Employee Relations Advisor

What is the opportunity?

An Employee Relations Advisor (ERA) provides advice and counsel to 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.

The ERA provides support in several primary areas within their assigned portfolio, including:

• Employee conduct and risk culture,
• Individual and collective high performance,
• Relationship management, and
• Operational excellence.

The ERA should have the ability to 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, the ERA proactively identifies issues to provide solutions which meet business needs, place employees at the centre, and sustain and strengthen RBCs value of integrity and high performing culture reinforcing desired behaviours in alignment with the Leadership Model.

What will you do?

Employee conduct & risk culture

• Provide expert advice to ensure consistent application of RBCs Code of Conduct and compliance with all policy, regulatory requirements and applicable federal and provincial employment and human rights legislation.
• Oversee investigations under RBCs Respectful Workplace Policy and Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Standard.

Individual and collective high performance

• Provide advice on performance and attendance management to support a highly engaged and effective workforce.
• Identify issues and mitigants to address people impacts arising from operating model changes and organizational redesign to support exceptional client experiences and operational excellence.

Relationship management

• Provide timely advice, counsel and information to people managers (including senior leaders and executives) to assist them in managing and resolving a high volume and wide range of complex employee issues and concerns.
• Build and maintain key relationships with businesses and functions influencing and negotiating while being viewed as a true partner.

Operational excellence

• 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 HR-led initiatives that strengthen the relationships between RBC and its employees.
• Appropriately track matters within ERs case management system to ensure accurate reporting and enable identification of trends and emerging issues (including identification of potential root causes to assist with incorporating lessons learned into future work).

What do you need to succeed?

Must Have

Demonstrated experience/proven ability in:

• Aligning and integrating risk management with business and HR strategy, as well as complicated risk analysis
• Establishing and managing relationships with senior level stakeholders
• Coaching managers on how to navigate difficult conversations and complex situations
• Strategic thinking, analytical and problem solving capabilities
• Working independently to make quick recommendations despite uncertainty
• Agility to support and move from business to business across the organization
• Strong oral and written communication skills (French/English bilingualism is an asset)
• Managing workplace investigations, including identifying issues for investigation, engagement and interaction with external investigators, reviewing investigation reports and making recommendations based on report conclusions
• 3+ years direct experience in Employee Relations and/or Employment Law

Job Skills

Additional Job Details