Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind / Rotherham Sight & Sound / Cairn Home Residential Care Home
Job Description: HR & Employee Relations Officer
Hours: 22.5 hrs per week. Flexible working days and hours to be agreed.
Salary: £19,200 (FTE £32,000)
Contract Type: Permanent
Reports to: The CEO but also working closely with all members of management the team.
Location: Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind, 5 Mappin Street, Sheffield. S1 4DT.
Background Information:Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind (SRSB) provides a range of services and facilities to support people with sight loss in Sheffield, including a residential care home (Cairn Home). We also support people with sight loss and/or hearing loss in Rotherham. Our services in Rotherham are delivered under the name of Rotherham Sight & Sound (RSS). Our overarching aim is to promote people’s independence through advice and subsequent referral to other services, both our own and other agencies.
Purpose of the Role:The HR & Employee Relations Officer will act as the first point of contact for all staff-related issues across our three sites. The role provides day‑to‑day HR support, manages employee relations matters, and ensures consistent, fair and timely handling of concerns. Working closely with our external HR provider and designated HR Adviser, the postholder will support managers with any investigations, disciplinaries, conflict resolution and general HR processes.During quieter periods, the role will focus on proactive HR activity including onboarding, recruitment coordination, wellbeing checks, policy compliance and maintaining a positive workplace culture. The postholder will work collaboratively with managers to promote good practice and support them in addressing staff issues confidently and appropriately.
Key Responsibilities:
Employee Relations & Case Management
- Act as the first point of contact for HR queries across all sites.
- Liaise with the external HR Adviser regarding any disciplinaries, capability concerns and complex cases.
- Manage the administrative process for any investigations and disciplinaries, including gathering statements, preparing documentation, issuing letters and arranging meetings.
- Support managers with early intervention to de‑escalate issues before they escalate into formal processes.
- Facilitate informal conflict resolution and mediation between staff where appropriate.
- Handle staff complaints, grievances and concerns professionally and sensitively.
- Support managers with difficult conversations, ensuring consistency and fairness.
General HR Administration & Support
- Coordinate recruitment processes including advertising roles, organising interviews, preparing interview packs and communicating with candidates.
- Manage onboarding processes: issuing offer letters, contracts, new starter forms, induction planning and reference checks.
- Maintain accurate HR records and ensure compliance with policies and procedures.
- Process holiday requests, monitor leave balances and support managers with workforce planning.
- Manage sickness reporting, conduct return‑to‑work interviews and carry out wellbeing checks.
- Ensure policies are followed and support managers in addressing any breaches appropriately.
- Promote a positive, healthy and safe working environment across all sites.
- Ensure HR communications, meetings, documentation and processes are accessible to all staff, including those with visual impairments, hearing impairments and other accessibility needs, making reasonable adjustments where required.
- Travel between sites as required, with travel time included within contracted hours.
Culture, Communication & Workplace Wellbeing
- Build strong relationships with staff and managers to encourage open communication and trust.
- Support initiatives that promote staff wellbeing, engagement and retention.
- Encourage a culture of professionalism, respect and accountability.
- Provide guidance to managers on best practice HR approaches
Person Specification:
| Experience and Qualifications |
|
| Experience in HR or employee relations, ideally within a multi‑site organisation |
Essential |
| Strong understanding of HR processes including disciplinaries, grievances and investigations |
Essential |
| Confident communicator with the ability to handle sensitive situations calmly and professionally |
Essential |
| Skilled in conflict resolution, mediation and de‑escalation |
Essential |
| Highly organised with excellent attention to detail |
Essential |
| Ability to work independently and manage workload across three sites |
Essential |
| Strong administrative skills and familiarity with HR documentation and record‑keeping |
Essential |
| A supportive, approachable and fair manner |
Essential |
| Ability to communicate with staff in a professional manner - to develop and maintain appropriate positive relationships with a range of stakeholders |
Essential |
| Due to the nature of our work, guide dogs and hearing support dogs will regularly be present. Hence, it is necessary that the successful applicant does not have any unmanageable allergies to dogs and does not object to them accompanying their owners |
Essential |
| Experience of working in the voluntary sector |
Desirable |
| Understanding of accessibility requirements and the importance of providing information, communication and meetings in accessible formats, with a commitment to supporting staff with disabilities and sensory impairments |
Essential |
All Staff are Required to:Understand and comply with all relevant legislation and SRSB's policies and procedures, including data protection, safeguarding and health & safety. Confidentiality of information relating to clients, volunteers and staff is of paramount importance. To bring to the attention of the CEO any serious problems or areas of concern.Work as part of a team for the benefit of our clients. Staff are expected to be conscientious, adaptable and flexible in their duties.Actively promote the work of SRSB/RSS as an independent charity for the provision of help, support and provision of services in various forms for the benefit of our clients.Undertake appropriate training as and when required, some of which will be Health & Safety related and some of which will be skills related Benefits:Life Assurance: All staff are covered under a life assurance policy for twice their annual salary. However, please note that this is not a contractual obligation and whilst we have no intention of removing this benefit the Charity in its sole and absolute discretion reserves the right to discontinue, vary or amend the scheme (including the level of your cover) at any time on reasonable notice to you.
Pension: You will be auto enrolled in SRSB’s staff pension scheme immediately subject to you meeting the relevant criteria in terms of age and earnings. If you are auto enrolled you will contribute 5% of your gross earnings (plus employer contribution 3%). If you wish to contribute over and above this percentage you may do so, but SRSB will not match this extra contribution.
Holidays: Pro rata to full time equivalent of 23 days per annum plus 9 days statutory/customary holidays. Up to 3 days must be reserved for the Christmas/New Year shutdown. Additional holiday entitlement starts to accrue after 3 years’ service. Our holiday year is 1st January to 31st December, holiday entitlement accruing pro-rata throughout the year