People Advisor - Washwood Heath Multi Academy Trust

Who we are:

Washwood Heath Multi Academy Trust (“WHMAT”) is a caring and inclusive group of 7 academies (1 all through, 2 secondary and 4 primaries), serving a diverse, multicultural community in East Birmingham. We have approximately 740 employees and 4,500 young people across a 3.5 mile-radius.

Your role:

This will be a school-based role with occasional home working depending on business needs. You’ll be allocated specific schools so that you can build rapport with staff and stakeholders in those settings.

You’ll be a key member of our HR (People) team, responsible for supporting the People Manager with a range of work streams for various academies/directorates including: - recruitment and pre-employment checks/terms and conditions (including HRIS), professional growth, single central record/compliance, probation and lower-level employee relations case work.

This post-holder plays a central role in our mission statement of “Find them, grow them, keep them” as unless we find and recruit quality staff for our young people, we would not be able to function as a Trust!

Our ideal candidate:

• previous HR experience is preferred, but not essential, as we’ll train you in the full range of tasks. This post could suit an experienced HR Assistant or HR Advisor, or someone with excellent administrative skills who is taking their first step into HR

• you’ll have excellent administrative skills, ensuring attention to detail and accuracy in your written and oral communication

• you’ll be IT literate, with a good working knowledge of Word, Excel and management information systems/applicant tracking systems

• you’ll have a willingness to learn with a ‘can do’ attitude and be comfortable working in a fast-paced environment

• you’ll be able to prioritise and manage your workload autonomously

• have an interest in Wellbeing, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (WEDI)

• be willing to travel to all sites within the Trust

You’ll gain great experience by:

• being involved in the end-to-end stages of the recruitment process, from advert through to DBS checks. You’ll be part of the key administrative processes that keep our young people safe, such as DBS checks and providing updates for Single Central Record (SCR)
• liaising with our external payroll provider to make sure pay is correct for our new and existing staff, and you’ll welcome all new staff prior to them joining us to check their right to work documents
• managing queries from staff in our central inbox on a wide range of queries about pay and conditions

Why join us?

• a collaborative and inclusive culture, where team members will upskill you and give you regular opportunities to learn from each other in a safe and collaborative environment
• an opportunity to undertake structured CPD via access to the National College online CPD platform and/or apprenticeships such as the CIPD or Coaching via our Apprenticeship Levy
• the opportunity to shadow colleagues in the Employee Experience arm of the People Team to gain exposure to other HR work streams
• a wellbeing culture, with regular check-ins between yourself and your line manager, paid and unpaid time off to support life events via our Life Leave Policy, access to a Wellbeing Champion and the opportunity to participate in our annual staff wellbeing survey with Edurio
• access to 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), which includes confidential counselling, access to wellbeing advice and lifestyle app called My Possible Self
• a culture of flexible working, with opportunities to work from home and/or other offices in line with business needs
• access to suite of supportive policies, such as Life Leave, Wellbeing, Career Break and Family Friendly
• access to a generous pension scheme known as the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• access to a comprehensive employee rewards package including Long Service Awards, Employee Referral Scheme, Cycle to Work Scheme and contribution to glasses and eye-sight tests for eligible display screen users
• opportunity to be part of key Trust-wide collaborative groups such as the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI working group) and Wellbeing working groups, including menopause support and neurodiversity support
• generous annual leave entitlement based on length of service, starting at 30 days pro-rata, rising to 33 at 5 years’ plus service and 35 following 10 years’ plus service. This excludes an additional 2-week paid compulsory closure at Christmas, for which additional days’ leave are gained
• onsite parking at all schools

Informal chats are welcome.

We value our people and are dedicated to making sure that everybody feels empowered to bring their authentic self to work. 

We promise to treat all candidates fairly, consistently and with respect throughout the application, assessment, and selection process. We are also “happy to talk flexible working” subject to the operational requirements of the role. 

How to apply:

Please apply online

NB - CVs will not be accepted.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.