Our purpose at The Warehouse Group is ‘Helping Kiwis live better every day.” We’ve gone agile to ensure our customers always come first.   To meet the ever-changing demands of our customers, we’re simplifying the way we work, speeding up decision making, and breaking down the hierarchy so we work better, faster. 

We are looking for an experienced Employment Relations Lawyer to join our wider team. This role will report into the Head of Employment Relations.

The Role:

As an Employment Relations Manager, (which is a role we call Chapter Member Employment Relations) you are responsible for providing decisive, accurate and strategic advice to the business leading to excellent ER outcomes.  You will provide timely and pragmatic legal advice to a range of stakeholders across the business regarding a full range of employment law issues, including our HR Business partners.  You will have a deep understanding of the law and business drivers and apply these together to achieve commercial outcomes.   You will be recognized for catching risk early, training and developing others in ER matters and calling out issues and solutions to ER issues that can have a business-wide impact.

• have a deep understanding of employment law and practices including employment legislation, collective bargaining, personal grievances, large scale restructuring
• understands risk appetite and how to achieve pragmatic outcomes
• provide candid feedback and advice to senior management
• combine expert knowledge of Employment Law with business understanding to deliver commercial outcomes
• coach and develop HR team
• support the ER strategy and plan for stores and the Distribution Centres
• help the company ‘gel’ together, work smoothly
• deep understanding and track-record of getting things done E2E across TWG
• champion customer centricity
• use wider business understanding to drive the best possible commercial outcomes
• deliver good outcomes to disputes and negotiations, including mediation
• drive innovation culture
• drive value from key service providers and manages litigation as required
• deliver strong compliance outcomes

About You:

• Should hold a New Zealand Law Society practising certificate
• experience in collective bargaining
• strong experience in managing complex ER issues including employment litigation, personal grievances, large scale restructuring, outsourcing etc
• deep understanding of New Zealand employment legislation
• experience in operating as a ‘Trusted Advisor’ to senior management in a medium to large organisation.

In addition:

• strong communication and observation skills to teach and convey messages in a professional form
• proven skills in mentoring and coaching to assist squad members in the areas of development and agile methodology
• can-do attitude, result-driven and openness to learn
• ability to learn and adapt in a fast-paced environment

Why work for us:

• We offer a dynamic, supportive team environment within a business that cares about and recognises individuals.
• We offer flexibility.
• We have strong values and do our bit for the environment
• You will have onsite parking
• You will enjoy team discounts when shopping at our major stores

Why wait, apply today and come and see what great looks like.