Senior HR Advisor

Position: Senior HR Advisor

Location: Slough. Please note this role is in office only. You may be required to travel to depots on the network based in Ilford, Kidlington, Swindon, Abbey Wood, Ware, Chertsey, and Colnbrook

Job Type: Permanent, full-time

Hours: Monday to Friday, 37.5 hours per week (8:30am - 5pm)

Salary: -40,000 to -45,000 per annum, depending upon experience

About the Role:

Due to continued growth and development, we are now looking for a people-focused individual, to deliver real and effective solutions to people-oriented problems. Your responsibilities will cover the following:

Strategic HR Leadership

• • Partner with operational managers and senior leaders to design and execute people strategies aligned with the contract''s service delivery goals.
  • Understand the contractual, commercial, and regulatory context to ensure HR interventions drive operational success.
  • Serve as a trusted advisor to contract leadership, contributing to strategic planning, workforce optimisation, and risk mitigation.
• Employee Relations & Policy Compliance
  • Lead complex and high-risk employee relations cases, including investigations, disciplinary actions, grievances, capability, and absence management.
  • Ensure consistent and legally compliant application of HR policies across all contract locations.
  • Act as the first point of contact for operational teams on HR policy interpretation, offering pragmatic and commercially sensitive advice.
• Workforce Planning & Talent Management
  • Collaborate with managers on workforce planning, forecasting, and succession planning to ensure critical roles are covered.
  • Partner with recruitment teams to attract and retain skilled talent, supporting hard-to-fill roles and local employment priorities.
  • Promote internal progression and coordinate development pathways for operational and supervisory staff.
• Performance Management & Capability Building
  • Drive the performance review and appraisal processes across the contract, ensuring alignment with KPIs and service targets.
  • Identify training needs and partner with L&D teams to build capability in leadership, compliance, and technical excellence.
  • Coach managers on team development, difficult conversations, and day-to-day people management.
• Change & Transformation
  • Support or lead HR workstreams during organisational change projects, including TUPE transfers, restructures, and redundancy processes.
  • Ensure all change initiatives are supported by clear communication, documentation, and support frameworks.
  • Champion change management best practices and cultural alignment during contract mobilisation or evolution.
• Employee Engagement & Culture
  • Design and deliver engagement initiatives aligned with the operational reality of the contract.
  • Act as a culture champion, ensuring contract-wide values and behaviours are upheld and integrated into HR processes.
  • Conduct pulse surveys, focus groups, and exit interviews to identify areas for improvement and action planning.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
  • Promote inclusive hiring, development, and progression practices across field and office-based staff.
  • Ensure compliance with equality legislation and support managers in ensuring a respectful and inclusive workplace.
  • Collaborate with central HR to drive wider DEI goals across the business and contract.
• HR Data, Analytics & Reporting
  • Leverage people data, dashboards, and workforce metrics to drive evidence-based decisions.
  • Monitor trends in absenteeism, attrition, performance, and engagement; make proactive recommendations to leaders.
  • Prepare regular and ad-hoc HR reports for internal stakeholders and client reviews as required.
• Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
  • Work closely with wider support functions (Payroll, L&D, Recruitment, Occupational Health, Legal) to ensure cohesive HR delivery.
  • Partner with employee representatives or unions (if applicable) to maintain productive working relationships.
  • Represent HR at contract governance meetings, audits, and reviews with Thames Water stakeholders where required.
• Be aware of all Group policies and your responsibilities towards them
• Any other reasonable ad-hoc duties, tasks or projects as requested by management

About You:

The ideal candidate will:

• Have a minimum of 2 years HR Advisor experience
• Be able to explore, and effectively mitigate risks with the confidence to identify when escalation to the Lead HRBP & Group HR Director may be required
• Have experience in delivering on HR Projects and working to tight deadlines
• Have great interpersonal skills to create relationships within the People team, with all People Managers across the contract
• Have the ability to deal with people at different levels
• Have excellent knowledge of both Microsoft 365
• Have solid communication skills (both written and verbal)
• Be resourceful and proactive
• Be able to multi-task, prioritise, work under pressure and on own initiative
• Be CIPD accredited (not essential but advantageous)
• Ideally be experienced working in a fast paced environment
• Preferably have strong influencing skills and a passion for embedding our core values

Office Angels is an employment agency and business. We are an equal-opportunities employer who puts expertise, energy and enthusiasm into improving everyone''s chance of being part of the workplace. We respect and appreciate people of all ethnicities, generations, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, abilities and more. By showcasing talents, skills and unique experiences in an inclusive environment, we help individuals thrive. If you require reasonable adjustments at any stage, please let us know and we will be happy to support you.

Office Angels acts as an employment agency for permanent recruitment and an employment business for the supply of temporary workers. Office Angels UK is an Equal Opportunities Employer.

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