Head of People Relations

Job Description

We are Centrica! We’re so much more than an energy company. We’re a family of brands revolutionising a cleaner, greener future. Working here is #MoreThanACareer - we’re powered by purpose. Together we can make an impact that will truly change tomorrow. Whether you’re developing cutting-edge green tech, helping customers on the front line or simplifying operations behind the scenes.

Your work here isn’t just a job – it’s a mission. We all play a vital role in energising a greener, fairer future.

The People Relations function plays a key role in achieving our vision to make Centrica a great place to work.

In this role you will have the exciting opportunity and important responsibility for shaping our approach to modernising the relationships between Centrica, our leaders and managers, our colleagues, and our partners. Primarily this will involve, along with our People Relations leadership team, helping to create and embed an end to end story of colleague service, a one stop shop of initiatives that affect and impact the quality of experience our colleagues have in their time at Centrica.

• Salary: Competitive + bonus + car allowance + private healthcare + generous company benefits

• Location: UK Flexible with travel as required

Key Accountabilities

• Collaborating and leading on shaping our People Relations approach by coordinating the design to what constitutes an end to end employee relations delivery model and bringing that to life in the shape of a delivery plan to deliver our goals.

• This role has three main elements;

  • Partnering with the People Relations Leadership Team and key business stakeholders to develop a consistent end to end structure to planning and delivery of People Relations (colleague experience), whilst ensuring the optimum use of internal and external best practice to achieve our goals

  • The role will also be responsible for creating a holistic plan across the Centrica family of businesses to drive the right engagement against our key principles, with a view to creating a market leading colleague experience, with adequate feedback mechanisms so we can apply a continuous improvement approach and measure progress. Bringing People Relations to life for our People Leaders A key factor of success will be ensuring our management community know the purpose and structure of an end to end People Relations function, what it does, what it’s objectives are and what part the management community have to play to make it a success

• Working with our People Directors and Partners to deliver the People Relations approach that requires our front line leaders to adopt an engaging and considerate style in line with our purpose and values

• Communicating and influencing across our network of People Relations: Building an effective engagement and communications strategy to communicate directly with colleagues on the subjects that matter to them by working with our communications colleagues and predicting industrial activity

• Complementing this Strategy with effective Union engagement and inclusion. The role will play a key part in influencing our Industrial Relations approach and People engagement approach. Collaborating closely with the IR Team and collectively represented areas, to agree on our approach to working with our Trade Union partners. Our aim is to achieve a productive and balanced relationship involving our unions and a similar direct relationship with our people to underline Centrica’s commitment and will to grow and be successful through our people

Key Competencies

• Significant experience in a Senior People/ER/IR role with strategic planning and delivery mandates

• Experience as an Operational Leader to demonstrate an understanding of how to deliver strategic people objectives in to a real world situation and deliver success

• A thorough understanding of Employee Relations engagement theory and demonstrable delivery with proven improvement in this area

• A thorough understanding of Industrial Relations and significant experience of working in a Trade Union environment

• A solid track record working closely with senior leaders, providing objective advice, challenging thinking, and influencing key people-related decisions

• Ability to see the bigger picture

• Ability to manage sometimes-conflicting priorities of various leadership teams and initiatives while producing exceptional results that drive our business forward

• Comfortable working with ambiguity, a patient individual with the ability to influence others on longer term thinking/planning that doesn’t necessarily have impact tomorrow, but delivers the right end result

• A demonstrable understanding of personalities and behavioural styles in order to work collaboratively with a variety of people

• Ability to deal with conflict, setbacks and criticism whilst rethinking to find alternative ways of delivering the stated objectives

• Ability to bring outside-in thinking to innovate and keep abreast of external market trends and forces

• Degree educated or extensive relevant experience in the stated disciplines

Core Capabilities

• Growth Mindset: Embraces challenges, is highly curious, persists in the face of setbacks, and views failures as opportunities for learning and development

• Leading with Purpose: Having the ability to understand and demonstrate our values and purpose whilst delivering change within the business whilst doing the right thing by those affected.

• Innovation: Seeking out the new and looking for opportunities to seek out ideas and insights from a diverse range of perspectives and translating them into actions - with realistic goals and plans to enable their delivery

• Relationship Building: Demonstrable track record in effectively interacting with colleagues across all levels and business functions. Identifies and builds key relationships quickly, influencing effectively up and across the organisation

• Resilience: Adapts positively to adversity, bounces back from setbacks, and maintains a sense of strength and flexibility in challenging situations

• Strategic Thinking: Being able to think strategically, align People related initiatives with organizational objectives, and envision the long-term implications of People actions on the business. This involves considering the future direction of the company and planning People related initiatives accordingly

• Change Management: Having the skills to manage and lead organizational change effectively. This includes the ability to anticipate and respond to changes, communicate effectively, and facilitate transitions within the workforce

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Utilising data and analytics to inform People strategies and decisions. This involves collecting, analysing, and interpreting metrics and insights to drive evidence-based decision making

At Centrica we embrace diversity and actively seek to attract individuals with unique backgrounds and perspectives. To build a more sustainable future, we need the best team – a team with a diverse mix of people and skills, where everyone feels welcome and able to succeed. We are dedicated in helping to close the diversity gap and would love to see more females, people of colour and LGBTQ+ employees, as well as those from a variety of cultures and ethnicity to veterans and the differently abled. Supporting diversity and inclusion is a big part of who we are, we are not looking for people to fit into our culture but to add to it!

PLEASE APPLY ONLINE by hitting the 'Apply' button.

Applications will ONLY be accepted via the ‘Apply’ button.

This role is being handled by the Centrica recruitment team and NO agency contact is required.