Operations Officer at Financial Sector Deepening Kenya (FSD Kenya)

ROLE

HR support 

• Liaise with management, technical and operations teams to support end-to-end recruitments.
• Support onboarding of new hires and offboarding of exits including coordinating or conducting exit interviews
• Manage the completion of all probationary reviews in coordination with the line managers and issue confirmation letters.
• Ensure that all legal/statutory requirements associated with the employment of staff by FSD Kenya are fulfilled (including immigration requirements and contracting).
• Support in updating and reviewing HR policies and the HR handbook in line with evolving needs and legal requirements.
• In concert with the Head of Operations identify scheme administrators and underwriters for the medical and Group life personal accident schemes ensuring that SLAs are observed, policies and endorsements are issued on time. Ensure member benefits enrolment and periodic member education, that staff are guided to meet the requirements fo the schemes and that the utilisations are monitored and kept to recommended industry and institutional limits.
• Act as liaison between staff and scheme administrators and ensure any lapses are addressed timeously.
• Coordinate issuance of letters to banks and other institutions for staff to secure facilities
• Manage data in the HR Information System. Provide routine reports including demography reports, gender pay gaps, run data analysis, for management use.
• In concert with IT specialist, train new users/new hires on the HRIS and carry out routine refreshers in areas of need.
• Support annual and mid-year performance processes
• Manage leave processes including tracking of utilisation
• Record management in line with legal, regulatory ensuring easy storage and retrieval of documents

Operations support 

• Provide logistical support for internal and external meetings, workshops and conferences in liaison with other operations staff
• Provide secretarial and rapporteur support for internal and external meetings as is required and report and track actions for implementation
• Support in procurement processes including developing ToRs
• Support issuance and renewals of contracts for other third party’s monitor
• Ensure high-quality production, storage and retrieval of materials and documents
• Support in the generation of quarterly and annual reports

Compliance and risk 

• Prepare for and lead HR audits; ensure that any corrective actions relating to HR management are closed out in a timely manner.
• Support the Programme management team (PMT) in ensuring organisational compliance to policies and procedures and other legal and statutory requirements
• Implement all aspects of the risk management relating to HR and admin which includes updating HR and administrative risk registers.

Training 

• In concert with the PMT and Head of operations assist in identifying trainings for staff across the programme
• Collate training needs identified through the performance reviews or opportunistically for approval by the line managers and PMT; use the collated data to identify appropriate training opportunities
• Conduct relevant trainings across the programme as may be required

Organisational and occupational health and safety

• Support PMT in conducting appropriately timed and spaced-out opinion surveys or needs assessments and distilling and communicating results as needed to management and staff.
• Participate in Occupational Safety and Health committee meetings and ensure all safety, audit and training compliances are in place.
• Support management in rolling out organisational pulse surveys and distilling and communicating findings

Stakeholder management

• Manage effective communication channels with FSD staff and providers
• Be the first line of response to general staff enquiries.
• Represent FSD Kenya positively and professionally and promote a positive and collegial culture; seek to effectively resolve any conflicts and grievances objectively and in line with good practices
• Maintain employee confidence and protect operations and processes by keeping information confidential.

CONDUCT OF WORK

• The Operations officer will work as a full-time member of the FSD Kenya team, be a member of the Project management office (PMO) and report directly to the Head of operations. Given the core value of collaboration and cross-working, the Operations officer will support other colleagues including the CEO and Programme management team (PMT) to achieve the programme objectives, ensure stewardship of the Trust’s resources and adherence to policies and procedures.
• Working arrangements will be flexible with the approach taken driven by the demands of the role. Communication and collaboration are core to the FSD team’s effectiveness. Successful remote and flexible working requires liaison with operations and project team members and the full adoption of FSD’s technology-based communication tools. Guidelines on effective remote working and flexitime are set out in FSD’s policies and procedures which should be strictly adhered to.

OUTCOMES AND DELIVERABLES

• The Operations officer will be responsible for providing efficient day-to-day operations support to the programme.
• H/She will be at the front line in assuring staff are well-apprised and compliant with key policies and procedures.
• Together with the Operations lead, s/he will ensure a well-organised Operations and HR function that runs efficiently, avoiding wastage of resources and time.
• FSD Kenya is managed on a strongly results-based approach and each person is expected to deliver specific annual targets agreed with their team members to support the strategy and business plan. The Operations officer will work in collaboration with the rest of the FSD team to ensure the overall success of the FSD Kenya objectives. Programme and project reporting, as formally specified in the FSD Kenya policies must be delivered on time and to the highest standards.

PERSON SPECIFICATIONS – ESSENTIAL AND DESIRABLE

Mandatory requirements

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in any related field
• At least 5 years experience in operations and administrative roles
• Good command of oral and written English

Desired and essential

• Extensive knowledge of best practices in HR management and training is desired.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision given the role will be remote.
• Ability to handle a demanding set of outputs against tight deadlines.
• Good skills in MS Office (Word and Excel).
• Excellent people skills.