Senior Advisor Employment Relations

Tēnei tūranga – About the role

Purpose and outcome

You provide support to P&C and the business within the Employment Relations (ER) domain and deliver high quality ER advice, insights, projects, policy and guidance to create people-centred, sustainable, and constructive ER outcomes aligned to MBIE’s People Strategy.

Context and responsibilities

You are a senior member of the ER team tasked with helping the team to embed our leader-led and people-centred approach. We do this by providing training and guidance to advisors and people leaders, to ensure people leaders identify and resolve emerging employment issues before they escalate to formal processes, and by providing increased support to our advisory team to manage employment case work with people leaders directly. This approach ensures cases are appropriately managed by the right role at the right time and people leaders experience greater ‘hands-on’ support from ER when managing sensitive or high-risk employment cases. You also play a key role in developing the capability of ER advisors. This is to ensure the MBIE people-centred and leader-led approach to resolving ER issues is instilled consistently across all types of ER matters.

You work closely with advisory to ascertain when you need to be more hands-on to successfully resolve complex ER issues personally. When cases come to you, you know how to strike the right balance between providing strategic and pragmatic advice, coaching managers to develop their confidence and capability to address and manage ER issues and change, and leading a case rigorously to ensure a successful resolution.

You confidently represent MBIE at mediations, undertake investigations into complex employee HR-related complaints and liaise with union representatives to resolve escalated concerns when required. Working closely with the Industrial Relations Manager you participate as a subject matter expert in MBIE/PSA working groups, projects and/or providing subject matter expertise in MBIE’s collective bargaining. 

A key part of your role will be and leading or providing ER expertise in projects, working collaboratively with other teams across P&C as well as engaging directly with business groups and key stakeholders. Along with the rest of the ER team you report on ER issues, keep our CRM up to date and complete ad-hoc time-bound activities such as OIA and privacy requests. You contribute to developing a suite of policies, guides and training initiatives that are clear, consistent, easy to follow and people-centred so that everyone in MBIE understands how employment cases will be managed.

You perform this role in the context of a large organisation where there are diverse businesses, leadership teams and stakeholders to understand and navigate to get things done.

Ngā herenga – Requirements of the role

Skills you must do well

• Communicate and engage credibly and confidently in person and in writing.
• Pro-actively build and maintain diverse networks of relationships internally and across sectors, understanding what drives others.
• Analyse information, contextualise and position work accordingly.
• Coach and support colleagues, imparting knowledge in a way that 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 individual capability across Māori Crown relations to strengthen our ability to be effective.
• Develop detailed plans, leading and implementing pieces of work to a successful conclusion.
• Use your judgement to prioritise work and manage time effectively.
• Be a self-starter who can operate independently as well as collaboratively.
• Know how to analyse the root cause of problems and pro-actively bring workable solutions for discussion and resolution.
• Taking a people-centred approach, bring fresh ideas for how work could be improved from a ‘system’ perspective for your team, branch and for our customers.
• Learn quickly from successes and mistakes and apply learning sustainably for self and others.

Personal specifications

• Strong background and experience with ER cases (including settlements and mediation) in Public Sector agencies or in large and diverse employee relations environments.
• Experience in supporting the delivery of an employment relations strategy and in implementation of collective bargaining outcomes.
• Experience in training/coaching at a variety of levels (e.g. colleagues, P&C advisors, people leaders) in a people centred way.
• Tertiary qualification in Law or Human Resources or extensive and comparable experience.
• Required to drive (yes/no).
• Police vetting (yes/no).

Takohanga tuhinga o mua – Key accountabilities and deliverables

Resolve complex escalated queries and provide specialist advice on employment relations and change management.

• Lead the P&C Advisory team on ER issues as a subject matter expert and be accountable for the resolution of escalated issues to the satisfaction of the manager/P&C team member who raised the issue. Provide strategic advice and leadership on the management of employment relations cases.
• Manage and successfully resolve complex ER issues personally.
• Accountable for using your deep understanding and knowledge of ER issues to coach managers and develop their confidence and capability to address and manage ER issues and change themselves.
• Undertake investigations into complex employee HR-related complaints.
• Represent MBIE at mediations.

Manage the day-to-day operations of MBIE’s union relationships including liaising with union representatives to resolve escalated concerns

• Use knowledge and understanding of union/employer relationships to develop a partnership between MBIE and its unions for business as usual matters.
• Support with the regular operational catch up meetings with the unions.
• Participate and a subject matter expert in MBIE/PSA working groups or projects and lead these as required.
• Provide subject matter expertise in to MBIE’s collective bargaining strategy and undertake collective bargaining.

Manage day to day employment relations issues

• Provide subject matter expertise on the review of MBIE’s current HR policies and the drafting of new ones. Develop training material to support any new or updated policies.
• Proactively monitor legislative developments and policy updates and keep ER material on the PeopleHub website current and fit for purpose.
• Provide regular training to the broader P&C team on employment relations issues.
• Assist with reporting on ER issues, including monthly dashboards. Other ad-hoc reporting requirements are to be completed within set timeframes including OIA and privacy requests.

ER project work

• Provide specialist ER technical advice to Business Partnering and business-wide projects.
• Lead and implement dedicated ER projects, including project planning, impact analysis, developing communication plans and post implementation reviews.
• Ensure all projects or work programmes requiring an ER SME receive appropriate levels of support to ensure

Assist other team members within ER and Reward, the wider P&C team and managers

• Provide advice, guidance, and additional resource to successfully complete projects, programmes or ad hoc pieces of work.
• Ensure ER and Employment Practices team members and colleagues in the wider P&C team are provided with necessary and appropriate support as required to support fluctuating workloads.

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 Senior Advisor Employment Relations position reports into the Manager Employment Relations within the People and Culture branch. The branch sits within the Corporate Services, Finance & Enablement group.

More information about MBIE’s structure(external link)

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