People Partner - South West

ABOUT THE ROLE

As a People Operations Advisor, you'll be the go-to for operational leaders across your region, helping them confidently and consistently manage the full employee lifecycle.

You'll partner closely with Area Coaches and People Capability Coaches bringing strong employment law, policy and employee relations expertise to ensure our people practices are fair, consistent and brilliantly executed in restaurants. From absence and probation through to performance, conduct and complex employee relations matters, you'll coach leaders to make good people decisions, intervene early where there is risk and help build their confidence to manage people matters well.

This is a field-based role. You'll spend most of your time in restaurants, close to our leaders and teams, understanding what is happening on the ground and turning policy and good people practice into practical action.

WHAT WILL YOU SPEND YOUR TIME DOING?

• Partner with Making the employee lifecycle work brilliantly - You'll be the regional expert on our core People policies and processes, supporting leaders to manage the full employee lifecycle consistently and confidently. You'll have a particular focus on probation, attendance and absence, performance management, conduct, grievance and other employee relations matters, ensuring issues are addressed early and managed fairly, consistently and in line with our policies and employment law.
• Keeping us on the right side of people practice - You'll develop strong expertise in employment law and KFC People policies, translating them into practical guidance for restaurant leaders. You'll help identify people risk early, ensure policies and processes are applied consistently and escalate complex or higher-risk matters to the People & Culture Business Partner when appropriate.
• Spotting issues before they become problems - You'll use people data and insight to identify trends and areas requiring intervention, with particular focus on absence, probation, turnover, performance and employee relations. You'll work with leaders and the PCBP to turn those insights into practical action and track whether it is making a difference.
• Finding and growing great talent - You'll help leaders spot potential, build strong succession plans and create opportunities for people to develop their careers at KFC.
• Helping us hire brilliant people - You'll partner with leaders on recruitment and workforce needs, helping us bring in people who will thrive at KFC.
• Building brilliant leaders - You'll coach leaders to confidently manage day-to-day people matters themselves, building their capability in areas such as attendance, probation, performance, difficult conversations, conduct and application of People policy. Your role isn't to take ownership away from managers; it's to help them make great, consistent people decisions.
• Keeping great people - You'll help leaders understand what's driving engagement and retention in their restaurants and turn those insights into practical action.
• Getting stuck in - This definitely isn't a desk-based People role. You'll be out and about across the South West, spending time with restaurant teams and seeing first-hand what's working and where we can be better.

You'll work as part of a regional People team, reporting to the People & Culture Business Partner and partnering closely with the People Capability Coach. While the PCC leads on talent, capability and learning execution, you'll bring deeper expertise across employee relations, employment practice, policy and the employee lifecycle. Together, you'll give operational leaders joined-up People support that builds both great teams and great people leadership.

WHAT WE LOVE FROM YOU

EXPERIENCE

• Good working knowledge of UK employment law and HR/People policy, with the ability to apply it pragmatically.
• Experience supporting employee relations cases across the employee lifecycle, including absence, performance, disciplinary, grievance and probation.
• Confidence coaching managers through difficult people decisions rather than simply giving them the answer.
• Ability to identify and assess people risk, knowing when to resolve independently and when to escalate.
• Confidence using people data to identify trends and prioritise intervention.
• Ideally experience in a multi-site, operational, retail or hospitality environment.

ABOUT YOU

• Self-starter with ability to multitask and manage own workload
• Good influencing and negotiation skills
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to work across a variety of stakeholder groups
• Comfortable dealing with ambiguity and working with a high degree of autonomy and initiative to deliver results
• Strong interpersonal / teamwork skills
• Able to create strong relationships
• Collaborative nature: willing to work constructively with input from coaches and peers
• Intellectual curiosity