Employee Relations Advisor

Who are we ?

We are FBC, Fox's Burton's Companies! ……-And we bake the UK's most incredible biscuits (we might be slightly biased, but we will leave that for you to judge).

FBC was a match made in heaven, with two of the top UK biscuits manufacturers (Burton's Biscuits and Fox's Biscuits) coming together to create one unique, integrated company.

We are home to famous iconic brands, including Maryland, Fox's, Jammie Dodger & Rocky, to name just a few. We bake our incredible biscuits at eight bakeries across the UK, located at Ilse of Arran, Livingston, Blackpool, Llantarnam, Edinburgh, Kirkham, Batley & Dorset. We also have offices for our supporting services in St Albans, Liverpool and Moreton. Together, we employ circa 5,000 amazing employees across all our locations.

We are currently the second biscuit manufacturer in the UK market with a strong ambition of becoming the number two biscuit manufacturer worldwide.

We are proud to be part of the Ferrero enlarged family: such a fantastic and successful business. The Ferrero Group operates in more than 50 countries, with products sold in over 170 countries, represented by almost 38.000 employees worldwide, and a consolidated turnover of €12.7 billion (2020-21).

Along with our fantastic brand portfolio, we also have long-term agreements to manufacture several sweet & savoury snacks across Mars, Cathedral City, Marmite, Jacobs, and LU branded products. In addition, we are proud to be a strategic partner for many retailer-branded products.

Our employees make our business special. With strong family values, we believe FBC is a more prosperous and fun place to work with when people feel free to be themselves. We believe in the power of being authentic, entrepreneurial and supporting each whilst meeting our business goals.

And don't forget… work hard but play harder!

What does your typical day look like?

• To support all of our employees nationally and support managers to minimise exposure to employment tribunals.
• Provide support via Microsoft Teams and on site where appropriate.
• Provide consistent and clear advice on the full range of employment policies to manager, employees and external parties.
• In conjunction with the line manager and with support of your manager, ensure the management of complex employee relations cases through to resolution in line SLA’s.
• Provide a mediation service to resolve conflict.

Other key actions will be but not limited to:

• Provide responsive and high-quality support, coaching and advice
• Effectively manage all assigned employee relations cases in a timely/professional manner

• Manage formal hearings up to and including dismissals, appeals and supporting Head Of ER/Legal with Employment Tribunal preparation.
• Effectively escalate to Head of ER where appropriate and provide an overview of all cases within their relevant business area.
• Ensure the HR System reflects the nature of the inquiry or case to ensure high level of customer service satisfaction.

• Coach and influence managers on the application of employee relations, policies, and procedures
• Monitor and review existing performance and continually seek improvement.
• Proactively seek input from customers to ensure delivery meets business needs and propose changes to level of service provided.

What are the key ingredients needed for the role?

• Good interpersonal skills and able to challenge, support, influence and engage peers and senior management.
• Self-motivated and well-organised.
• Responds to challenging priorities with a sense of urgency and pace.
• Ability to display initiative to resolve problems.
• Ability to analyse and interpret complex written information.
• Knowledge of employee relations policies.
• Knowledge of employment law and ACAS.
• An understanding of how employee relations needs to be managed in a unionised environment.
• Broad HR experience.

Location: St. Albans and surrounding area

If you are ready to begin a career with real bite, we would love to hear from you so apply now by clicking the link below.