People & Culture Specialist at Emeris College

Job Purpose:

• The People & Culture Specialist provides first-line People & Culture support at campuses level, ensuring seamless delivery across the full Hire-to-Retire employee lifecycle in alignment with organisational goals, compliance standards, and best practice.
• This role acts as a trusted advisor and operational driver for line managers and employees, while supporting the broader People & Culture function through projects, reporting, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Talent Acquisition

• Manage the end-to-end recruitment process for your site(s).
• Workflow and review ATRs; conduct hiring plan discussions with Hiring Managers; prepare and maintain recruitment
• Partner with Hiring Managers to ensure job descriptions are current, accurate, and aligned to role and culture; use JDs as the basis for attraction and selection.
• Advertise roles internally and externally; support shortlisting and guide/coach Hiring Managers to conduct competency-based interviews effectively (excluding SMT level); attend interviews where appropriate.
• Arrange video interviews, psychometrics, and checks (MIE, references); highlight and resolve any red flags identified during interviews or reference reviews before progressing.
• Provide candidate care (feedback, regret notifications, query handling) to protect employer brand.
• Prepare contracts and addendums post-approval and ensure accurate onboarding handover.
• Maintain recruitment trackers, build talent pipelines for critical roles, and collaborate on employer branding initiatives.
• Utilise job boards, social media, and professional networks to source and engage talent.
• Mentor the campus People & Culture Consultant on recruitment processes.
• Contribute content for recruitment newsletters (EVP, vacancies, success stories) in collaboration with Marketing.
• Ensure PoPIA compliance: securely store all recruitment documentation (interview guides, competency notes, checks) within ATS/HR systems for audit and fairness.

Onboarding, Induction, and Probation Experience

• Ensure all new employees are loaded on the Onboarding/HR Engagement App prior to their start date, with payroll documentation completed on time. Where the App cannot be used, manage the manual payroll process in line with payroll deadlines and audit checklists.
• Review, quality check, and upload all employee documentation into SharePoint within the first month, ensuring accurate file naming and secure storage.
• Ensure that the IT requirements are arranged and set up before the new employees’ date of engagement (i.e. desktop or laptop is set up, email account is set up, internet and all access have been granted etc, before the new employee starts).
• Send a professional welcome email with key information (dress code, parking, team details, start time, etc.) and notify the campus of new joiners. Personally welcome employees on their first day and guide them to their workspace.
• Prepares the induction pack for each new employee for their first day, including a welcome letter with pertinent campus and company information, organisation structures, campus administration processes, birthday lists, expense claims, link to the Online employee handbook and company Intranet, policy acknowledgement form, induction schedule, Protection of Personal Information Act Training information, branded gifts and calendar etc. as per the Induction pack checklist.
• Set reminders to follow up on the probation review documents for new staff after each 30-day milestone has passed and checks that the forms have been completed to standard and flags any concerns or action items with the Business Partner: People & Culture.
• Review each probation review to check that it has been fully completed, all queries are dealt with, they have been signed by the employee and line manager and that any concerns are highlighted and addressed and upload the completed probation reviews into your respective Campus HR Data MST Folder.
• Manage probation governance: set reminders for 30/60/90-day milestones; review completeness and quality; escalate concerns to the Business Partner: People & Culture; upload final reviews to Campus HR Data (MST).
• Own the onboarding experience: implement buddy systems, welcome touchpoints, and check-ins to drive engagement and retention.
• Conduct the campus HR induction process with all new employees.
• Support the line manager in arranging training plans for new campus staff and documenting and storing these plans accordingly.
• Adheres to the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA) in all matters relating to the onboarding of new employees and the associated HR and payroll administration.

Learning, Development, Wellbeing, and Recognition

• Execute national People & Culture training/wellbeing initiatives on campus.
• Partner with the campus Senior Management Team in assessing and gathering all information related to the training and development needs for the campus and putting plans in place to meet these needs accordingly (Performance Success, Talent Reviews, and IDPs).
• Maintain Training & Development records in line with company requirements and PoPIA.
• Assists campus employees with online study assistance applications on the RewardME system and supports the Campus Head in ensuring that each application meets the policy requirements.
• In support of the National Learning & Development team, verify Employee Performance Success bursary applications in support of National L&D.
• Promote LinkedIn Learning with line managers and staff as our first point of training solution. Support line managers with addressing staff training needs/gaps outlined on IDP's (recommend Learning pathways via LinkedIn Learning or support with other training initiatives under the amount of R5000 (expense covered by Campus Training budget).
• Establish Wellbeing Campus Committee/ Ambassadors. Committees/ Ambassadors to promote wellness initiatives and activities across the sites.
• Plan and implement wellbeing initiatives, staff events, and engagement activities that contribute to a positive and supportive employee experience.
• Coordinate recognition (surveys, staff lists, birthday trackers, long-service records, vouchers/certificates/packs); notify managers two months prior to milestones; guide recognition and remuneration in line with policy.
• Coordinate and manage all logistics (quotes, venue, catering/dietary requirements, décor, invitations, setup).
• Sources long service and birthday vouchers/ gifts and gifts for HR events if required (Campus Specific). Line managers to be informed two months prior.
• Ensure that the events budget is adhered to and that all invoices are submitted to the Campus Finance department for payment timeously.
• Communicates important HR notices/news/announcements to the Campus.
• Adheres to the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA) in all matters relating to training and development support on campus.

Talent Management & Performance Success

• Drive completion of Performance Reviews and ensure Talent Reviews are conducted in line with the company issued timeframes; and save data in the required system/format/folders as per company requirements.
• Gather and track the percentage of employees who complete their performance reviews (KPAs, IDPs, Stakeholder forms) within the set timeframe.
• Track the percentage of managers and employees submitting reviews on or before the deadline.
• Monitor feedback quality (specificity, behaviour, outcomes).
• Ensure goal alignment to organisational and/ or departmental objectives.
• Gauges employee sentiment regarding fairness, clarity, and usefulness of performance reviews; identify improvement actions.
• Track Talent Review discipline (schedules met, critical roles with successors, High-Potential employee validation, development plan activation).
• Monitor movement/ promotions and retention of top performers/ HiPos; report insights and actions.
• Adheres to the provisions of the Protection of Personal Act (PoPIA) in all matters relating to talent management and performance success on campus

Payroll, Benefits, and Offboarding Management

• Maintain accurate daily reports, including call reports and interview booking trackers and the CRM system.
• Ensure interview forms are completed correctly and applications have valid supporting documentation.
• Update relevant systems and reports as required by the Head: Student Recruitment.
• Oversee the foreign national approval and tracking (i.e. permit expiry dates, etc.) process on campus. Ensure no offers are made before National People & Culture pre‑approval (Foreign National Guidelines).
• Capture and verify payroll information and supporting documents for all new permanent employees in the HR Engagement App or manual process; ensure packs meet audit and payroll requirements.
• Follow-up and resolve queries and outstanding information or documentation from the new employee's onboarding profile, or manual forms where appropriate.
• Ensure all relevant documents for each new employee are uploaded, within the starting month, into SharePoint and that the files are all named correctly.
• Guide employees on leave policies and application processes; review campus leave types for compliance and escalate issues to Business Partner: People & Culture.
• Additional earnings (P4): Prepare monthly schedule for approved additional work; ensure documentation and addendums are complete and authorised.
• Complete and upload letters and documentation for promotions/ changes; workflow the OF (Request Person Info Change) to Campus Head, Business Partner: People & Culture, and Project Manager: Risk and Financial Analysis; prompt the People & Culture Consultant to update Employee Central.
• Communicate any People and Payroll related information to staff as required.
• Advise employees on Human Resources policies and procedures and guides them on the supporting documentation (where applicable) that supports these policies and procedures.
• Maintain orderly document storage system in SharePoint, or in the other secure systems used by the company (e.g. Applicant Tracking System, MS Teams etc.) or where appropriate in line with company policy, audit requirements and the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA).
• Assist the employee with any queries relating to the company benefits and act as a liaison between the employee and the external service provider as required.
• Maintain P20 (signatory authorisation) files
• Manage the offboarding process end‑to‑end (checklists, recoveries, access removal, documentation, UI‑19/letters where applicable), ensuring policy and legal compliance

Employee Relations/ IR

• Report campus disciplinary/ performance matters timeously to the Business Partner: People & Culture.
• Conduct first‑line investigations under Business Partner: People & Culture guidance with campus management.
• Assist managers with Internal Disciplinary Report forms; ensure supporting evidence is complete prior to submission to Business Partner: People & Culture for action guidance.
• Attend disciplinary/ performance meetings; take minutes when required.
• Draft warnings and/ or collate disciplinary or performance documentation as required.
• Ensure campus performance reviews comply with timeframes and storage requirements.
• Advise staff on policies and basic disciplinary/ performance queries in consultation with Campus Head/ management.
• Ensure that all documentation relating to discipline or performance matters is stored in line with audit/ company requirements and the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA).

Audits & Reporting

• Collaborate with the National People team on People projects and change initiatives.
• Implement continuous improvement to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of People & Culture practices.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition & Insights Lead to track and improve recruitment KPIs aligned to business goals.
• Contribute to People & Culture reporting and insights for data‑driven decisions.
• Ensure all People & Culture documentation (recruitment, onboarding, performance, training, payroll, ER) is securely stored in correct systems/ folders per policy, audit, and PoPIA.
• Review leave applications and audit supporting documentation for policy alignment; alert Campus Head/ manager and Business Partner: People & Culture on concerns for proactive resolution.
• Proactively review annual leave balances; work with staff and managers to avoid forfeitures and support work‑life balance.
• Populate monthly Transformation Statistics (EE breakdown, Recruitment, Terminations, Promotions, Labour Turnover).
• Adhere to the provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act (PoPIA) in all matters relating to leave analysis and reporting on campus.

Minimum Qualification Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Social Science or related field.

Minimum Work Experience Requirements:

• 3-5 years People & Culture/ HR Generalist with proven talent acquisition expertise.
• 2-3 years High-volume recruitment experience and demonstrated ability to partner with senior managers
• 1-2 years exposure to Employee Relations (ER/IR) processes and compliance.
• 2-3 years Experience in coordinating assessments, providing candidate feedback, or working with psychometric tools (advantageous)
• 1-2 years Prior experience in the Higher Education sector (advantageous)

Special Requirements:

• Own car and driver's license required.