People & Culture Business Partner

In 200 years of delivering excellence in education, Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) has grown alongside the city’s dynamic, ever-changing and multicultural landscape with over 150 schools, more than 70,000 students and around 10,000 staff.

The People & Culture Directorate is a highly motivated, continuous improvement team focused on supporting our employees with strategic and tactical people initiatives and programs of work. Our main goal is to provide support to our school community through collaboration, and delivering purposeful and value-driven work.

At the heart of all we do are our core values of empathy, curiosity, excellence, collaboration and truth.

The Role

We are looking for an influencer and driver of change that can provide professional advice with regards to HR Policy interpretation, employment relations as well as support with a strategic people lens to drive employee engagement, capability development and retention.

The P&C Business Partners represent the People and Culture team by partnering directly with internal and external stakeholders. P&C Business Partners work face-to-face with managers, supervisors and school leaders to develop and maintain long-term relationships in order to achieve outcomes that are both industrially sound and operationally practical.

Our ideal candidate will be resilient, highly adaptable, and flexible as this role evolves to meet the needs of the organisation within a changing landscape.

Come join our People & Culture team as we embark on supporting our system of 150 schools in teaching and learning.

Reporting to the Manager: People & Culture Operations, this role is responsible for:

• partnering with School Leaders to implement people plans.
• supporting Leadership capability in performance related matters by coaching and mentoring Leaders through:
  • providing advice and support to leaders regarding the management of unsatisfactory performance and/or misconduct issues in the workplace.
  • managing ill and injured workers in consultation with the People and Culture Health and Wellbeing team.
  • conducting investigations in consultation with the Strategy Policy and Governance Child Protection and Legal team.
  • facilitating the resolution of workplace complaints, grievances and/or disputes.
  • interpreting employment legislation and industrial instruments.
• coaching leaders and managers in their application of employment relations policies and the management of human resources processes.
• building and maintaining effective relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.
• promoting and encouraging relevant employment programs aligned with SCS strategy and People and Culture business plan.
• identifying ways of improving human resources capability, practices and processes and escalate with appropriate stakeholders for implementation.
• evaluating the effectiveness of human resources policies and practices and recommend changes and enhancements as identified.
• preparing training material and deliver human resources specific training internally, as required.
• connecting managers, supervisors and school leaders with internal/external stakeholders and providers to fulfill additional training needs.
• keeping up to date with human resources practices and employment legislation, and communicate changes.

Essential Criteria

To be considered for this role, you will have the following experience, skills and knowledge:

• Tertiary qualification/s in Industrial Relations, Human Resources Management, Business, Commerce or other relevant fields or at least five years experience in a similar role.
• Prior experience in a human resources consultative or business partner role in a large, complex and diverse organisation.
• Excellent time management and organisational skills including the ability to manage competing priorities.
• Excellent written communication skills including high attention to detail and the ability to write non-standard correspondence.
• Strong verbal communication skills with the ability to influence others to action.
• Excellent interpersonal skills that gain respect and credibility with key stakeholders.
• Ability to develop skills and experience by collaborating and sharing knowledge with other People and Culture colleagues.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with other teams and specialists to present a united front to key stakeholders.
• Sound understanding of the Australian employment relations regulatory environment.
• Sound knowledge of human resources principles and practice.
• Education industry experience welcomed.

Please click on ‘View Role Description’ on the top of this page for a detailed description about this position.

We welcome applications from suitably qualified and experienced personnel from regional, central offices and school based employees.

This position offers a base salary of $139,168 + Employer’s Contribution to Superannuation, with additional NFP salary packaging of up to a maximum of $15,900 every year.

Application Questions:

1. In this role, you will need to build and strengthen relationships with other stakeholders both internally and externally to improve services to mutual clients. In 200 words or less, please describe your experience in building and maintaining successful relationships.
2. In 200 words or less describe a process or initiative that you have designed and implemented. What worked well and what were key lessons learned?
3. In 200 words or less, how would you describe Sydney Catholic Schools as an employer brand?

Application Process

To be considered for this opportunity, please click on the ‘Apply for Job’ button and follow the prompts.

Alternatively, if you are an SCS employee, please apply via the ‘careers’ tile on Employee Self Service.

If you have any questions, please contact the recruitment team via hr.recruitment@syd.catholic.edu.au