Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.
We're made up of 12 autonomous publishing divisions and over 60 imprints with a rich and diverse history and an incredible range of authors. We're also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.
Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Orion, which won Publisher of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards; Little, Brown; John Murray Press; Hodder & Stoughton; Headline; Quercus; Octopus, Bookouture and Dialogue Books. They publish fiction and non-fiction in digital, audio and print format, from the world's best and most diverse authors, including Brit Bennett, Candice Carty-Williams, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Maggie O'Farrell, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Colson Whitehead, and Malala Yousafzai. Hachette Children's Group publishes a wide and vibrant range of books for children across all age ranges, while Hodder Education is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.
Hachette UK is part of Hachette Livre, the world's third largest trade and educational publisher. As well as our headquarters in Carmelite House, London, and our state-of-the-art book distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, we have recently opened five new offices in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The UK region also includes offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Caribbean, and Ireland.
It's an exciting time to join our business because the publishing market continues to grow and thrive. The UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world and book adaptations for film and TV are the foundation of the UK's creative industries.
What you'll be doing
Organisational Design: you’ll work with the HR team to support the senior leadership on their organisational design, devising and delivering any restructuring plans to support the divisional strategic objectives.
Employee Relations: You’ll take the lead on complex employee relations cases and advise and support the Junior HR Business Partners with their casework.
Policies and Processes: You’ll play a role in continuously reviewing and refining HR policies to ensure they support the plans and priorities of the divisions and remain compliant with statutory and legal requirements. You will ensure the team are adequately implementing and advising managers / staff on their application.
Stakeholder management: manage the relationship with the wider HR team and business stakeholders across all employee relations work and change programs, escalating any issues to the Interim Head of HR and Interim HR Director.
Involvement in a wide range of HR projects, for example review of Family policies, handbook review, broader policy reviews, and involvement in projects led by centres of excellence including Reward, Talent & Development, Talent Acquisition and Diversity & Inclusion, where appropriate
In partnership with Interim Head of HR, you will closely with the Diversity and Inclusion Manager to understand individual divisional D&I objectives.
Role model our four pillars of strategy: Understanding Consumers; Owner Mentality; Changing the Story; Growth Mindset
These are the main requirements of the role and is not an exhaustive list of duties. It is intended to reflect the nature, range, and context of the work, which will change over time.
Who we are looking for
Experience/Knowledge
Proven experience of managing complex employee relations issues, restructures, advising on organisational design and talent management processes
Solid HR Business Partnering expertise within a range of industries, with a successful track record of high impact business partnering.
Experience of working with and building rapport and strong relationships with very senior managers
Strong understanding of employment legislation
Personal Attributes/Skills
Adaptable and able to take both a strategic and ‘hands-on’ approach
Credible, proactive professional with excellent judgment and the ability to instil confidence in others
Great communicator, both written and oral, with the ability to clearly present information to others
Proactive, solutions focused, and a pragmatic problem solver
Well networked with great interpersonal skills and capable of easily and naturally building relationships
Analytical skills including the ability to quickly and accurately assimilate information from complex verbal and numerical data
Ability to prioritise and handle ever changing and conflicting workload priorities
Ability to think innovatively and generate ideas and solutions offering a range of options
The ability to build trusted and positive relationships with staff at all levels
Accurate and exacting standards · High level of resilience with the ability to read people and adapt approach accordingly
Take pride in providing a first-class customer service to senior leaders and managers across our business
Tactful, diplomatic and approachable
What we offer
Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:
28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' ( bank holidays)
Generous pension schemes
Rent deposit loans
2 community days per year
Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
Cycle to Work scheme
Eye care vouchers
Wide-ranging training library
Development programmes (including mentoring)
Up to 70% off book purchases
A charity bookshelf
12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
Season ticket loans
And much more!
The role will be based at our London office, Carmelite House, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.
Our commitment
Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.
If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.
The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org
Seniority level
Mid-Senior level
Employment type
Full-time
Job function
Human Resources
Industries
Book and Periodical Publishing
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