Penningtons Manches Hiring for HR Administrator at Guildford Full Time

Term:
Permanent

Working hours:
Full-time

Department:
Human Resources

Location:
Guildford

Company background

Penningtons Manches Cooper is a leading UK and international law firm which provides high quality legal advice tailored to both businesses and individuals. We address the specific objectives of each client through our flair and technical expertise and offer a personal service founded on a strong team ethic.
Today, we have UK offices in the City of London, Basingstoke, Birmingham, Cambridge, Guildford, Oxford and Reading while our growing overseas network stretches from Asia to South America through our presence in Singapore, Piraeus, Paris, and Madrid. We have 140+ partners and over 850 people in total.
We have established a strong reputation in a variety of sectors, particularly technology, private wealth, shipping and real estate. Our lawyers are also recognised for their expertise in life sciences, education, retail, sports and entertainment and international trade.
Among our clients we count multi-national corporations, public companies, professional partnerships, banks and financial institutions as well as private individuals, owner managed businesses and start-ups. We are conscious that our culture and close working relationships are vital assets and we are determined to maintain these as we increase in size.
Our broad international focus is supported by well-established links with law firms throughout the world. Penningtons Manches Cooper is a member of Multilaw and the European Law Group, networks with representatives in over 100 countries, and many of our lawyers play leading roles in various international bodies.
We believe that our values (we care, stronger as one, curious and grounded, constructively challenging and proactively evolving) are core to our success.

Summary of role

This is a generalist HR Administrator role, supporting the firmwide Human Resources team and can be based in any of our UK offices, although Guildford or Basingstoke would be preferred.
Working alongside another HR Administrator and HR Data & Systems Assistant, you will be responsible for the provision of a proactive and professional HR administration service covering the full employee lifecycle. You will provide full administration support across all teams to ensure effective management and delivery of day-to-day HR administration. You will also support the firmwide HR team with the delivery of annual and ad-hoc projects.
The role has an element of client facing activity and you will build relationships within the business to ensure that a high standard of support is provided. You will act as an Employee Champion, driving efficiency and engagement while reflecting the firm’s culture and values.
The role will operate on a firmwide team basis, and occasional travel between offices may be required.
Responsibilities
The responsibilities listed below are intended to be a broad but not exhaustive list.
HR Business Support

• Provide administration support to the HR Business Support Team, consisting of the Head of HR Business Support, HR Business Partners and HR Advisors.
• Ensure end-to-end new starter and leaver processes are completed, ensuring all documentation is produced, returned, filed and HR systems are updated in an accurate and timely manner.
• Oversee the timely administration of onboarding employees, including offer paperwork, first day arrangements, inductions, training modules, and communications with Team Partners as necessary.
• Complete administration in relation to all HR processes, including maternity, paternity, probation reviews, sickness absence, arranging of and data entry for exit interviews.
• Produce all employee paperwork in relation to contractual changes, ensuring the relevant HR Systems are updated.
• Undertake the administration in relation to all cyclical HR processes, including promotions, trainee seat changes, quarterly reviews and new solicitor qualifications.
• Provide administration to support Learning & Development activities.

Reward and Benefits

• Provide administration support to the Senior Reward & Benefits Manager.
• Support with managing data on the various Benefit systems on a monthly basis.
• Manage the new joiner and leaver benefit administration, including benefit enrolment, pension enrolment and ensuring data is recorded correctly for payroll.
• Support with ensuring 3rd party providers receive accurate data at all times.
• Support Senior Reward & Benefits Manager with arranging meetings for new benefit and wellbeing providers, scheduling meetings for annual salary reviews and managing meeting schedules.
• Administration support for the firm’s PennWell (wellbeing) and rewards initiatives.
• Monitor attendance at wellbeing events and popularity through the use of polls and surveys.
• Prepare monthly communication for benefits.
• Support the wider HR Team with queries relating to benefits, including leaver and maternity benefit repayment queries.
• Schedule and manage meetings on behalf of employees with the Financial Advisor, on an annual basis.

Recruitment

• Provide administration support to the Resourcing Team, consisting of the Senior Resourcing Manager, Resourcing Managers and Resourcing Advisors.
• Uploading new roles to the applicant tracking system, scheduling interviews, liaising with candidates, interviewers and on occasion administering assessments.
• Arranging offer letters, induction and joiner processes, including newly qualified promotions and trainees.
• Support the bi-annual assessment centre process, arranging meeting rooms, monitoring attendees and arranging paperwork, as well as through attendance at these days.
• Support the Vacation Scheme process through collation of induction packs, office arrangements and IT equipment.
• Coordination of the administration of work experience placements, annual vacation scheme placements, apprenticeships and training contracts.
• Assist with assessment days and associate administration.

General

• Respond to queries in the central HR mailbox and act as first point of contact for HR operational and benefit queries.
• Support the submission of monthly payroll data through ensuring timely and accurate data input into the HR Systems.
• Support with the team’s regular and ad-hoc reporting requirements.
• Accurate reporting of data to support the completion of ad-hoc surveys, including salary surveys, provisions of data to ONS, employee survey, diversity and inclusion reporting and tender processes.
• Proactive involvement with HR Projects, particularly PennClusion (Diversity & Inclusion Strategy) and other projects as they arise.
• Ensure all queries are answered within the appropriate SLA; received via multiple avenues e.g. email, telephone.
• Provide efficient administrative support throughout annual HR processes, including salary/bonus review, holiday year-end, benefit renewals, promotion, coordination of PM Check-ins and apprentice/trainee seat rotation.
• Maintain and update all HR Systems across the full HR Team as appropriate, ensuring data is accurate and up-to-date at all times.
• Support with reconciliation and processing of the team’s invoices.
• Act as note-taker to support HR Team as necessary, whilst gaining developmental experience, i.e. formal meetings, employee focus groups.

The firm operates a hybrid agile working policy allowing employees to work from home (or another UK location) for at least 50% of their time. Individuals can also apply for other flexible working options either at the time of recruitment or during the course of their employment.

Essential and desirable criteria

• Previous experience within a fast-paced Professional Services firm would be desirable.
• A clear ability to manage and prioritise a complex and changing workload.
• Ability to deliver under pressure within tight deadlines, whilst maintaining high attention to detail at all times.
• Excellent understanding of end-to-end HR Administration and best practice.
• Professional approach with excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, that will ensure success and command instant credibility at all levels within the firm.
• A strong team orientation with a ‘can-do’ attitude.
• Strong IT skills with experience of HR databases, Outlook, Excel and Word. An ability to analyse and manipulate data desirable.
• Ability to act on own initiative, to work and investigate queries independently with minimum guidance.
• Complete confidentiality at all times.

Equal opportunities statement

We actively want to attract a vibrant and varied workforce and welcome applications from everyone, from all backgrounds. We ensure that there are equal opportunities in all stages of the recruitment process and employment. All job applicants and employees receive equal treatment regardless of age, sex, gender, marital status, religion or belief, race, ethnic or national origins, sexual orientation or disability, and we are happy to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled or neurodiverse candidates (including where a mental health issue is classified as a disability) to demonstrate their suitability for the position.

Job Types: Full-time, Permanent