Industrial Relations Officer - Bloemfontein at Fidelity Services Group

Job Description

• Overall Purpose of the Job: Guide and advise business leaders’ management and staff in labour relations matters within the organisation whilst ensuring compliance to labour legislation.

Minimum Requirements

• Relevant Qualification - Relevant Degree and extensive IR Experience
• Admitted attorney will be advantageous with an employment law background
• 5 years relevant work experience, 2 of which should at least be in a unionized environment
• Conducting of CCMA / Bargaining Council Arbitrations with a successful track record
• Understanding of the Labour Court process and appearances
• Handling of union issues and wage negotiations at various levels
• Advanced computer literacy in the Microsoft Office package — MS Word, MS Excel, E-mail
• Must be willing to travel - own reliable transport

Duties & Responsibilities

Reporting

• Manage disciplinary statistics — Department of Labour submission purposes - monthly for final report to be submitted
• Monthly reporting of National Employee Relations statistics
• Weekly reporting of Employee Relations activities and action plans
• Management of the reports submitted by Investigators and Ombudsman-tracking of open cases on a weekly basis and reports to be submitted in this regard and adhering to timelines.
• Reports submitted to and by investigators - to ensure full compliance and adherence to basic fundamentals in relation to the concern raised- as and when reports are received

Project Management

• Advise and management of all retrenchment and structural changes within the region as and when occurs
• Consultation processes to be completed within the relevant time periods
• Manage grievances received within region to ensure compliance with code of good practice and other related polices
• Provide advice to management on ER related matters and disciplinary procedures
• Manage appeals procedure
• Industry benchmarking in relation to conditions of employment and union activity of industry competitors per function of the business
• Conducting of IR Training as per National Training Schedule and regional requirements
• Manage Labour Court matters as a liaison with external attorneys
• Management of strikes and labour unrest interventions
• Analysis of the nature and trends in respect of ER Related Matter/s and drive intervention/s of corrective measures
• Support the management of Department of Labour visits and execution of activities

Management of internal and external stakeholders

• Provide advice with relation to Contracts of Employment, Terms and Conditions of Employment and restructuring workforce planning
• Interaction with line managers in order to improve diversity within the workplace
• Drafting of recommendations
• Having a tracking mechanism of those concerns being addressed by line management
• Liaise with HR field and Learning and Development regarding EAP alignment within the company and the plan of action thereof.

Union activity

• Form sound relationships with union representatives and drive climate within the Operations Business.
• Having measures in place to ensure proactive notification of staff concerns and action points.
• Management of Union Membership within the company on a monthly basis
• Conduct/Coordinate Employee Engagement sessions in order to be aware of the climate within the business and promote a healthy working culture
• Negotiation and attendance of union meetings
• Establish and co-ordinate management/employee/union communication to promote a healthy working culture
• Address and respond to union correspondence
• Establish employee concerns to potentially reduce union membership and activities
• Directing others
• Address all union issues and grievances
• Enter into and manage union negotiations regarding issues that may arise.
• Attend to meetings and consultations with unions on all issues within FSG.
• Manage union correspondence and issues on a daily basis within FSG.

Internal customer services

• Handling of "walk in” complaints and service requirement from internal departments.
• Suspensions
• BCEA advice to HR Managers and or Line Managers
• LRA and EE advice
• Disciplinary hearings for administration departments
• All "walk in" should be dealt with as a priority

CCMA

• Management of all CCMA cases for the Group where required including legal drafting and appearances in conciliations and arbitrations.
• Legal and legal compliance
• Compliance and governance for the Group and its subsidiaries.
• Drafting, vetting and negotiating of agreements both in the commercial and labour environments
• Drafting of legal opinions
• Ensuring compliance with Court rules and Regulations
• Liaising with external attorneys.
• Managing external advisors
• Engagement with Internal stakeholders across the Group.
• Implement legally compliant best business practices and policies in order to protect the organization from regulatory and or legal action
• Ensure continuous process improvement to enable effective operational processes
• Provide expert recommendations that are technically accurate and timeous
• Minimise potential financial losses through identifying, assessing and mitigating risk
• Identify, manage and mitigate, where possible, the function's operational risks in order to provide assurance to the business
• Attend to ad-hoc legal functions and advise across the Group.
• Draft and attend to all Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court matters within the Group

Ad-hoc

• Assisting with other ad-hoc tasks, analysis and projects as and when required
• Monitor internal labour relations trends and submit relevant reports
• Advisory capacity related to all employee concerns and management to HR personnel
• Keep up to date with current ER legislation and ensure this is aligned with company's Employee Relations policy
• Ensure that all ad-hoc duties are completed within the specified time period
• Time Management
• Attend to retrenchment consultations
• Attend to chair disciplinary hearings
• Attend to chair grievance hearings
• BCEA and Labour advice to HR, Line Managers and employees
• LRA and EE advice

Skills and Attributes:

• Exceptional administrative skills
• Expert knowledge of labor legislation, policies and procedures
• Goal orientated
• Good communication and Interpersonal skills
• Highly organized
• High accuracy and attention to detail
• Excellent time management
• Problem Solving and analytical capability

Deadline:8th May,2026