Job Description

Bring your professional HR experience to support a local charity. We are looking for a part-time HR manager to work mornings to help us manage all things HR related.

This role is responsible for providing accessible, practical and professional HR capability across Citizens Advice Reading. You will own and improve our core people processes, support and coach managers, embed Employment Hero (our new HR system) and strengthen organisational resilience, consistency and good governance.

Location: Minster Street, Reading / Hybrid working possible.

Hours: Part-time - 17.5 hours per week (0.5 FTE)

Contract Type: Fixed term contract for 12 months

Salary banding: £33,500 full-time equivalent; £16,750 actual salary for 17.5 hours

Special Requirements: Basic DBS check

KEY DUTIES

Professional HR advice and employee relations

• Act as the first internal point of professional HR advice for managers, providing proportionate, practical and legally informed guidance.
• Advise and support managers with probation, attendance and absence, wellbeing, flexible working, reasonable adjustments, performance, capability, conduct, grievances, organisational change and other employee-relations matters.
• Help managers plan fair and consistent processes, prepare appropriate documentation, keep reliable records and act within agreed timescales, while ensuring that managers retain accountability for their staff and decisions.
• Triage risk and obtain independent specialist HR or legal advice for complex, high-risk, novel or conflicted matters, coordinating CAR’s response and maintaining a clear audit trail.
• Handle sensitive information with sound judgement, confidentiality, neutrality and appropriate regard to data protection, equality and safeguarding responsibilities.

Recruitment and the employee lifecycle

• Coordinate consistent recruitment processes, including job descriptions, adverts, Employment Hero vacancies, candidate communications, interview or assessment arrangements and appointment documentation.
• Coordinate pre-employment checks, including references, right-to-work and DBS processes, and ensure that offers, contracts and job packs are accurate and timely.
• Own and improve onboarding, induction, probation, contract variation and leaver workflows, working with managers and administrative colleagues.
• Maintain accurate personnel records and ensure that employment changes are reflected promptly across relevant systems and documents.

Employment Hero, records and people information

• Act as the accountable organisational owner for Employment Hero, ensuring that it is configured and used as an effective management tool rather than only a record store.
• Maintain data quality, access controls, workflows, templates, reminders, organisation charts and routine people reporting.
• Produce proportionate workforce information for managers, Senior Management Team (SMT) and trustees, including trends in recruitment, absence, turnover, training and other agreed measures.
• Support implementation of the people survey and coordinate agreed actions, monitoring and follow-up.

Policy, compliance, governance and organisational learning

• Maintain a planned programme of HR policy, procedure, template and guidance review, ensuring that documents are practical, accessible and consistent.
• Monitor relevant employment-law, equality and good-practice developments and coordinate proportionate implementation with organisational leads and external advisers.
• Coordinate people-related compliance records and reminders.
• Document core HR processes and build organisational resilience by reducing reliance on individual knowledge and informal arrangements.
• Identify learning from cases, complaints, surveys and organisational change and translate it into improved processes, guidance or manager development.

Manager support, capability and culture

• Provide accessible coaching, guidance, templates and short training sessions that increase manager confidence and consistency.
• Promote a fair, inclusive, respectful and psychologically safe working culture, helping managers address issues promptly and constructively.
• Support effective communication and change management where people are affected by organisational decisions.
• Contribute practical HR insight to workforce planning, role design, succession, wellbeing and retention discussions.

Organisational responsibilities

• Understand and work within the twin aims and principles of the Citizens Advice Service, including the promotion of research and campaigns
• Embed Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in your day to day work.
• Attend regular team and staff meetings and training.
• Provide statistical information on training as required (e.g input into quarterly HR & Training Report)
• Any other reasonable duties as required by the organisation from time to time.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

1. Substantial practical generalist HR experience, ideally in a small or medium-sized organisation with CIPD Level 5 qualification, or equivalent professional knowledge and experience.
2. Current working knowledge of UK employment law, equality duties and good HR practice.
3. Experience advising and supporting managers with employee-relations matters such as absence, performance, capability, conduct, grievance and reasonable adjustments.
4. Strong written skills, including accurate letters, records, policies, guidance and concise reports.
5. Experience using an HR information system and producing reliable people data or reports
6. Excellent judgement, discretion, neutrality and confidence handling confidential or sensitive matters.
7. Ability to prioritise competing demands, work independently and provide responsive support within part-time hours.
8. Ability to work in a sensitive, enabling and non-judgemental way with people from a wide range of backgrounds.