Principal Advisor – Employment Relations

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

Purpose and outcome

You are part of the ER team, responsible for the provision of high-level strategic and tactical expert advice, coaching and training in the areas of employment relations, industrial relations, change management, performance, wellbeing and HR policy.

Context and responsibilities

You will act as a legal subject matter expert within the People & Culture branch working across all areas of the business to resolve complex escalated queries and cases.

You will also work closely across the branch with the Business Partnering team and with Wellbeing Health and Safety advisors providing specialist ER advice and developing and executing strategies, processes, policies and programmes. This enables effective, informed and consistent decision-making, agreement on priorities and the design of policies, processes and programmes that support the development, execution and consistent delivery of business strategy.

You will support regular analysis of case work, identifying patterns and themes and share these insights to support business leaders to address causative factors, gradually reducing employment relationship problems volume and frequency over time.

Working across the Employment Practices function you will work closely with the Industrial Relations Manager and the Remuneration and Reward team to deliver strategies and bargaining processes that support the MBIE People Strategy.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Skills you must do well

• Engage and influence credibly on critical matters at the most senior levels, in person and in writing.
• Connect regularly with diverse and senior level networks enabling you to progress complex issues and resolve differing perspectives.
• Coach and mentor others, imparting knowledge in a way that supports and grows our colleagues and ensures a positive work environment.
• Understand why Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori Crown relations are important for the way we do our work. Be open to new ways of thinking and doing, and willing to build own and others’ capability across Māori Crown relations to strengthen our ability to be effective.
• Plan, lead and deliver significant and complex pieces of work to a successful conclusion, maintaining composure and perspective when the going gets tough.
• Provide conceptual thinking and insights that progresses strategic goals, improve how we work in a ‘system’ and provide an enhanced offering for our customers.
• Know how to analyse the root cause of problems and pro-actively bring workable solutions to lead discussion and resolution.
• Bring an experiential approach to work, learn quickly from successes and mistakes and lead a system approach to sharing learning.
• Navigate complexity and ambiguity of public sector environments. Understand government decision-making and operating procedures.

Experience and qualifications

The following experience and qualifications are specifically required for this position:

• Proven track record of achievement and recent experience in Employment Relations in large Public sector Agencies or in other large and diverse employee relations environments
• Extensive background and experience in employment law including involvement in mediations and/or Employment Relations Authority cases
• Experience in conducting employment investigations and conducting disciplinary processes
• Experience in bargaining and implementing bargaining outcomes
• Experience in leading collective bargaining including the implementation of outcomes
• Sound project management skills: Attention to details and deadlines; proven ability to effectively scope, deliver and implement project work
• Proven ability to manage self and a demanding workload in a fast-moving and ambiguous environment
• Ability to be flexible and to quickly adapt to the needs of a business’s changing demands
• Proven ability to engage and influence staff, providing appropriate challenge when necessary
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships, maintaining trust and credibility with managers and staff
• Experience in training/coaching/mentoring at all levels
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, to suit a range of stakeholders
• Tertiary legal qualification preferred or comparable relevant experience.

Relationships (Internal)

Senior leadership teams

You build trust and credibility through understanding business needs and presenting informed proposals that are people-centered, demonstrate strategic alignment, return on investment and connection across MBIE and/or the wider system.

People leaders

You understand the importance of working with and through all people leaders in MBIE to effect behavioural change and reinforce our leader-led approach, ensuring people are at the heart of everything we do. You use engagement techniques to influence and support people leaders to work effectively in this space.

Employee representative groups and networks

You regularly connect with those responsible for listening to and/or maintaining relationships with diverse employee groups and networks to ensure the employee voice is reflected in your work and people feel valued and heard.

Relationships (External)

Te Kawa Mataaho | Public Service Commission

You maintain a good working relationship with the Public Service Commission and can demonstrate how strategies and work in your remit aligns with system priorities. You take opportunities to comment on, lead or pilot public service initiatives that align with your work programme. This helps optimise MBIE's profile and provides an opportunity through feedback to shape cross public service people initiatives.

Peers in other public service and sector agencies

You network with your peers across the public service to share ideas and tap into resources available from other departments. Maintaining those relationships enables you to share and leverage useful resources with ease.

Contractors, consultants, or vendors

You carefully vet, engage and direct external expertise to ensure it is available at the right time to augment our inhouse capability when needed. You keep relationships strong to support regular and core multi-year programmes of work for consistency in approach.

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

• Provides deep subject matter expertise to support managers and the Business Partnering team to address employment relations, wellbeing and change management issues for their teams or business groups respectively
• Leads on escalated ER processes (formal and/or complex and/or high-risk and/or sensitive) requiring deep subject-matter expertise in a team approach with Business Partnering, the Principal Advisor Wellbeing and the WHS team (where relevant)
• Ensures that employee relations advice, policies and practices comply with MBIE’s legal and contractual obligations and our People and Culture strategy.
• Supports the brokering of and instructs employment lawyers (including crown law) on legal advice and services as required
• Provides a high-level and advanced advocacy service in relation to Mediation and Authority hearings as required.
• Ensures wellbeing advice is accessible to People and Culture staff and all managers across MBIE and that MBIE complies with relevant legislation.
• Develops ER and performance capability across People and Culture by providing coaching, mentoring and guidance as required to People and Culture Advisors and other Centres of Expertise.
• Supports the Employment Relations Manager by advising on and contributing to the development of both the Employment Relations and People strategies.
• Supports Industrial Relations Manager by advising on and contributing to the collective employment agreement bargaining strategy and participating in collective bargaining as required
• Designs, develops and implements a training program on functional areas to wider People and Culture team.
• Oversees the continuous monitoring of MBIE's employment relations database and other electronic recording tools and systems.
• Oversees the creation and/or review of all People and Culture policies to ensure consistency of process, identifying improvements and updates as required.
• Contributes to the preparation of HR-related OIA, Select Committee, and Privacy Act requests as required
• Creates Performance and Development frameworks, templates, tools and manager guidelines.
• Maintains and updates competency frameworks, templates, tools and manager guidelines.

Wellbeing, health and safety

• Displays commitment through actively supporting all safety and wellbeing initiatives.
• Ensures own and others safety at all times.
• Complies with relevant safety and wellbeing policies, procedures, safe systems of work and event reporting.
• Reports all incidents/accidents, including near misses in a timely fashion.
• Is involved in health and safety through participation and consultation.

Tō tūranga i roto i te Manatū – Your place in the Ministry

The Principal Advisor Employment Relations position reports into Manager Employment Relations within the People and Culture branch. The branch sits within the Corporate and Digital Shared Services group.

More information about MBIE’s structure

To mātou aronga – What we do for Aotearoa New Zealand

Hīkina Whakatutuki is the te reo Māori name for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Hīkina means to uplift. Whakatutuki means to move forward, to make successful. Our name speaks to our purpose, Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All.

To Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All, we put people at the heart of our mahi. Based on the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi, we are committed to upholding authentic partnerships with Māori.

As agile public service leaders, we use our breadth and experience to navigate the ever-changing world. We are service providers, policy makers, investors and regulators. We engage with diverse communities, businesses and regions. Our work touches on the daily lives of New Zealanders. We grow opportunities (Puāwai), guard and protect (Kaihāpai) and innovate and navigate towards a better future (Auaha).

Ngā matatau – Our competencies

Cultivates innovation We create new and better ways for the organisation to be successful by challenging the status quo generating new and creative ideas and translating them into workable solutions.

Nimble learning We are curious and actively learn through experimentation when tackling new problems by learning as we go when facing new situations and challenges.

Customer focus We build strong customer relationships and deliver customer-centric solutions by listening and gaining insights into the needs of the communities we serve and actively seeking and responding to feedback.

Decision quality We make quality and timely decisions that shape the future for our communities and keep the organisation moving forward by relying on an appropriate mix of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgement to make valid and reliable decisions.

Action oriented We step up, taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with purpose, urgency and discipline by taking responsibility, ownership and action on challenges, and being accountable for the results.

Collaborates We connect, working together to build partnerships with our communities, working collaboratively to meet shared objectives by gaining trust and support of others; actively seeking the views, experiences, and opinions of others and by working co-operatively with others across MBIE, the public sector and external stakeholder groups.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

As an agency of the public service, MBIE has a responsibility to contribute to the Crown meeting its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Te Tiriti). Meeting our commitment to Te Tiriti will contribute towards us realising the overall aims of Te Ara Amiorangi – Our Path, Our Direction, and achieve the outcome of Growing New Zealand for All. The principles of Te Tiriti - including partnership, good faith, and active protection – are at the core of our work. MBIE is committed to delivering on our obligations as a Treaty partner with authenticity and integrity and to enable Māori interests. We are committed to ensuring that MBIE is well placed to meet our obligations under the Public Service Act 2020 (Te Ao Tūmatanui) to support the Crown in strengthening the Māori/Crown Relationship under the Treaty and to build MBIE’s capability, capacity and cultural intelligence to deliver this.

Mahi i roto i te Ratonga Tūmatanui – Working in the public service

Ka mahitahi mātou o te ratonga tūmatanui kia hei painga mō ngā tāngata o Aotearoa i āianei, ā, hei ngā rā ki tua hoki. He kawenga tino whaitake tā mātou hei tautoko i te Karauna i runga i āna hononga ki a ngāi Māori i raro i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ka tautoko mātou i te kāwanatanga manapori. Ka whakakotahingia mātou e te wairua whakarato ki ō mātou hapori, ā, e arahina ana mātou e ngā mātāpono me ngā tikanga matua o te ratonga tūmatanui i roto i ā mātou mahi.

In the public service we work collectively to make a meaningful difference for New Zealanders now and in the future. We have an important role in supporting the Crown in its relationships with Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi. We support democratic government. We are unified by a spirit of service to our communities and guided by the core principles and values of the public service in our work.

What does it mean to work in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Public Service?(external link) — Te Kawa Mataaho The Public Service Commission