Senior Employee Relations Advisor

What is the opportunity?

As the Senior Employee Relations Advisor, you will provide advice and counsel to executives, people managers and employees on complex and high-risk workplace situations, providing a fair and transparent employee experience while managing risk to RBC by ensuring compliance with policy and business ethics practices, regulatory requirements and applicable federal and provincial employment and human rights legislation.

You will provide support in several primary areas within their assigned portfolio, including:

• performance, absenteeism and behavioural issues;
• potential Code of Conduct breaches, including investigations under the Respectful Workplace Policy and Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Standard;
• business initiatives and restructures.

You will confidently provide support in all of the above-noted areas and must be able to move fluidly between various lines of business as the primary ER point of contact. In partnership with the business and other functional partners, you proactively identify issues to provide solutions which meet business needs, place employees at the centre, and sustain and strengthen RBC's value of Integrity and high performing culture reinforcing desired behaviours in alignment with the Leadership Model.

What will you do?

• Provide expert advice on workplace issues and concerns to executives and senior leaders to assist in managing and resolving complex employee issues and concerns.
• Manage highly complex cases and act as first point of escalation for ERAs on complex matters arising in the ERA's portfolio. Provide coaching and advice to ERAs regarding management of matters reported through various Speak Up Channels
• Work closely with Director / Sr. Director on complex and sensitive matters and broader business-related initiatives and projects (e.g., role design, restructures, advisory support with respect to the application of and compliance with policies and programs
• Build and maintain key relationships with businesses and functions, influencing and negotiating while being viewed as a true partner
• Support ER senior management with the development of internal, ER specific resources, guidelines, processes and tools to facilitate ER's ability to provide a consistent approach to case management, support the efficient delivery of ER activities and enable ER to provide advice at scale
• Manage risk and improve manager and employee experience through enabling and ensuring well informed, fair and transparent decisions which place employees at the centre and focus on RBC Values while making recommendations for continuous improvement
• Champion Employee Relations initiatives with significant impact on employees and/or workplace risk.

What do you need to succeed?

Must-haves:

• Minimum 7+ years direct experience in Employee Relations and/or Employment Law.
• Post-secondary education (preferred focus in Human Resources or Employment Law.)
• Demonstrated and applied knowledge of Canadian employment law & regulations (both federal & provincial including human rights, accommodation, whistleblowing, and workplace standards / requirements)
• Proven experience aligning and integrating risk management with business and HR strategy.
• Strategic thinking, analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Experience establishing and managing relationships with executives and senior level stakeholders.
• Ability to drive change in unfamiliar or ambiguous circumstances, to handle confidential information and escalate issues when appropriate.
• Excellent organizational skills, able to juggle and prioritize multiple tasks simultaneously while delivering on commitments.
• Strong sense of accountability, high-quality judgment and sound decision-making.
• Outstanding communication skills in written and verbal form; extensive public speaking, training, and/or leadership communication skills.
• Significant Experience in conducting and/or managing workplace investigations.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience in an in-house legal department or law firm.
• Called to the Bar of a Canadian province (or equivalent.)
• Significant Experience in conducting and/or managing workplace investigations.
• Bilingual (English/French.)

What's in it for you?

We thrive on the challenge to be our best, progressive thinking to keep growing, and working together to deliver trusted advice to help our clients thrive and communities prosper. We care about each other, reaching our potential, making a difference to our communities, and achieving success that is mutual.

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation.
• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team.
• Opportunities to take on progressively greater scopes of work.

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