People and Culture Business Partner at SARAO - South African Radio Astronomy Observatory

• The SKA-Mid People & Culture Business Partner supports the SKA Mid collaboration team, comprising of SKAO and SARAO employed staff, with the delivery of end-to-end people solutions that prioritise recruitment, performance management, employee relations, talent management, reward and recognition initiatives to achieve People & Culture and business objectives and goals. The role assesses and anticipates People & Culture related needs and delivers through close collaboration with the SARAO and SKAO People & Culture teams and key stakeholders ensuring consistent, compliant, and efficient service delivery aligned with SARAO People & Culture policies and procedures and within an SKAO environment. The role is critical to maintaining workforce integration and alignment, enabling the successful delivery of SKA-Mid s people objectives in a dual-governance environment.

Key Responsibilities:

PEOPLE AND CULTURE STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION

• HR Planning: Contribute to the delivery of HR strategic plans and KPI s ensuring operational alignment with SARAO, SKAO goals and objectives. Implements and tracks transformation programmes to support the transformation goals.
• Implement the BU strategy aligned with the People and Culture strategy to meet the needs of the business unit and drive the business units components of the overall NRF’s People and Culture KPIs.
• Work with the departmental heads to review fit for purpose org structures.
• Support line management with job profiles and arrange job evaluations as and when necessary. Accurate monthly and quarterly reporting on deliverables, non-conformance and flagging of potential risks to SARAO People and Culture Manager. Participate in manpower planning and interrogate the manpower budget.

PEOPLE and PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

• Support line managers with calibration sessions in their areas of responsibility.
• Ensure that departments set SMART objectives in areas of responsibility.
• Prepare performance trend report and coach managers on the execution of performance improvement initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with performance management policies and procedures.
• Drive performance management culture within the Business Unit.
• Coordinate the SKA-Mid performance management process in accordance with the agreed schedule and policy and in close liaison with line management.
• Provide competent advice and guidance to line on performance management matters.
• Develop and submit the business units annual training needs for inclusion in the Workplace Skills Plan within specified time frame.

STAFFING

• Liaise with the SARAO People and Culture Manager and SKA-Senior HR Business Partner to accurately and effectively identify skills and resources required to deliver and achieve objectives.
• Compile and complete workforce plans as per required format and guidelines for approval.
• Engage with line management to determine requirements of positions and contents of adverts.
• Manage SKA-Mid staffing process.
• Oversee psychometric assessments of external and internal candidates for selection, promotion and career development.

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

• Monitor SKA-Mid compliance with SARAO EE plan in line with the central employment equity guidelines.
• Monitor the EE targets within SKA-Mid and implementation of such targets through clear recruitment plans and development plans.
• Report and submit SKA-Mid EE on time, in the required format.
• Provide competent advice and guidance to line on EE matters.

PEOPLE & CULTURE GOVERNANCE, REPORTING, RISK & COMPLIANCE

• Implement People & Culture business processes and report on levels of compliance.
• Identify and report People & Culture related risks (including potential risks) and develop strategies and implementation plans to minimize/eliminate risk.
• Address and close all audit findings as per the risk register.
• Manage and ensure efficient People & Culture record keeping as defined by internal audit standards.
• Ensuring documentary compliance for all internal audit processes.
• Analyse and interpret information to report and present to regional and site level management structures on personnel expenses (permanent, FTE, outsourced) and People snapshot (employee movements, absenteeism, leave, headcount, performance and information pertinent to CoEs) as per the standardized dashboard Identify and manage risk associated with HR processes (e.g. leave liability, benefit administration and audit.)
• Comply with Group People & Culture Policies and service level agreements as agreed with key stakeholders.
• Oversee the selection of service providers to ensure alignment to People & Culture Plan.
• Ensuring administration for all related skills development and bursary initiatives are recorded for audit purposes.
• Supporting the People and Culture Manager with Employment Equity requirements and statutory compliance aligned with the Dept of Labour and NRF EE Plan.
• Management of the skills business unit on the BBBEE scorecard.
• Contribute to the Business Unit by adhering to the People and Culture department’s operating budget.

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

• Drive the implementation of the Central ER strategy and approach to foster good employee relations culture and full compliance with NRF ER policy and procedure, Code of Good Practice, and all related legislation.
• Provide competent advice and guidance to line management on Employee Relations matters and case law.
• Prevent risks from escalation and manage issues timely.
• Ensure that grievances are resolved in the minimum amount of time as per NRF standard.
• Monitor that ER and termination documentation is accurately completed as per NRF procedure.
• Review ER reports in order to proactively identify challenges and provide proactive management practice.

CULTURE

• Assist SKA-Mid heads to interpret climate survey results, develop and monitor action plans.
• Ensure implementation and adherence to People & Culture processes and administrative requirements in line SLAs.
• Support management with query resolution regarding general people issues.
• Facilitate annual increases, bonuses and incentive payouts as required.
• Ensures timely and accurate reporting of annual, quarterly and monthly reporting, as directed by People and Culture Manager.
• Onboarding and Induction: Manage the overall structure and content of collaborative induction programmes ensuring it aligns with organizational culture, compliance needs and role specific requirements, working with line managers to customize induction for each new hire.
• Talent Management: Implement workforce and succession plans, talent and pipeline development strategies ensuring equitable access to development and clear career paths.
• Learning and Development: Support skills development planning and delivery, promote and track individual development plans, support leadership, compliance and functional training programmes.

Key Requirements:
Qualification:

• Degree in Human Resources, Industrial Psychology or related field

Experience:

• 5-8 years Generalist HR experience
• Providing HRBP experience in a matrixed or dual governance environment
• Proven experience in multistakeholder HR environments, ideally within large scale projects, research institutions or engineering/technical sector.

Knowledge:

• In depth knowledge HR practices, South African Labour Law and employee relations
• Extensive experience of resourcing, talent and performance management, remuneration and benefits in a technical industry
• Proficiency in HR Information Systems (HRIS) including platforms for payroll, recruitment, performance management, learning management and data analytics.
• Business acumen, understanding of organisational goals and operating context
• Operational Effectiveness and the ability to identify opportunities and advocate for innovations to enhance work practices and the workplace environment.

Additional Notes:

Competency Essential:

• HR Generalist and Business partnering expertise
• Ability to work with and collaborate across functional boundaries
• Strong interpersonal and consultation skills
• Upholds confidentiality and ethical standards
• Provides fair and unbiased support to complex or sensitive employee matters
• Delivers on commitments with attention to quality and timelines
• Works effectively across cultural and linguistic diversities

Skills:

• Well-developed ability to build and maintain trust based relationships with internal and external stakeholders across all levels of the organisation
• Shows initiative and commitment to continuous improvement
• Resilience in the face of setback, obstacles and ambiguity
• HR related Project Management skills
• Employment Equity compliance and reporting
• Ability and willingness to travel nationally and internationally as required