HR Generalist at Sidian Bank

JOB PURPOSE

The Human Resources Generalist (HR GEN) is an integral part of the HR team and our organization. In this role, the HR GEN will provide the foundational support and functional expertise that drives productivity and results across Head Office functions. The HR GEN will work closely with the Head of Human Resource to act as a HR leader, strategic partner, Human Capital developer, functional expert as well as employee advocate along the employee lifecycle.

KEY RESPONSIBILTIES

• HR Leadership: develop other Managers to become HR Managers in their own teams by supporting them in performance management, effective communications, managing change, and tracking the value addition for assigned teams.
• Strategic Partnership: take HR expertise in areas of business change and consulting with line managers, whom they partner with in reaching their goals through strategy formulation and direction.
• Human Capital Development: recognize people as critical assets and provide learning opportunities at work to facilitate employee and organizational success.
• Functional Expert: ensuring the administrative efficiency and effectiveness of the HR function.
• Employee Advocate: listening to employee concerns whilst simultaneously adopting a customer, shareholder, and managerial perspective, communicating to employees what is expected of them to be successful in creating value.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

HR LEADERSHIP

• Performance Management – Understand and cascade the performance management system from the banks strategy, contribution matrix, departmental contributions and cascade to staff ensuring SMART targets and help staff appreciate the part they play; Drive the annual performance and planning and review (PPR) process, induction and training of staff, including calibration of talent and ensure adherence to the performance management calendar; Identify poor performance cases, track recommendations e.g. PIP, performance watch and trigger actions as per due date and ensure all documentation is in place for reference.
• Communication – Build awareness and understanding of HR policies through consultation and engagement across the organization; Contribute to HR’s outreach platforms, including intranet, internet and providing content monthly from assigned business units and liaise with Marketing for publication of the monthly Sidianite newsletter; Ensure timely updates to all staff on any changes in policy, medical or statutory changes affecting the staff and staff act on the information accordingly.
• Productivity measurement – Support Managers to effectively measure the workload and required staffing in a unit and to track all output from the staff to ensure optimal utilization of staff and provide productivity metrics for assigned business units to report value back to the business.
• Reporting – Analyzing and reporting HR information to support with benchmarking and the development of HR strategies and solutions. Ensuring that all internal and external reporting requirements are satisfied through the provision of management information and HR returns on a weekly and monthly basis and also utilize the data for process improvements and generate a variety of reports as requested by HR, Finance, and other business leaders.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

• Change Management – Be an ambassador for the function and represent Sidian HR internally and externally (as appropriate) and induct new staff into the Sidian culture, Sidian DNA and core values so that they understand and live the values from day one.
• Strategy implementation – Develop, lead and monitor the implementation of the Annual HR Plan for the Region, including budget and cascade the HR annual plan to all staff within assigned unit and position HR as a strategic unit that supports the business to get buy in from Managers on HR initiatives.
• HR Policies and Procedures interpretation – Maintain a clear understanding and providing up to date knowledge of the legal framework within which HR operates; developing HR policies in line with current legislation, in depth understanding of the Employment Act of Kenya, Labor Laws and HR Policy and assist Managers and staff to appreciate and internalize while proactively seeking feedback on HR policies and procedures and consult with Head of HR to update all HR policies and procedures to keep them relevant.

HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

• Talent Management – Drive the principles of meritocracy with business leaders in all talent decisions, including promotions, transfers, compensation adjustments, driving a talent strategy across the business areas, to include identification of top talent, the import and export of that top talent and the overall career development and drive the biannual HR Review process for a variety of different Practice groups/business, including top talent identification (9 Box), organizational strategy and succession planning.
• Learning & Development – Conduct a comprehensive training needs analysis on an annual basis and prepare a training calendar for the year in line with the bank’s strategic focus and budget implications, prepare learning and development reports to track ROI as well as employee experience to ensure that any training conducted delivers demonstrated value/impact for the bank; Coordinate with Development Financial Institutions, Donors and external parties on identifying the training needs in line with the funding and coordinating the process end to end; Acting as an internal trainer for specific programs identified in the training calendar e.g. induction, HR policies, leadership, code of conduct, benefits and entitlements and HR for non-HR Managers; Liaise with National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) to seek approval of courses and follow up for reimbursement of training spend; Lead for e learning activities to ensure the bank runs 2 e learning sessions per month, 1 quarterly health talk and product and policy information awareness sessions.
• Succession Planning and development – Work with Managers to ensure that Succession plans are updated on an annual basis or on need basis when an identified successor exits the bank; Prepare a development plan for identified successors to ensure they are ready for the role as per identified timelines; Schedule coaching sessions for the identified successors with their supervisors as well as other leaders in the bank.

FUNCTIONAL EXPERT

• Human Resource Planning – Assessing the current skills capacity while forecasting HR requirements for the business and helping the business to plan ahead to be ready to deliver; Ensuring that all proposed positions are approved in the annual plan, updated in the organization chart and have a recruitment plan in place; Engage the Managers to ensure that all critical positions are mapped and there is ready resources in the market and also engage managers not only to fill in any vacant position but to ensure that the recruitment should happen.
• Recruitment and selection – Drive consistency of approach across the group in attracting, managing and developing talent to support current and future organizational needs; Partner with hiring managers to assess talent needs and strategy to meet those talent needs with both internal and external recruiting efforts; Lead the recruitment process including attraction, long/short-listing, interviews and evaluation of candidates; Ensure that all policy areas are adhered to including but not limited to approved staff requisitions, minimum hiring requirements, security vetting and documentation.
• Probation Management – Provide guidance to potential and new staff and probation requirements in terms of documentation and performance management; Ensure that an induction program is set and all logistics in place for the new staff as well as scheduling for the classroom induction; Induct the new staff on all areas related to HR including a walkthrough for HRMIS, Performance Management and HR Policy; Follow up with new staff for a 3 and 6 months check in to ensure they have settled well into their role and all concerns have been addressed; Coordinate to ensure that the Line Manager holds a probation review within timelines with the staff and appropriate action taken – confirmation and onboarding staff to pension, termination of probation as per procedure or extension of probation by setting an extended probation scorecard.
• Compensation & Benefits administration – Track all payroll actions for all staff and ensure the same is updated in the correct payroll month whilst addressing any other payroll concerns with the Compensation & Benefits Officer; Liaison between the staff and Compensation & Benefits Officer in all matters staff benefits to ensure the staff understand the scope of cover, process and remedy any staff issues on medical, pension, staff loans, telephone benefit, reliefs and any other benefit.
• Administration effectiveness – Ensure the administration duties of the HR function are effectively carried out by the HR Administrative Officer and HR Operations Officer (e.g. filing, updating employee records, producing accurate and quality written documentation, managing the starters and leavers process, liaising with payroll, etc.)

EMPLOYEE ADVOCATE

• Union Management – Tracking of unionisable staff and ensuring that any actions taken are copied to the union to avoid any misunderstanding; Understand the Collective Bargaining Agreement as well as the banks position in order to clearly communicate to staff in case of any queries.
• Disciplinary Management – Assist staff to understand the code of conduct, consequence management as well as the disciplinary process; Give advice on the way an investigation report is presented, to ensure it addresses all necessary issues e.g. by HR making the investigator aware of previous cases involving other individuals in similar circumstances, to ensure consistency; Providing HR advisory as a member of the disciplinary committee in addition to serving as the minute taker in consultation with the legal representative to ensure that the hearing is fair to the staff and handles as per employment act and also that all steps are followed from beginning to conclusion; Strict adherence to dispensing the case within the required period as provided by the HR policy; Execution of the recommendations of the disciplinary committee to ensure that the case is closed and action taken e.g. recoveries of monies, termination, warning letters and actions updated in disciplinary tracker
• Grievance Management – Advocate and facilitate resolutions regarding employee relations issues, with escalation to the Head of Human Resources when necessary; Mediate and resolve employee relations issues; conduct thorough and objective investigations when necessary; Follow through, update grievances in grievances tracker and ensure resolution of all staff grievances.
• Health & Safety Management – Ensure that the Health and Safety policy is updated and that all locations have trained fire marshals and first aiders; In liaison with Security Manager, follow up for the annual inspection by Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) to ensure that the workplace is certified as a safe environment wo work; In accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act, ensure training and supervision as is necessary to ensure health and safety at work of all staff.
• Employee Engagement – Promote Organizational Health Index to all Managers to help them appreciate and implement initiatives to support organizational health; Promote participation in employee engagement surveys and cascade the results to the staff in order to promote Sidian as a great place to work; Thoughtfully engage with employees on general queries about compensation, career frameworks, internal mobility, and real-life scenarios in need of coaching; Ensure that people policies are reflective of our employee brand and value proposition; Spends time listening and responding to employees and their concerns; Provides direction and support to employees in HR procedures and through the employee life cycle.

DECISION MAKING AUTHORITY

• The HRBP is well guided by the HR Policy on scope of decision making and where policy is not clear or waiver is needed the HRBP needs to consult with the Head of HR.
• Autonomy in assigning tasks to direct reports and making recommendations based on their performance.

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

• First degree or equivalent in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, Organizational Development, Public Administration or other relevant social sciences.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in human resource management.
• Experience in recruitment and selection, benefits administration, and workplace relations are required.
• Field experience is an asset.
• Experience as a HR Business Partner is an advantage.

SKILLS & COMPETENCIES

• Proficiency with Digital Tools.
• Knowledge of the Business.
• Project and People Management Skills.
• Exceptional Networking and Relationship-Building Acumen.
• Ability to Maintain Confidentiality When Necessary.
• Effective Communication Skills among Diverse Audiences.

PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION

• Valid practicing certificate from IHRM
• Certified Human Resource Professional Kenya CHRP(K) – added advantage