People Business Partner

People Business Partner

Working Pattern: Monday–Friday, 5 over 7, 40 hours per week

Location: Leicester, LE3 8JR

The role

This highly visible People Business Partner position is suitable for an experienced HR professional who thrives in fast-paced, operationally complex environments. You will act as a trusted adviser to senior leaders at your site and beyond, bringing both commercial acumen and people expertise to bear on the challenges and opportunities that come with rapid growth.

While you will be based at one site, you will work closely with People Business Partners across other sites to ensure a consistent and coherent people experience. You will play a key role in shaping and delivering the People strategy, not simply executing it.

 You will manage a broad and varied HR workload; from day-to-day employee relations and manager coaching through to supporting business led organisational change and contributing to people projects. This role offers genuine scope to grow, with increasing autonomy as you build confidence and capability in the business.

The main responsibilities include:

• Act as a credible, trusted partner to site and functional leaders, providing insight and challenge on all people matters.
• Build strong, trusted relationships with managers and leaders across your allocated client groups, acting as the first point of contact for people matters.
• Contribute to and help lead the wider People strategy across the business in collaboration with the HR Managers and Head of People.
• Use data and insight to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, presenting findings and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Contribute to organisational design and workforce planning activity to ensure the right structures and capabilities are in place for growth.
• Champion and lead significant change programmes across the site, including restructures, TUPE, and culture change initiatives.
• Support leaders in building high-performing teams through effective succession planning, talent identification, and development frameworks.
• Manage a varied caseload of employee relations matters including disciplinary, grievance, absence, and performance, providing clear and pragmatic guidance throughout.
• Coach and upskill line managers in handling people issues confidently and consistently, reducing dependency on HR for routine matters.
• Proactively identify ER risks and work with leaders to address them before they escalate.
• Drive the performance management agenda, coaching leaders to have meaningful conversations and make robust people decisions.
• Working closely with the Engagement Manager to champion employee engagement activity.
• Work with leaders to build an inclusive, high-performance culture that supports retention and attracts strong talent.
• Act as a role model and informal leader within the People team, supporting the development of more junior colleagues.
• Lead or contribute to cross-functional People projects and continuous improvement of People policies, processes, and tools.
• Collaborate with the wider People function to deliver an integrated approach to the people agenda.

About Us

At Geary’s Bakeries, we’re on a crusade to make proper bread more accessible to more people. We’re passionate about re-imagining the way Great Britain thinks about their everyday loaf. This passion is at the heart of everything we do, and have done, since 1906.

We are ‘born and bread’ in Leicestershire and proud of our long-standing heritage. Today, we operate from three sites on a 24/7 operation. We’re made up of towards 900 people: a friendly, diverse and outgoing team, passionate about making a difference to the bakery industry.

The business has grown rapidly from £5m in annual sales to £125m+ in the last 15 years with strong and consistent profitability. We have an ambition to increase sales to more than £200m+ in the next 3- 5 years. A clear Vision and Strategy has been articulated, and this is being backed with major capital investment and a renewal and upgrading of the people, processes, and systems.

Our brilliant benefits include free delicious bread, BUPA Cashback Plan, Death In Service, a Cycle to Work scheme and a chance to win a £10k worth prizes annually! Plus, if you refer a friend to join our team, you could earn up to £500!

#wearegearys

About You:

At Geary’s, we look for people who show up every day to do their best. We’re a passionate, friendly team and look for the same qualities in our new recruits. We firmly believe your attitude and approach is just as important (if not, more so) than the skills and experience on your CV.

What we’re looking for:

• Strong HR Business Partner experience, ideally gained in a manufacturing, engineering, logistics, or similarly operational environment.
• Demonstrable track record of influencing and partnering with leaders. In depth knowledge of UK employment law and employee relations best practice.
• Experience operating across multi-site or multi-function businesses.
• CIPD Level 5 qualified or equivalent experience (desirable but not essential).
• A strong relationship builder - approachable, credible, and effective with managers at all levels.
• Commercially astute, with the ability to connect people activity to business performance.
• Confident communicator and influencer at all levels. Comfortable with ambiguity and able to set direction in a fast-moving, scaling organisation.
• Data-literate - able to analyse and present people data to drive decisions.
• Resilient and pragmatic, with the ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery.
• Well-organised and able to manage a varied caseload, prioritising effectively under pressure.
• Pragmatic problem-solver who takes a commercial, as well as people-focused, view.
• Collaborative by nature, with a genuine interest in developing others and sharing knowledge across the People team.

All applicants must have the right to work in the UK, at point of interview, and for the tenure of employment contract. As part of the recruitment process, you will be asked to provide documented evidence of your eligibility to work in the UK.

If you have not heard from us within seven days, unfortunately you have not been successful on this occasion, but we wish you every success in your search for a new position.

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