Aquent is partnering with a prominent leader in the entertainment and interactive media industry, renowned for creating engaging experiences that captivate audiences worldwide. This organization is committed to fostering a supportive and dynamic environment for its diverse workforce, driving innovation and creativity at every turn.

We are seeking a passionate and empathetic individual to join our client’s People & Culture team. In this pivotal role, you will directly influence the employee experience and shape a thriving workplace culture across our studios. You will be instrumental in fostering a positive environment, providing essential guidance to managers, and championing employee well-being, making a tangible difference in the daily lives of approximately 400 dedicated professionals. This is an exciting opportunity to become a trusted advisor, empowering employees and managers to thrive in a fast-paced, creative environment.

What You Will Do

• Serve as a dedicated business partner, developing a deep understanding of assigned teams to provide commercially-focused guidance on employee relations matters, including conduct, capability, grievances, flexible working, and leaves of absence.
• Build strong, collaborative relationships, particularly with lead and people manager tiers within your assigned population of approximately 100 employees.
• Support managers in conducting investigations for grievances and disciplinary actions, capability hearings, and Performance Improvement Plans, providing coaching and upskilling as needed.
• Manage the processes for flexible working requests and coordinate various leave entitlements (maternity, paternity, parental, and emergency leave), ensuring timely responses, compliance with company policy and statutory requirements, accurate record-keeping, and timely payroll communication.
• Stay abreast of legislative and industry trends to ensure HR procedures and policies are current, effectively created, updated, and communicated to all employees, partnering with internal legal counsel to maintain up-to-date employment contract templates.
• Manage Long-Term Sickness and Occupational Health cases, liaising with Health & Safety, specialist teams, and external partners as required. You will also identify trends in well-being issues and proactively suggest and organize well-being solutions.
• Advise line managers on effectively addressing persistent short-term and long-term absence cases.
• Analyze absence reports, communicate high absence levels/trends to appropriate line managers, manage follow-up actions, and support managers in improving team attendance rates.
• Contribute to a wide range of health and well-being initiatives and benefits, collaborating directly with wellness and benefits colleagues from Centers of Excellence as needed.
• Develop and maintain close working relationships across the organization, including business leaders, internal employment lawyers, and HR colleagues.
• Continuously review and recommend improvements for HR services and processes.
• Collaborate with managers to identify and address training needs on an as-required basis.
• Participate in and take ownership of various HR projects as needed.
  
  

What You Will Bring

• Demonstrable experience as an HR generalist, providing commercially-focused guidance on a diverse range of employee relations matters, including supporting disciplinary and capability hearings.
• Proven experience and confidence in handling employee relations matters and providing effective line manager support.
• Track record of devising and delivering coaching at the first-line manager/team lead level.
• Ability to thrive in a high-volume, fast-paced, and demanding environment.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel (e.g., vLookups).
• Strong ability to develop and maintain robust working relationships with key business stakeholders.
• Sound judgment in knowing when to escalate issues to colleagues.
• Excellent influencing and negotiation skills.
• Confident presenter with excellent presentation and training skills.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills, with the ability to analyze data and convert it into concise reports.
• Ability to take initiative, work with limited supervision, and contribute effectively to the wider HR team.
• Professional, diplomatic, and confident with strong social skills to interact with all levels of staff across diverse organizational cultures.
• Must be discreet, diplomatic, and treat all information within the department and business as strictly confidential, with a strong working knowledge of GDPR and confidentiality requirements for sensitive data.
  
  

Nice-to-Haves

• Part or full CIPD postgraduate qualification.
  
  

Client Description

A global leader in media and entertainment, known for its diverse portfolio of world-class brands across film, television, and digital platforms. It operates in over 200 countries, making it one of the largest media companies worldwide.

Aquent is dedicated to improving inclusivity & is proudly an equal opportunities employer. We encourage applications from under-represented groups & are committed to providing support to applicants with disabilities. We aim to provide reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, to those with a medical condition, disability or neurodivergence.