Specialist, People Advisor - Operations

At McLaren, our mission is to set the standard for high performance in sport. And everyone, in every part of the team, has a role to play. So if you want to test your ideas with the world watching... And measure your progress in milliseconds... And play your part in racing history... You belong here. High performance starts with you.

Purpose of the Role:

As our team grows, you’ll be helping us on our journey to becoming a World Championship contending race team - by making sure we also become a world leading employer.

As People Advisor, you’ll join us to support the team on our high-performance journey, providing exceptional HR service across our F1 team in McLaren Racing Limited (‘MRL’): delivering a progressive people agenda, helping to support the delivery of long-term business planning, and developing – as well as providing – HR solutions to ensure a great employee experience.

You will be the first point of call for team members and managers in the Operations function but may also support other areas of the F1 team when required. You will be confident in providing tailored, operational advice and support, and rolling out agreed initiatives. As a confident HR practitioner, you will be able to act as a sounding board, provide key solutions as well as build and foster strong working relationships – being an integral part of the teams you support.

Role Dimensions

You’ll be collaborating widely across the People & Culture team. You’ll quickly discover it’s a pro-active team that thrives on working at pace, with agility and delivering meaningful change for the F1 team. Most of all we support each other and roll our sleeves up when it matters.

This role will be reporting to the Senior Manager, People Partner and will have no direct reports. Your main stakeholders will include our team members, team leaders, managers and senior managers in the functional areas you support, collaborating closely with the relevant Finance Business Partners too.

We have adopted hybrid working across the team, but flexibility to work hours to also support our shifts will be required to meet the operational demands of the teams you support.

Principal Accountabilities:

Operational HR Support

• Acting as the first point of contact for employee relations matters. Case management, including sickness absence and Occupational Health referrals. You’ll also be the escalation point for the People Administration team on employee/manager query resolution.
• Working with the Talent Attraction team to advise managers and proactively supporting on recruitment policy, process and interviews/selection.
• Ensuring strong employee relations across the function through the pragmatic engagement of managers and team leaders to fulfil their legal obligations effectively.
• Working closely with Managers and People Partner to implement any organisational design requirements, supporting them through the organisational design processes, including proactive management and administration of T&C changes, long terms contracts and contractors.
• Collaborating with the People Partners on the formal and informal talent and succession management processes within their department.
• Supporting the growth of early careers programmes in your functional area, working with the Early Careers team and managers to deliver successful and engaging campaigns for Graduates, Apprenticeships, Internships, Work Experience and STEM events.
• Supporting the roll out of any learning and development needs, including delivery, working closely with managers and People Partner to implement any solutions.
• Proactively supporting any employee engagement activities ensuring a collaborative approach with managers and leaders on the communication of results and achievement of actions across the year.
• Supporting the annual reward process - salary review, bonus and benefits.
• Conducting Exit interviews, regularly reviewing data, reporting on trends and advising managers on implementation of solutions.
• Proactively managing parental leave policies and requests.
• Managing relevant HRIS data and reporting to support people strategy, spotting trends and assisting People Partners with decision making.
• Proactive management of HRIS data, ensuring it’s reflective of org structure and working closely with Finance to ensure budget alignment.
• Working collaboratively across the team to update and further enhance our people policies, ensuring fit for purpose across all functions.
• Working in close collaboration with fellow People Advisors to ensure a consistent approach across MRL.
• Actively engaging with managers to support development of an inclusive working environment that is conducive to safe practices and colleague welfare.

Stakeholder Management & Communication

• Promoting a service mentality and partnership approach to build and maintain excellent working relationships with key internal stakeholders to ensure their appropriate engagement and involvement.
• Confidently influencing key stakeholders to gain buy-in and support for new ways of working, alternative solutions, and key projects.
• Understanding customer needs and adapting an agile approach to deliver advice, initiatives and projects as appropriate to your area.
• Seamlessly acting as the conduit between the Managers, People Partner and People Experience (Specialist) team to successfully implement initiatives which are fit for purpose and land well.
• Strong and professional communication across multiple stakeholder groups and channels with the ability to present and deliver compelling messages.

People and Culture Strategy

• Contributing to the ongoing development of the People strategy by working closely with the wider People Team; highlighting any key people priorities.
• Being an ambassador of the strategy when speaking with teams and Managers, ensuring that any key initiatives link to the People and Culture strategy.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

To join our race for performance, you’ll need:

• Previous demonstrable HR Advisory experience, including strong employee relation knowledge and case management skills (ideally, but not necessarily, in a manufacturing/operations or high performance sporting organization).
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Strong relationship building and stakeholder management.
• A focus on the generation and use of accurate data to inform decision making.
• Ability to prioritise a demanding workload and agile in approach.
• Experience of managing change and delivery of projects.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment.
• A track record of getting things done.
• MS Office - proficient to at least intermediate level in Excel, Word, PowerPoint.
• Previous experience working with an HRIS and related employee platforms desirable.
• CIPD Level 5 qualified, or equivalent experience.

What can McLaren offer?

We constantly strive to be better tomorrow than we are today. Our ambition is to be the most pioneering and exhilarating racing team in the world, and our collective task is to set the standards for high performance in sport. We show up every day with energy and enthusiasm, ready to play our part.

We encourage and support diversity, equity and inclusion. We will actively promote a culture that values difference and eliminates discrimination in our workplace.

McLaren Racing is based at the iconic McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) near Woking. Our state of the art, sustainable campus offers many facilities including a gym, restaurant and indoor and outdoor break-out areas, as well as direct access to park and common land. The MTC is connected to Woking mainline station via regular fully-electric shuttle buses, from which London Waterloo is a 30 minute train ride.

Hybrid working patterns give you options to balance your home life and outside interests with your work. We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including private healthcare, car schemes, life insurance and generous pension contributions.