Skip to main content

This job has expired

Pay, Reward and Benefits Specialist

Employer
Islington Council
Location
Newington Barrow Way
Salary
 £49,428 - £52,470 Per annum
Closing date
17 Jul 2022

View more

Job Details

Pay, Reward and Benefits Specialist

Main area: Human Resources Early Careers

Grade: Local Government (NJC): P06

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time - 35 hours per week

Job ref:RS/0199/RS

Site: Newington Barrow Way

Town: London

Salary: £49,428 - £52,470 Per annum

Closing: 17/07/2022 23:59

Our ambition

We're determined to make Islington more equal. To create a place where everyone, whatever their background, has the opportunity to reach their potential and enjoy a good quality of life.

We also have an ambitious goal – to be the best council in the country – with every employee clear about the part they play and inspired, focused and supported to give their very best.

We want to build an organisation where employees feel valued, inspired and empowered to help us achieve our goals and provide the best services possible to our residents.

Our values and behaviours

‘Be Islington’ is about setting a clear challenge about what it means to be an Islington employee and sets the standard for every new recruit.

We ask our employees to ‘Be Islington’ – playing their part in working together for a fairer borough and to always be collaborative, be ambitious, be resourceful, and be empowering (‘CARE’).

Interested in knowing more about our values, our vision and our priorities? Check out these videos from our Leader, Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz and Chief Executive, Linzi Roberts-Egan:

Leader, Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz https://youtu.be/LfdyvXRk5a0

Chief Executive, Linzi Roberts-Egan https://youtu.be/BxluG_h2hQU

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Job overview

Islington HR has reshaped our service provision to put digital, learning and innovation at the heart of what we do. Through the creation of three new functions; HR Customer Delivery, Organisational Development, and Strategic HR Partnering, we intend to become a trusted professional partner, empowering our managers and people to thrive. By joining our team, you will play a vital role in enabling this, ensuring fairness and equality are at the centre of all that we do in our communities and our workplace.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Pay, Reward and Benefits Specialist in our Organisational Development team. 

Main duties of the job

You will act as the council’s expert on remuneration, providing high quality consultancy advice to HR and others within the council on pay, reward and benefits ensuring practice is fair and equitable. You will lead and provide strategic direction to the development of pay, performance management, reward, recognition and benefits strategies, policies and systems, ensuring the adoption of best practice and alignment to the objectives of a high performing modern council. You will ensure the council’s reward and benefits offer is modern and competitive, aligns with the council’s objectives and sets Islington apart as an employer of choice.

You will start off by focusing on a pay and grading review so any experience you have with large scale reviews is advantageous.

A mix of office and hybrid working will apply.

If you think you have the skills to drive this agenda forward, then please apply now!

Working for our organisation

We're determined to make a more equal Islington. To create a place where everyone, whatever their background, has the opportunity to reach their potential and enjoy a good quality of life.

We also have an ambitious goal – to be the best council in the country – with every employee clear about the part they play and inspired, focused and supported to give their very best. 

We want to build an organisation where employees feel valued, inspired and empowered to help us achieve our goals and provide the best services possible to our residents.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

  • To provide strategic and technical subject matter expertise, advice, guidance and management on pay, reward and benefits practice.
  • To lead on the design and ongoing delivery of pay and grading structures, benefits strategy and reward and recognition schemes.
  • To lead on the provision and application of job evaluation, Labour Market Intelligence and recruitment and retention strategies for hard to fill roles, including use of Market Factors.
  • To lead and provide strategic direction to the development of pay, performance management, reward, recognition and benefits strategies, policies and systems, ensuring the adoption of best practice and alignment to the objectives of a high performing modern council.
  • To act as the council’s expert on remuneration, providing high quality consultancy advice to HR and others within the council on pay, reward and benefits ensuring practice is fair and equitable and in line with the reward strategy, local, regional and national agreements and e.g. HMRC regulations.
  • To lead on pay negotiations (as delegated) with the council’s trade unions, including reporting to the Executive and associated committees such as Audit and Scrutiny Committees as appropriate and production and presentation of e.g. the council’s pay policy statement, gender pay gap data.
  • To be the council’s expert on pay legislation, negotiating bodies and frameworks for e.g. equal pay, gender pay, minimum wage, London Living Wage, holiday pay, to protect the council from legacy or future risks, ensuring legislative and other case law changes are monitored and implemented in a timely way to minimise risk and cost.
  • To understand the market in order to lead on the provision and application of competitive benefits packages, specifying and procuring products and services, plus managing contracts that maintain Islington as an employer of choice
  • To be responsible within HR for collaborative work with payroll and pensions colleagues, driving take-up by ensuring benefits are clear and easily accessible including ability to sign up for schemes and consideration of total benefits statements.
  • To work collaboratively with the resourcing lead to develop recruitment and retention strategies for hard to fill roles, working closely with HR colleagues and managers and using regular benchmarking and labour market intelligence to enable the council to remain competitive.
  • To review the reward and benefits offer and ensure it is modern and competitive and aligns with the council’s objectives and priorities and to provide oversight of the council’s approach to job evaluation, maintaining consistency and fairness.
  • Working collaboratively with colleagues, partners and other stakeholders to help build an organisation that attracts and retains talents and develop our reputation as a successful council delivering great value for its residents.
  • Contribute to the development and implementation of ‘Be Islington’ to support the achievement of the council’s vision.
  • Develop and implement a flexible total reward strategy and approach for the Council that recognises the varying expectations of a modern, diverse and inclusive workforce, and better aligns reward with organisational values and performance.
  • To provide oversight of the council’s approach to job evaluation, maintaining consistency and fairness.
  • To explore opportunities and lead on the development and management of financial and non-financial recognition schemes and frameworks.
  • Work with colleagues to design and deliver a reward and recognition framework that supports the achievement of appropriate behaviours and high performance.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Person specification

Essential criteria

  • CIPD qualification or equivalent knowledge, skills and experience.
  • Evidence of continued professional development.
  • Substantial experience of leading on pay and reward matters within a complex, unionised organisation, (including strategy development, negotiations and implementation).
  • Experience of leading on the delivery of advice, guidance, both within the HR service and to others within the Council on remuneration, overall reward management; employee benefits and strategic management of the Council’s job evaluation scheme.
  • Monitoring, analysis and interpreting HR management information to inform pay and reward strategies.
  • Assessment or provision of benefit packages.
  • Knowledge of local authority pay arrangements including pension provision.
  • Ability to benchmark salary and other data, plus cost of benefits, to assess and devise programmes that best fit the council.
  • Ability to understand, assimilate, interpret, present and clearly communicate complex information.
  • Strong writing and presentation skills to prepare business cases and informational materials on compensation and benefits plans for employees.
  • Ability to create and build effective relationships with a range of senior managers, stakeholders and professional staff.
  • Strong interpersonal and negotiating skills with the ability to build credibility and maintain effective working relationships both internally within HR and the wider council, with trade unions and externally with other employers, government departments and professional associations.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is the policy of Islington Council that no user of service, present or future employee or job applicant receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of their sex, perceived or actual sexual orientation, marital status, race, religion or belief, age, creed, colour, nationality, national origin, ethnic origin, or disability, or on the grounds of their association with someone in one of these groups; nor is disadvantaged by any conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justified. We welcome applications from Black and Minority Ethnic candidates and acknowledge our responsibility to mitigate against racial discrimination. 

PLEASE NOTE: Priority will be given to those at risk of redundancy within Islington Council. Current employees who are part of the redeployment pool must meet the essential criteria for shortlisting to be prioritised.

Islington Council operates a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria and we are committed to providing support to applicants who request reasonable adjustments to be made during the recruitment process and throughout their career with us.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expects all staff, and volunteers to share this commitment.

 We are also committed to flexible working and will consider requests where possible.

Islington Council also operates random drug or alcohol testing for safety critical roles or for where there may be just cause.

To apply for this position please use the online application process below. Please note that the council only accepts on-line applications, no CV’s or alternative forms of applications are accepted. If you are unable to use the online process please contact the Recruitment team on 020 7527 2155 or e-mail recruitment@islington.gov.uk

 

Company

Islington

Islington Together

We are determined to create a more equal Islington, where everyone who lives here has an equal chance to thrive.

Our Priorities

Our purpose is to achieve change for our residents who are at the heart of everything we do.

Listening to our communities, understanding their experiences and aligning our priorities with theirs is the only way to ensure that the changes we make, and the partnerships we form, are all contributing to improving the lives of our residents. Our priorities reflect what we know the people of Islington want for themselves and their neighbours and will sit at the heart of our plan to build a more equal future for everyone.

  • Invest in local jobs and businesses: We invest in local jobs and businesses to ensure a thriving local economy.
  • Cleaner, greener, healthier borough: We work together to create a cleaner, greener, healthier borough.
  • Nurture our children and young people: We nurture our children and young people in Islington so everyone has the very best start in life.
  • Stand with our communities so they are safe, connected and inclusive: We stand with our communities so they are safe, connected and inclusive
  • Secure, decent and genuinely affordable housing: We want everyone to have a place to call home which is secure, decent and genuinely affordable.

Islington is a borough of great strengths: thriving businesses; excellent transport links; outstanding services; and most importantly a rich and wonderful diversity of people, cultures and communities. But despite these strengths too many of our people are in danger of being left behind. Poverty, mental ill-health and anxiety about the future, lack of access to good jobs, poor air quality and housing conditions, prejudice, racism and injustice hold too many people back, depriving them of opportunities and choices and the autonomy to shape their lives in the way they want.

To assist us in achieving our priorities, we are continually looking for people who are able to work collaboratively, are ambitious, resourceful and able to empower others to help us shape the face of a 21st century HR Department.

Islington HR has reshaped its services. We’ve realigned our service provision to put digital, learning and innovation at the heart of what we do. We’ve created 3 new functions – HR Customer Delivery, Organisational Development and Strategic HR Partnering. Our vision is to be a trusted professional partner, empowering our managers and people to thrive and deliver better services for Islington.  By joining the team, you’ll play a vital role in enabling this, putting fairness and equality at the heart of everything we do – in our communities and our workplace.

final

LI [square]T [square]F [square]

 

Get job alerts

Create a job alert and receive personalised job recommendations straight to your inbox.

Create alert