senior HR Business Partner

The role

The Warsaw  HRBPs partner with the Office Managing Partner and General  Manager/relevant management teams. 

The role holder will work closely with regional HRBPs and CoEs to deliver high-impact, highly efficient people priorities and processes. The role holder will build trusted advisor relationships with the OMP/ General Manager and their leadership team, along with other key stakeholders.

The role holder will be required to support the business objectives and global people strategy by playing a full-service HR role, leading and developing the strategic people plans, and providing the tools for Partners/Heads of Department to effectively manage their high-performing teams. The role may retain HR Business Partner responsibilities for specific practices/groups where relevant and will act as an independent and trusted advisor to the key members of the local management team on all HR organizational and people-related issues. The below key responsibilities are to be carried out in line with the global People and Talent Strategy, together with any additional regional or local HR strategic priorities. The role holder will agree on clear objectives with their Regional HR Lead and the management team of the office.

Key Relationships

Regional HR Lead, Office General Manager, Office Manager, Office Managing Partner, Office functional heads, (Senior/Practice Area) HR Business Partners within the office/region and the relevant Centres of Expertise.

Key Responsibilities

People and Talent Strategy

• Partners with OMP/ General Manager and their leadership teams as well as other HRPBs as relevant to develop and deliver people strategy aligned to the office strategy and the firm's People and Talent Strategy.

People Priorities

• Partners with the OMP/ General Manager and the Leadership Team as well as other HRPBs as relevant to embed the Firm's people priorities across the function. This includes developing a comprehensive talent calendar, bringing together outputs of key regional processes (e.g. Talent Pipeline Reviews), shaping the regional talent agenda (e.g. succession planning for key roles), and working with OMP/ General Manager on key talent processes (e.g. compensation). 

• Prepares OMP/ General Manager for regular reporting on people matters.

HR Leadership

• Actively participates in the regional HR leadership team 

• Actively contributes to the people strategy formation by participating in global and regional HR projects linked to the strategy

• Within the framework of the global strategy, participates in the planning and implementation of all HR aspects of the regional or office strategy with the management team of the office and/ or with the relevant Centres of Expertise and HR team

• Provides HR support, coaching, and direction to partners and key members of management on HR-related and people issues

Inclusion

• Works with the Global (and regional) Head of Inclusion to drive a culture of inclusion and diversity and empowers business leaders and Partners to do the same

• Identifies and adopts relevant and impactful initiatives, ensuring they are tracked and adapted as appropriate

Wellbeing

• Works with the Global (and regional) Head of Wellbeing and People Experience to lead a programme focused on improving the wellbeing of the Firm's population

• Promotes and communicates on a range of wellbeing initiatives including physical and mental health. Challenges business decisions that are incongruent with the Firm's wellbeing strategy.

Listening and Engagement

• Monitors people engagement through, for example, surveys, working with the regional HRBP and other relevant colleagues to develop and implement action plans.

• Uses broader data from other sources of employee listening from across the firm, e.g. Code of Conduct workshops, Inclusion focus groups, etc to give a broader perspective and insights.

• Works with diverse and flight risk top talent to understand concerns, and partners with key stakeholders to address them.

Employee Relations

• Acts as a trusted advisor to the Office Managing Partner / General Manager/ Heads of Departments on all employee relation issues.

• Keeps up to date on all aspects of relevant legislation and communicates the impact of any changes on existing policies/procedures to the relevant stakeholders

• Instructs or strongly influences managers/ partners on sensitive ER issues, on the appropriate approach to resolve conflict. Works with key stakeholders to prepare scripts for ER-related conversations, including exits

• Provides, where appropriate, confidential employee counseling, guidance and coaching with the aim of resolving situations informally when possible

• Ensures all employee-related policies are communicated and implemented consistently e.g. absence management, maternity, and disciplinary. Responsible for conducting grievance and disciplinary processes below Director/Partner level.

• Ensures regular training and compliance with Health & Safety regulations.

Organisation Design

• Understands internal as well as external issues facing the business. Uses HR competencies and core knowledge to deliver streamlined and efficient processes to enhance the business operating model.

• Partners with key stakeholders to determine the business need for new and amended roles. Identifies key responsibilities and impacts of proposed changes on existing roles and structure to shape the decision. Partners with colleagues to role map.

Financial Management 

• acts on management information/ analytics on headcount, attrition, utilisation, ratios and other key HR metrics to inform the business and to optimise effective decision 

Policies and Processes 

• Ensures that all standard processes are administered efficiently and within agreed timescales - i.e. references, visa documentation, bank transfer/ salary letters. Works with Service Delivery to identify opportunities to improve, self-service/offshore/outsource standard processes e.g. standard templates, self-service.

• Ensures that processes and policies are in place to ensure that joiners, transfers, secondments, leavers (including redundancies, dismissals) are dealt with fairly, accurately and consistently.

Risk, Data and Analytics 

• Brings people data, analytics and reporting to Office Managing Partner/ General Manager to inform key people processes and decisions. Partners with analytics CoE on specific problem statements, and leverages consistent reporting standards developed by CoE. Ensure the integrity of people data kept for offices is maintained

• Understands business and commercial metrics and combine this with relevant people data to drive analysis and decision-making.

• Brings market knowledge of leading practice HR to the function, to inform people strategy and priorities, in line with global strategy

• Ensures the integrity of people data for office(s) is maintained

• Analyses turnover and retention data and makes recommendations for improvements

• Provides routine and special reports to government agencies/ regulatory bodies as required.

• Is responsible for risk and compliance in terms of legislative and regulatory requirements and participates in the compliance and risk review on an annual basis to identify and overcome significant business risks within the office(s)

Talent Management

Workforce Planning and Org Design

• Works with office leadership to develop a resourcing plan that anticipates demand and capacity needs, future skills and capabilities, and attrition. Work across CoEs (e.g. Talent Acquisition, Academy and Leadership Development) to coordinate the plan.

• Works with office leadership to ensure optimal organization structure for the office

• Delivers the annual (semi-annual) talent pipeline review process from end to end including timetabling, communication, and pipeline review meetings, and delivers results to the Regional Talent Pipeline Review Committee

• Ensures that regular Practice Area planning sessions take place to enable detailed resource and succession planning. This includes the analysis of current resources and future demand, demographics, and attrition

• Collaborates with key stakeholders (including Resource Managers, where relevant) to identify creative and/or alternative solutions to address skills gaps or skills shortages in the medium and long term to ensure sustainable performance.

Talent Acquisition 

• Partner with OMP/ MD and TA CoE on lateral partner recruiting across the Country/ Office

• Responsible for liaising with the lateral recruitment team / relevant Regional HRBP to overcome challenges in the hiring process.

• Works with Global HRBPs to integrate the functional strategy and key global objectives into the induction plan for key senior hires.

• Ensures Partner lateral hires have the right support and coaching in place, as part of overall onboarding experience.

• Works closely with Talent Acquisition CoE to develop an approach to resourcing that attracts the best talent, is cost effective and provides an exceptional candidate experience

• Oversees the recruitment of graduates under the office/ country scheme, ensuring market position is maintained and costs are managed

• Working with Talent Acquisition, ensures that appropriate training is provided for those involved in the interview process

• Works closely with the Head of Finance and with HRBPs for each Practice Area or group, as applicable, to ensure that the annual headcount plans are linked to the budgeting process

Performance Management

• Delivers the 'Three Conversations' from end to end including timetabling, communication, appraiser training, meetings to moderate ratings and agree key messages for appraisals

• With the appropriate Partners/ Managers identifies and addresses overall performance issues/ gaps that impact on the success of the business performance/ strategy.

Compensation

• Ensures the office reward strategy is regularly reviewed and is aligned to local market data, in accordance with the global compensation framework. Influences and guides Partners/ Heads of Department in fair and objective decision making

• Participates in and implements the annual salary and bonus review process led by HR Lead and OMP.

Career Development

• Uses outputs of Talent Pipeline Reviews, employee listening, people data and analytics, succession planning, etc to identify career development opportunities and plans for key roles, high performers, diverse talent

• Influences future design of business professional career framework

• Builds a development culture within the office(s) to ensure that transparent career structures and development plans are in place

Succession Planning

• Supports OMP/ GM in succession planning 

• Identifies skills and experience gaps across office and partners with relevant CoEs to ensure development plans are in place

• Works with relevant Regional/ Global HRBPs to identify critical roles and/or skills for future partner roles and to identify potential pipeline of successors. Where there is a lack of pipeline or diversity, works with the relevant Regional HRBPs to identify solutions.
• Acts as a trusted advisor in any relevant promotion process in line with succession planning

Code of Conduct

• Partners with OMP/ GM to ensure adherence to the firm's Code of Conduct

Your experience

You will have experience as an HR Manager/ HR Business Partner in a professional services organization with a highly trained workforce and a reputation for HR service excellence. You will have gained significant operational experience and you will now be looking for a role that combines working at both an operational and strategic level. 
You will have a proven track record of developing and implementing HR initiatives that have demonstrably contributed to achieving business objectives and enhanced overall business performance. 

You will be educated to degree level or equivalent and ideally have formal HR qualifications e.g. Masters Degree and demonstrate strong commercial awareness.
Fluency in both written and spoken Polish and English is essential.

Who we are

We are one of the largest international law firms in the world. With over 30 offices across the globe, we strive to exceed the expectations of our clients, providing them with the highest-quality advice and legal insight, which combines the firm’s global standards with in-depth local expertise.

Our firm, work and people span jurisdictions, cultures, and languages. We offer our clients a truly international perspective. We believe every career should be rewarding and stimulating - full of opportunities to learn, thrive, and grow. That’s why we’re so proud of our inclusive, friendly, and team-based approach to work.

You’ll find our clients in commercial and industrial sectors, the financial investor community, governments, regulators, trade bodies, and not-for-profit organisations. But no matter who they are or why they’ve reached out to us, we provide a world-class service every step of the way. And that’s possible thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit and conscientious approach to work that you’ll find across all of our teams.

Whichever area of the business you join, you’ll become an integral part an innovative, diverse and ambitious team of people. Clifford Chance is a place where the brightest minds and the best of colleagues meet.
 

Equal opportunities statement

At Clifford Chance, we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society. 
 
We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age.  This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment. 

We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement. 

Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm.  

Find out more about our inclusive culture here. 

#LI-AD2