Senior Employee Relations Advisor

What is the opportunity?
The Senior Employee Relations Advisor is a key member of the Employee Relations team.

The Senior Employee Relations Advisor provides advice and counsel to executives, people leaders and employees on complex workplace situations, providing a fair and transparent employee experience while managing risk to RBC. Part of the role is to ensure compliance with policy, regulatory requirements and applicable federal and provincial employment and human rights legislation.

The Senior Employee Relations Advisor offers expertise in employee relations to provide practical, solution oriented, and reputable employee relations advice to executives, leaders and managers which is aligned to all applicable laws/policies/guidelines and RBC Values.

What will you do?

• Provides expert advice on workplace issues and concerns to executives and senior leaders to assist in managing and resolving complex employee issues and investigations.
• Manages highly complex cases and provides first point of escalation for ERAs to simplify complex issues and provides proactive strategies for risk management and remediation.
• Manage risk and improve manager and employee experience through enabling and ensuring well informed, fair and transparent decisions which place employees at the centre and focus on RBC Values while making recommendations for continuous improvement.
• Work independently with minimal supervision, in ambiguous situations, and persevere over internal and external barriers to drive resolutions.
• Champions Employee Relations initiatives with significant impact on employees and/or workplace risk.
• Promote knowledge and understanding of Company policy and of relevant employment laws through coaching, presentations, and training.
• Oversees the development of processes and tools to support the delivery of Employee Relations activities.
• Contributes to the development of processes to track and report on employee relations trends and emerging issues relevant to business lines supported, and provide HR Business Partners and business leaders with meaningful and actionable information on trends and emerging issues in Canadian workplaces to mitigate risk. .
• Accepts and successfully executes change while supporting ERAs through the process, and keeping them focused on business priorities.
• Lead the development and growth of our field employee relations team
• Build relationship and partner collaboratively with HRBPs, Legal, Global Security, Information Security, Corporate Communications, Compensation, Diversity & Inclusion and others to execute on a broad range of complex business issues/initiatives which impact employees. Influence decisions where appropriate.

What do you need to succeed?
Must-haves:

• Minimum 7+ years direct experience in Employee Relations/Human Resources (ER/HR) and/or employment law
• Post-graduate education or equivalent experience (preferred focus in human resources)
• Strong knowledge of Canadian employment law and regulations (both federal & provincial)
• Significant Experience in conducting and/or managing workplace investigations
• Proven experience aligning and integrating risk management with business and HR strategy
• Strategic thinking, analytical and problem solving capabilities.
• Experience establishing and managing relationships with executives and senior level stakeholders
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail, able to juggle and prioritize multiple tasks simultaneously while delivering on commitments
• Ability to assume a leadership role in unfamiliar or ambiguous circumstances, to handle confidential information and escalate issues when appropriate
• Works well in a fast-paced environment, flexible, able to change direction quickly and in leading through ambiguity and a continuously changing environment
• Solid sense of accountability, high-quality judgment and sound decision-making
• Outstanding communication skills in written and verbal form; extensive public speaking, training, and/or leadership communication skills

Strong preference:

• Experience in an in-house legal department or law firm
• Called to the Bar of a Canadian province
• Membership in applicable law society

Nice-to-haves:

• Bilingual (English/French)

What’s in it for you?

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation
• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team
• Hybrid work schedule that combines remote and on-premises working environments
• Opportunities to take on progressively greater scopes of work

Administers an organization's employee relations programs and ensures they are in line with goals and strategies. Applies extensive, in-depth knowledge, skills, and practices to perform complex assignments.TORONTO, Ontario, CanadaCAN-ON-TORONTOCanada37.5Full timeHuman ResourcesRegularSalaried2023-05-302023-06-10