audits and ensure compliance with forms and employment posters.  
  • Training Development: Prepare content for training programs for a variety of audiences.  
  • Budget Management: Track and manage department budget and process department invoices.  
  • Employee Experience: Partner and engage with site leadership and HR to identify and improve opportunities that affect the Associate experience
  • Program Analysis: Analyze, diagnose, and audit people programs, policies, and practices to sustain positive employee relations.  
  • Assessment Reporting: Prepare assessment reports including observations and analysis for senior-level leadership review.  
  • Training Delivery: Conduct positive employee relations training.  
  • Assessment Programs: Conduct and oversee employee relations and vulnerability assessment programs.  
  • Compliance Facilitation: Facilitate the compliant rollout of business initiatives and projects by ensuring that all legal and ER requirements are met.  
  • Manager Training: Create and facilitate ER-related training for all managers and leadership teams.  

2. Employee Relations Specialist Essential Functions

  • Interviewing: Conduct initial interviews and gather information for employee relations matters.  
  • Complaint Assessment: Assess the nature and severity of complaints and provide coaching or referrals
  • Coaching: Coach employees and leaders on performance and conduct-related matters.  
  • Guidance: Provide counsel and guidance to leadership and staff on employee relations issues.  
  • Policy Alignment: Ensure recommendations align with company policies and practices.  
  • Documentation Review: Review performance documentation for consistency and completeness.  
  • Case Tracking: Log cases in the tracking system.  
  • Investigation Insights: Provide workplace-related recommendations/insights directly related to an investigation by company policy and practice.  
  • Project Participation: Participate in key employee relations projects and cross-functional team initiatives.  
  • Policy Management: Manage and update Human Resources policies and processes.  
  • Partnership Building: Build strong partnerships with HR Business Partners, Law Department, Labor Relations, and other partners.  
  • Process Improvement: Review internal processes, recommend improvements, and drive solutions supporting business objectives.  
  • Legal Compliance: Maintain knowledge of laws and regulations related to equal employment opportunity, labor relations, and human resources.  
  • Manager Development: Build the skills and confidence of managers to effectively lead and address workplace issues.  
  • Escalation Management: Serve as a point of escalation when issues are identified in Centers of Excellence.  

3. Employee Relations Specialist Additional Details

  • Forum Support: Support and attend staff forums, ensuring agreed actions are followed up and executed.  
  • ER Requests: Respond to Employee Relations requests from business leaders, executing key tasks by company policies.  
  • Issue Resolution: Manage and resolve Employee Relations queries and escalated issues.  
  • Performance Coaching: Partner with and coach line managers on performance management processes and documentation.  
  • HR Investigations: Conduct investigations into workplace issues such as employee complaints, discrimination, and harassment.  
  • Root Cause Analysis: Perform root cause analysis and provide recommendations for policy changes and resolution.  
  • Policy Guidance: Interpret and guide policies, procedures, and programs to employees and managers.  
  • Labor Law Compliance: Maintain knowledge of federal and state labor laws and provide accurate guidance.  
  • Exit Interviews: Conduct exit interviews, summarize findings, and discuss trends with leadership.  
  • Personnel Strategy: Craft strategies to resolve personnel issues and minimize adverse impacts from business realignments.  
  • Fair Treatment: Ensure employee matters are handled with consistency, fairness, and without discrimination.  
  • Policy Guidance: Provide counsel to managers and associates on company policies and procedures.  
  • Grievance Resolution: Resolve all discrimination charges and grievances.  
  • Legal Collaboration: Partner with legal counsel on lawsuit discovery and litigation preparation.  
  • Issue Resolution: Effectively document, investigate, and resolve employee-related issues.  
  • Internal Investigations: Conduct internal investigations into employee concerns.  

4. Employee Relations Specialist Overview

  • Relationship Building: Proactively build relationships with Arrive’s management.
  • Employee Advocacy: Advocate for a positive employee experience and leverage your internal relationships to proactively create culture-building opportunities across the organization.
  • Employee Relations: Respond to basic employee relations questions.
  • Investigations and Oversight: Handle employee relations investigations with appropriate oversight.
  • Disciplinary Actions: Execute disciplinary actions, including performance plans, employee warnings, and terminations.
  • Escalation: Escalate complex employee relations issues and disciplinary actions to People Ops management.
  • Conflict Resolution: Investigate employee relations concerns, including complaints of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and other work-related issues.
  • Exit Interviews: Conduct exit interviews for terminated employees.
  • Trend Analysis: Maintain and provide the People Ops and appropriate department heads with exit interview feedback, and work to identify turnover trends.
  • Separation Agreements: Complete standard separation agreements.
  • Leave Management: Maintain and complete all FMLA, Medical Leave, and ADA employee requests.
  • EEO Compliance: Collaborate with People Ops to review EEO complaints and other work-related issues and case documentation.
  • Employment Law Research: Research and maintain employment and compliance updates.
  • Internal Project Support: Support internal projects, with an emphasis on building and maintaining the culture at Arrive.
  • Collaboration and Reporting: Report to the People Operations Manager and collaborate with the entire People Ops team.

5. Employee Relations Specialist Job Description

  • Investigation Resolution: Recommend resolutions to investigations and monitor results.  
  • Training and Coaching: Provide training and continuous coaching to HR team members and supervisors on employee relations processes and best practices.  
  • Data Analysis: Analyze data to determine themes and trends, and make proactive recommendations to mitigate risk or improve the employee experience.  
  • Policy Development: Collaborate with HR and business partners to create and improve Company policy.  
  • Escalation Management: Serve as an escalation point for employee concerns not addressed through initial attempts.  
  • Project Management: Participate in and manage projects related to compliance, employee relations, or broader HR topics.  
  • Strategy Support: Support the delivery of the Global Employee Relations strategy.  
  • Agreement Transformation: Transform the international agreements.  
  • Negotiation Expertise: Provide specialist subject matter expertise to support and chair negotiations.  
  • Engagement Framework: Drive the implementation of an effective colleague engagement framework.  
  • Industrial Relations: Provide industrial relations advice by identifying key risks, opportunities, and challenges, including interpretation of Awards and Agreements, and application of employment conditions.  
  • Performance Management: Provide advice on performance improvement and employee disciplinary issues.  
  • Grievance Handling: Provide advice and support on workplace grievances, including conducting investigations and mediation.  
  • Change Management: Project manage, participate, and provide coaching to leaders on the end-to-end change management process.

6. Employee Relations Specialist Role Purpose

  • Employee Relations Support: Deliver excellent Employee Relations support to Field Area Retail Managers.  
  • Case Management: Effective coordination, coaching, and risk management of a high volume of employee relations cases including probationary periods, absence, disciplinary and grievances, and capability processes.  
  • Sensitive Case Collaboration: Work in collaboration with HR Retail Partners and Retail Directors on the most sensitive cases.  
  • Manager Coaching: Day-to-day coaching of the people management ability of Area Managers to improve their level of capability and independence.  
  • Training Development: Work with the HR Retail Partners to train and develop the Area Managers, including creating content and delivering training.  
  • Data Analysis: Meet regularly with the retail management teams to share analysis, highlight trends, and identify insights from employee relations data.  
  • ER Initiatives: Lead and support various employee relations initiatives across the retail business.  
  • Policy Development: Employee Relations development, such as policies, Line Manager guidance documents, template letters, and meeting scripts.  
  • Social Dialogue: Facilitate the European Works Council activities including the preparation of all relevant mandatory meetings and the continuous review of its appropriate composition while ensuring a constructive social dialogue with its members.  
  • Investigation Management: Lead and conduct employee investigations (inclusive of, but not limited to harassment, retaliation, discrimination, and hostile work environment claims).  
  • HR Collaboration: Work closely with the HRBP team to provide a consistent approach in addressing employee relations/disciplinary issues across the company or as consistent as possible in understanding where it needs to be different.  
  • Training Delivery: Create and provide proactive training and education to managers and Human Resources regarding employment best practices.  
  • Conflict Resolution: Assist with conflict resolution including facilitating and/or mediating difficult escalated conversations.  

7. Employee Relations Specialist Key Accountabilities

  • Employee Relations (ER) Advice: Act as the first point of contact for line managers on employee relations matters, providing specialist advice and solutions in line with current legislation including disciplinary, grievances, investigations, restructures, and capability.
  • Manager Development: Develop the capacity of line managers to manage a range of ER problems locally, developing management styles to foster positive working relationships with employees, minimizing the occurrence of line management problems, and fostering a positive climate for ER activity.
  • Coaching and Policy Execution: Coach and develop managers to be competent and consistent in their execution of Veolia’s HR policies and procedures encouraging problems to be dealt with informally and as soon as possible, rather than allowing situations to escalate.
  • TUPE and Mergers and Acquisitions Support: Proactively manage and support the company about all elements of TUPE and Mergers and Acquisitions.
  • Compliance Management: Ensuring all relevant processes are followed, and compliance is met.
  • Union Partnership: Foster and support a partnership relationship with the unions at the local level.
  • Negotiation and Pay Discussions: Form part of the negotiations team for local pay negotiations and identify joint initiatives with unions and contract managers, proactively participate in quarterly ER climate meetings.
  • Trade Dispute Resolution: Work with the contract manager to respond to any trade disputes and set contingency plans to minimize the impact on the service and bring the dispute to a swift conclusion.
  • Collaboration with HR Managers: Work collaboratively with the HR Relationship Managers within the designated contract areas on a range of people and organizational matters.
  • Absence Management: Have oversight of absence management in the designated area and work with senior managers to reduce absence levels in the designated contract areas.
  • Cross-Regional Support: Work flexibly across the region supporting colleagues on projects and work activity.
  • Training and Development: Identify, develop, and facilitate the delivery of relevant training for managers, HR, and employees on Employee Relations topics of importance to the Firm.
  • Legal Partnership: Partner with HR Legal to discuss/mitigate exposure on charges, attorney demand letters, litigations, and arbitrations, including the settlement of claims, and receive, investigate, and respond to severance appeals.

8. Employee Relations Specialist Duties and Roles

  • Employee Relations Advisory: Advise managers on a wide range of employee relations topics such as performance management issues, FMLA, disability or other health-related issues, and claims of unfair treatment, discrimination, or harassment to ensure fair, equitable, objective, and consistent treatment of employees.
  • Workplace Issues and Disciplinary Actions: Advice on workplace issues and disciplinary actions including terminations, warnings, grievances, workforce reductions, and strategic initiatives such as acquisitions and divestitures.
  • Tool Development: Develop, implement, and maintain tools to enhance managers' and HR’s understanding of appropriate handling of workplace issues (e.g., checklists, RIF tools, etc.).
  • Positive HR and ER Programs: Partner with senior managers and HR teams to create and sustain positive HR and employee relations programs and best practices.
  • First-Line ER Support: Provide first-line employee relations support to managers and employees.
  • Employee Engagement: Develop an understanding of employee engagement and support the delivery of initiatives designed to achieve engagement targets that are aligned with Sitecore’s HR and ER philosophy.
  • HR and ER Program Management: Create, conduct, and oversee human resource and employee relations programs.
  • Collaboration on Investigations: Collaborate with HR Business Partner and Legal on employee investigations.
  • Training on ER Matters: Provide training on ER matters for managers, HR teams, and associate forum representatives.
  • Policy Review: Conduct reviews of employment policies to ensure they are aligned with Sitecore’s objectives and compliant with employment law.
  • HR Generalist Projects: Participate in national and international HR Generalist projects.
  • Crisis-Oriented ER Issues: Work reactively on critical employee relations issues that are crisis-oriented and typically can only be completed with limited time.
  • Time Management: Balancing time between projects and crisis response is a critical component for success in the position.
  • HR Associate Development: Educate and support the development of the HR associate across all areas of the employee lifecycle.
Relevant Information
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