Interim HR Advisor - ER Focus
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Interim HR Advisor - ER focus
London Hybrid, Immediate start
6 month duration
An exciting immediate opportunity for an Interim HR Advisor with a strong Employee Relations (ER) focus to support a large, unionised transport organisation. This role is ideal for a hands-on HR professional with proven experience managing complex ER cases, working closely with trade unions, and operating effectively in a fast-paced, operational environment.The successful candidate will play a key role in maintaining positive industrial relations, ensuring compliance, and supporting operational leaders through a variety of ER matters during a critical period.
Your New RoleAs an Interim HR Advisor (ER), you will:
- Provide expert advice and guidance on a wide range of employee relations matters, including disciplinaries, grievances, absence management, and performance issues.
- Support line managers in handling complex and high-volume ER cases, ensuring fair and consistent outcomes.
- Provide advice and guidance to Managers on policy and procedures
- Write and update policies
- Maintain HR database and mange data and reporting
- Work closely with trade union representatives, attending meetings, consultations, and negotiations where required.
- Help maintain positive industrial relations, balancing organisational objectives with employee and union needs.
- Advise on and support formal processes, including investigations, hearings, and appeals.
- Ensure compliance with employment law, internal policies, and collective agreements.
- Contribute to workforce planning initiatives, restructures, and organisational changes where necessary.
- Support the HR team in embedding best practice across people policies and procedures.
- Maintain accurate case documentation and produce reporting insights where required.
- Coach and upskill line managers to improve confidence and capability in managing ER issues.
- Support with other ad hoc projects as they arise.
What You'll Need to Succeed
- Proven experience in an HR Advisor or ER-focused role, ideally within a unionised or heavily regulated environment (transport, logistics, public sector or similar).
- Strong working knowledge of employee relations processes and UK employment legislation.
- Experience dealing with trade unions and collective consultation processes.
- HRIS, data and reporting - workday would be an advantage
- Ability to manage a high volume of complex cases with professionalism and resilience.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Pragmatic, solutions-focused approach with strong attention to detail.
- Ability to work independently in an interim, fast-paced environment and hit the ground running.
What you need to do now
If you're interested in this role, click 'apply now' to forward an up-to-date copy of your CV, or call us now.
If this job isn't quite right for you, but you are looking for a new position, please contact us for a confidential discussion about your career.
Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and employment business for the supply of temporary workers. By applying for this job you accept the T&C's, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers which can be found at hays.co.uk
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Lead your Personal Statement with ER case management expertise and trade union experience, as the advert lists both as primary requirements in the 'What You'll Need to Succeed' section.
📊 Quantify your ER caseload: e.g. 'Managed 40+ concurrent ER cases including disciplinaries, grievances and absence reviews across a 2,000-employee unionised workforce'.
🎯 Explicitly name any unionised or regulated sectors you have worked in (transport, logistics, public sector) — the advert specifically calls these out as preferred environments.
🌐 Mention Workday by name in your skills section if you have used it, as the advert flags it as an advantage and ATS systems will scan for it.
🤝 Include a bullet demonstrating line manager coaching outcomes, such as reducing escalated ER cases by a measurable percentage, to reflect the 'coach and upskill' responsibility highlighted in the role description.
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Managed 45 concurrent ER cases — spanning disciplinaries, grievances and long-term absence — for a 3,500-employee unionised logistics business, achieving consistent outcomes with zero Employment Tribunal claims over 18 months.
- •Led collective consultation with 3 recognised trade unions during a 120-role restructure, producing revised policy documentation and securing agreement within a 90-day statutory window.
- •Coached 25 operational line managers in ER best practice using tailored workshops, reducing HR-escalated cases by 30% over two quarters and improving manager confidence scores from 58% to 81% in internal surveys.
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
We've drafted a cover letter for Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited
Dear Hiring Manager,
Hays' Interim HR Advisor opportunity within a large unionised transport organisation is precisely the environment where my ER expertise delivers most value. With hands-on experience managing complex disciplinary and grievance cases and working directly with trade union representatives through collective consultation processes, I am confident I can provide the immediate, high-quality ER support this organisation requires.
My background in employee relations within regulated, operational environments has equipped me to manage a high-volume caseload with consistency and rigour. I have advised line managers through formal investigations, hearings and appeals, maintained accurate case documentation in HRIS platforms including Workday, and contributed to policy updates that reflect current UK employment legislation. I am equally comfortable attending union meetings and coaching managers to build their own ER capability.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›Walk us through how you manage a high-volume ER caseload — what systems and processes do you use to track and prioritise cases?
- ›How do you ensure compliance with collective agreements when advising line managers on disciplinary matters?
- ›Describe your experience using Workday or a comparable HRIS for ER data management and reporting.
- ›How do you approach a complex redundancy or restructure consultation with trade union representatives?
- ›What steps do you take when updating an HR policy to ensure it reflects current UK employment legislation and is operationally workable?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you managed a particularly complex or sensitive ER case — what was the outcome and what did you learn?
- ›Describe a situation where you had to balance the needs of the organisation with those of a trade union during a difficult negotiation.
- ›Give an example of when you coached a line manager who lacked confidence in managing ER issues — how did you approach it and what changed?
- ›Tell me about a time you joined an organisation on an interim basis and had to get up to speed quickly — how did you prioritise?
- ›Describe a situation where you identified a gap in HR policy or procedure and took steps to address it — what was the impact?
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you managed a particularly complex or sensitive ER case — what was the outcome and what did you learn?
Describe a situation where you had to balance the needs of the organisation with those of a trade union during a difficult negotiation.