The Senior HR Specialist is responsible for providing expert HR support across assigned countries, ensuring compliance with local employment legislation, company policies, and People Services standards. The role partners closely with HR Business Partners, People Services teams, Global Service Delivery (GSD), Centres of Excellence (COEs), managers, and business leaders to deliver consistent, compliant, and employee-focused HR solutions.
The role serves as a subject matter expert on employee relations, labour legislation, and HR operations, while driving process improvements, supporting global initiatives, and promoting a standardized approach to HR service delivery.
About HR
Our business is nothing without our people. As part of our global Human Resources team, you will be supporting over 8,000 people, across 100 legal entities in 43 different countries. We have a vibrant and nurturing culture where everyone can learn, grow, and thrive. We also love ideas and exploring new ways of doing things, united by our love of language.
Key Responsibilities
1. Employee Relations & HR Advisory
• Act as the HR subject matter expert for employee relations matters across assigned countries.
• Provide guidance and support to HR Advisors, Country Leads, managers, and business leaders on complex employee relations cases, including disciplinary matters, grievances, performance improvement plans (PIPs), misconduct, terminations, restructures, and redundancies.
• Ensure employee relations cases are managed consistently, fairly, and in accordance with company policies and local legislation.
• Support business leaders in managing employee issues while balancing legal compliance and business needs.
2. Employment Law & Compliance
• Maintain strong knowledge of labour laws, employment legislation, statutory requirements, and company policies for assigned countries.
• Monitor legislative developments and assess their impact on HR policies and practices.
• Provide practical guidance to stakeholders on compliance-related matters.
• Promote continuous learning to ensure HR practices remain legally compliant and aligned with best practices.
3. HR Projects & Change Management
• Support the implementation of global, regional, and local HR initiatives within assigned countries.
• Coordinate country-specific activities related to global HR projects, ensuring compliance with local legal and business requirements.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure successful project delivery and effective change management.
4. Service Delivery Excellence
• Deliver high-quality HR services in line with agreed service standards and the People Services operating model.
• Adopt a service delivery and continuous improvement mindset to improve efficiency, consistency, and quality.
• Partner with Global Service Delivery (GSD) teams to transition suitable HR administrative activities into the shared services model.
• Manage local HR activities that remain outside GSD while driving standardization and identifying future transition opportunities.
5. Process Improvement & Standardization
• Proactively identify opportunities to streamline HR processes and improve operational efficiency.
• Recommend and implement improvements that simplify ways of working while enhancing employee and manager experience.
• Promote standardization across countries wherever legally feasible, reducing unnecessary complexity and legacy practices.
• Support the continuous evolution of People Services processes.
6. People Services Operating Model
• Adhere to the People Services operating model, ensuring work is completed within the appropriate functional teams.
• Collaborate effectively across HR functions to deliver seamless employee support.
• Contribute ideas that improve productivity, simplify processes, and enhance service delivery.
7. Employee Experience
• Deliver an employee-centric HR service by providing responsive, professional, and solution-oriented support.
• Build trusted relationships with employees, managers, and HR stakeholders.
• Ensure all interactions reflect professionalism, empathy, confidentiality, and a commitment to service excellence.
8. Employer Brand & Culture
• Champion the organization's employer brand and values across assigned countries.
• Support initiatives that strengthen employee engagement and organizational culture.
• Adapt global HR initiatives to local cultural and business contexts while maintaining alignment with organizational values.
9. Root Cause Analysis & Operational Excellence
• Embed Root Cause Analysis (RCA) as a standard approach to resolving operational and employee-related issues.
• Identify recurring trends and implement sustainable corrective and preventive actions.
• Use data and insights to improve HR processes and service delivery.
10. Professional Leadership
• Demonstrate a positive, collaborative, and solution-oriented "can-do" attitude.
• Act as a trusted advisor and mentor to HR colleagues where appropriate.
• Foster strong working relationships across HR, Payroll, Talent Acquisition, Global Service Delivery, COEs, and business leadership.
• Take ownership of responsibilities while promoting accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Skills & Experience
Life at RWS - If you like the idea of working with smart people who are passionate about growing the value of ideas, data and content by making sure organizations are understood, then you’ll love life at RWS.
Our purpose is to unlock global understanding. This means our work fundamentally recognizes the value of every language and culture. So, we celebrate difference, we are inclusive and believe that diversity makes us strong. We want every employee to grow as an individual and excel in their career.
In return, we expect all our people to live by the values that unite us: to partner, putting clients fist and winning together, to pioneer, innovating fearlessly and leading with vision and courage, to progress, aiming high and growing through actions and to deliver, owning the outcome and building trust with our colleagues and clients.
RWS embraces DEI and promotes equal opportunity, we are an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. RWS is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at RWS are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation. RWS will not tolerate discrimination based on any of these characteristics.
RWS Values
Get the 3Ps right – Partner, Pioneer, Progress – and we´ll Deliver together as RWS.
Recruitment Agencies: RWS Holdings PLC does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward any unsolicited resumes to any RWS employees. Any unsolicited resume received will be treated as the property of RWS and Terms & Conditions associated with the use of such resume will be considered null and void.
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