Human Resources Business Partners at British Council Nigeria

The British Council is the world’s leading cultural relations organization and creates opportunities for people in the UK and worldwide to understand each other, to work together and learn from one another. We see this as crucial to building secure, more prosperous and sustainable futures for us all. We build trust and understanding between different countries and cultures and develop strong international links that are of benefit to people in Britain and the rest of the world.

We are recruiting to fill the below position:

Job Title: Human Resources Business Partner

Location: Lagos
Directorate or Region: SSA
Department/Country: HR/Nigeria
Pay Band: 6
Reports to: Head of HR
Duration of job: Indefinite term

Purpose of Job

• To support the Head of HR in providing expert HR advice and support to managers in Nigeria on Learning and Development (L&D), Organisational Development, Performance Management, Compensation and Benefits, Terms and Conditions of Service (TACOS), Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and staffing
• To support development and monitoring of HR systems, policies and procedures across British Council offices in Nigeria
• To support implementation and monitoring of British Council Compensation and Benefits policies.

Context and environment: (e.g. dept description, region description, organogram):

• The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international non-profit organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities. For over 75 years, we have created international opportunities and trust between people of the UK and other countries worldwide through our work in the Arts, English, Education and Society.
• We call this Cultural Relations. We have offices in over 100 countries, and 250 cities.
• In Nigeria, we have 4 offices in 4 locations with over 150 members of staff. Nigeria is one of the largest economies in Africa.
• It is also the most populous country with over 170 million citizens. The UK is its largest trading partner.
• Nigeria holds significant political power in the region and internationally and its society retains a positive attitude to the UK.
• There are therefore major opportunities for the UK and BC to increase influence, income and, through this, our impact by building on our strong existing relationships with the Nigerian government, institutions and customers/audiences. However, there are complex and substantial risks to this work i.e. security and compliance.
• Nigeria is the British Council’s largest operation in sub-Saharan Africa with office in 4 cities - Port Harcourt in the south, Kano in the north, Abuja the Federal capital and Lagos the commercial centre. Our 150 staff works across a range of states delivering large scale contracts, partnership programmes examinations, projects as well as services in Arts, Education & Society and English & Exams. We are already achieving substantial impact and income (current turnover is £19.8 million) and have plans to grow and develop our impact further. Partners and clients include government, public and private institutions, foundations, private sector organisations and civil society. We work closely with the wider UK team including DFID and UKTI.
• The HR function is an integral part of Business Support Services team. The HR Business Partner (Lagos) will make contributions to the successful management of HR by managing day to day operations as well as providing vital support to all operational (SBU) team members.
• S/He will contribute to the on-going development of British Council Nigeria as a high-performing country operation, modelling the values and principles of a collaborative, integrated and mutually supportive team.
• This post is instrumental in ensuring that all HR procedures and policies are adhered to and that operational teams are knowledgeable about, and compliant with, the HR embedded within their business as usual processes.
• The British Council’s values - integrity, professionalism, creativity, valuing people and mutuality - are embedded in all our work.

Accountabilities, Responsibilities and Main Duties
(including people management and finance):
Recruitment, Selection and Induction.:

• To lead on the recruitment requisitions, ensuring that managers carry out recruitment and selection according to corporate and equal opportunity standards ensuring adherence to local employment laws. Ensuring utilization of the HRIS; e-recruitment in the selection of new staff.
• To oversee the induction for all new staff and actively quality checking elements of the induction programme to ensure consistency in the process across all offices. Collecting feedback on induction programmes and acting on feedback provided to improve the process.
• To contribute to HR team objectives by attending and contributing to staff meetings. To substitute for Head of HR where appropriate.
• To manage employee data with available HRIS (e-HR) system such as hires, promotions, transfers, performance reviews, terminations, and employee statistics for reporting. To prepare regular or special reports necessary for business decisions. This will also include maintaining staff files and records
• To support Head of HR on the delivery of corporate HR strategies and plans. To ensure HR plans, issues and failings and risk are actively managed and reported to Head of HR for reporting at FCCF and ERMF meetings.
• To oversee adherence to Information Knowledge Management standards of the team.

Learning/Organisational Development (OD):

• To promote a culture of learning, knowledge sharing and teamwork by aiding collaboration and creating models for change management.
• To assist in arranging regular training on recruitment & selection, performance management etc.
• To support Line Managers in conducting learning needs analysis in-country, understanding changing business needs and defining how learning and development initiatives can support those needs.
• To maintain the annual learning plan in liaison with Head of HR and Line Managers which meets business needs. Ensuring implementation as well and keeping adequate training records.
• To ensure all learning and development activities are underpinned by British Council’s values and promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within the organisation.
• To support in the design and delivery of OD and change management strategies, processes and interventions. This should include initiatives which foster a high performance culture where valuing learning, continuous improvement and diversity are the norm.
• Providing coaching and guidance where necessary
• To take responsibility of own personal development by undertaking relevant developmental programmes; self-learning, job shadow, on the job training. Etc.

Performance Management:

• To assist Line Managers in ensuring that their team performance management system operates to corporate standards and guidelines.
• Assisting Head of HR in coordinating annual moderations of performance reviews.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI):

• Assisting Head of HR to ensure BC Nigeria’s strategy identifies and responds to EDI
• To manage face to face training on specific EDI topics
• Support head of HR in collating evidence for DAF submissions.

Financial Management:

• To prepare operational budgets. Ensuring value for money in the procurement of services on behalf of the team.
• In liaison with the Finance team, develop effective strategies for financial wellbeing of the team.

Compensation & Benefits Management:

• To Support Head of HR and Regional lead in conducting a robust data research and analysis to support marker exercises and annual pay review exercises. Analysing and monitoring country benefit plans to ensure compliance to local market conditions and regulations. Supporting in- country and regional activities as regards compensation & benefits.
• To monitor market trend that ensures tax efficiency in country; advising on tax and social security (pension) compliance.
• To advise and recommend changes and/or enhancements to benefits plans as needed.
• To support job evaluations and advise recruiting managers on salaries and packages for candidates.
• To monitor pay and benefits to ensure full compliance to corporate pay polices e.g. pay reviews, promotions etc.
• To support country staff with pay policy interpretations and responding to queries on pay and benefits
• To assist in managing communications for effective dissemination of information to employees on wages, benefits and other related HR policies and practices.
• To support the finance team in payroll related matters.
• Manage all aspects of benefits associated with managing risk connected with the working staff including Health Insurance, Life Assurance and Employee compensation.
• To ensure that all staff is covered under the health and life insurance scheme. Manage day to day relationship with vendor teams; health maintenance organizations, insurance brokers etc. - providing feedback to vendor on performance and communicating issues back to Head of HR as needed.

Employee Relations & Engagement:

• To receive and respond to inbound employee relations enquiries.
• To maintain an up to date record of employee relations issues
• To provide guidance, consultation and assistance to Line Managers and Staff on matters relating to employee relations activities.
• To respond to request for information on HR policy interpretation from internal and external clients.
• To encourage at least 90% of staff to complete the staff survey.
• To build relationships and collaborate with leads across the business to identify specific employee engagement requirements of differing business areas. Working with the Employee Engagement working group, recommending appropriate, cost effective ways to meet and exceed these requirements.
• S/he will also analyse and review all employee engagement activities to measure success and inform future planning.

Key relationships: (include internal and external)

• BC Employees, Staff Association, Senior Leader team Nigeria, SSA regional HR team, Local Labour Lawyers, Health Maintenance Organization, Insurance Brokers.

Other important features or requirements of the job (e.g. travel, unsocial/evening hours, restrictions on employment etc)

• The post holder is expected to visit all four centres of BC Nigeria regularly and may be expected to attend events in the evenings as required.
• Please specify any passport/visa and/or nationality requirementRight to work in Nigeria.
• Please indicate if any security or legal checks are required for this role.

Person Specification
Essential - Desirable:

• Assessment stage

Behaviours

• Making it happen (more demanding) Do I regularly review results and look for ways of raising levels of achievement for myself and others?
• Connecting with others (more demanding) Do I integrate people of different backgrounds into teams to achieve business objective
• Working together (more demanding) Do I work with clients to come up with solutions and gain support
• Being accountable (demanding) Do I meet my commitments and take personal responsibility for the results?
• Required but not used for recruitment
• Shaping the future (essential)
• Creating a shared purpose (essential).

Skills and Knowledge
Managing People (Level 1):

• Provides support to less experienced members of the team and is aware of individual differences. Helps colleagues perform tasks and use systems and processes.

Managing Projects (Level 2):

• Examines project data and performance, reporting on progress and recommending corrective action as needed.

Communication & Influencing (level 3):

• Able to use a range of non-standard and creative approaches to inform, and persuade others, extending beyond logical argument to influence decisions and actions in a way which is inclusive and engaging.

Analysing data (level 2):

• Reviews available data and identifies cause and effect, and then chooses the best solution from a range of known alternatives.

Human Resources Management (Level 3):

• Understanding of relevant areas of HR (employment law ,employment contracts, redundancy, payroll, Reward, Recruitment, Learning & Development, Performance management)
• Experience: 2 years’ experience in HRM in multinational organisation.
• Proven track record in HR Management, able to demonstrate understanding of best practice in HR processes and systems Managing change
• Knowledge of Nigerian Labour law.

Qualification

• Degree level education.

Application Closing Date
1st November, 2015.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Click here to download job details MS Word

Click here to download BC Core Skills (pdf)

Click here to download BC Behaviours (pdf)