Description:
Reporting to the Employee Relations Manager, the People and Absence Management Officer is a specialist responsible for effective case management of long term-absence, accurate sick leave benefits administration, insightful reporting on absence and supporting employee health and wellbeing. Playing a pivotal role in overseeing prolonged employee absences, the postholder ensures that absences are handled in compliance with university policies, while providing support to employees through their leave and assisting with facilitating their return to work. The postholder collaborates with various stakeholders across the University and with external healthcare providers. The successful candidate will be self-motivated and professional, adept at accurately administering policy and benefits, collaborating successfully across stakeholders while maintaining an empathetic focus on employee wellbeing.
Key Responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities of the individual include, but are not restricted to, the following:
- Case management of long-term absences
- Monitor and manage cases of long-term absences, maintaining regular communication with affected employees to provide support and gather necessary documentation
- Co-ordinate with occupational health professionals to assess employees medical status and facilitate appropriate actions
- Advise Business Partners and Line managers of individualised return to work plans considering any necessary accommodations or adjustments to duties
- Co-ordinate collection of Reasonable Accommodation request form received through line managers and provide support and advice on processing the application in line with University policies and legal obligations
- Provide clear information and guidance to employees and managers on policies, benefits, and support schemes
- Identify and escalate risk concerns to the Employee Relations Manager
- Track and manage cases effectively, ensuring timely communication, accurate documentation, and issue of appropriate letters
- Advise and support business partners and line managers in maintaining consistency in absence-related decision-making and in line with University policy
- Apply knowledge of employment law, particularly Employment Equality ensuring compliance with legal obligations
- Absence reporting and record keeping
- Maintain accurate and up to date records of employee absences, ensuring confidentiality and compliance with data protection regulations
- Generate and analyse reports to identify trends, inform policy development and support management decision-making
- Sick leave and illness benefits administration
- Administer sick leave benefits in accordance with university policies, government regulations and contracts
- Inform employees about their sick leave entitlements, benefits, and any relevant procedures, ensuring clarity and transparency
- Sensitively approach communications with employees who have exhausted illness benefits
- Collaborate with payroll to ensure accurate and timely processing of sick leave payments
- Provide support in processing applications for ill health and early retirement
- Policy development and compliance
- Contribute to the development and refinement of absence management and sick leave policies, ensuring alignment with current legislation and best practice
- Ensure university compliance with legal and regulatory requirements related to long-term absence and sick leave
- Maintain and update SLAs, policies, procedures, template letters, and process flow documents
- Employee support and wellbeing
- Provide empathetic guidance and support to employees throughout their absence, addressing concerns and facilitating access to resources such as Employee Assistance Programme
Qualifications & Experience
Essential:
- A primary degree (NFQ Level 7) in Human Resources, Finance, Business or a related field, along with 2 years of relevant experience
- Knowledge of employment law particularly related to Employment Equality, Absence and Sick Leave
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
- Strong attention to detail and organisational skills
- Ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and maintain confidentiality
- Basic proficiency in Excel including simple formula use, basic chart creation and cell formatting
Desirable:
- Knowledge of public sector absence and illness benefit regulations
- Ability to identify, assess and escalate risks in a timely manner
- Intermediate proficiency in Excel including the use of advanced formulas such as VLOOKUP, pivot tables and conditional formatting
- Knowledge of reporting function on CoreHR/People XD
- Knowledge of public sector pay schemes, statutory pay, pension schemes, and income continuance benefits
- Understanding of the use of data analytics and metrics in HR