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Manager Advice Service Manager

Job Posted: 14 hours ago

Salary: £ 52,000 - 52,000 / Annum
Job Type: Permanent
Location: Reading

Expire in: a month

Job Description

The Manager’s Advice Service Manager leads the effective delivery of the Manager’s Advice Service, ensuring timely, consistent and high‑quality ER advice to managers across Thames Water. Reporting to the Head of Employee Relations, the role has clear accountability for recruiting, leading, coaching and developing a team of ER Advisors, setting service standards, and ensuring clear ownership across triage, prioritisation and quality assurance of ER cases. 

The role provides operational oversight rather than holding a substantive personal caseload, acting as a credible escalation point for case complexity and risk. Working closely with ER Consultants and the ER Manager, ensuring appropriate escalation of high‑risk or sensitive matters, consistent application of policy and robust documentation standards. Through the use of data, trends and insight, the role identifies service improvements and targeted ER interventions, working directly with managers and in partnership with Trade Unions to improve outcomes across absence, conduct, grievance, performance and wellbeing. The role also has oversight of flexible working and probation requests, as well as rehire checks. 

What you’ll be doing as a Manager Advice Service Manager

Lead and manage a team of ER Advisors delivering a high-volume, ER advice service to managers 
Own triage and allocation of ER cases, prioritising based on risk, complexity and impact, with a review of case numbers across the advice team and ensuring clear escalation routes 
Set and maintain service standards (responsiveness, quality, documentation and manager/employee experience) and monitor performance against agreed measures 
Maintain oversight of advice quality, case handling and documentation standards across all ER advice and case activity 
Coach and develop ER Advisors to build capability, judgement and consistency across key ER processes, including absence, conduct, capability, grievance, well-being, and escalated flexible working and probation cases
Complete regular quality assurance reviews of advisor calls and cases, identifying themes, development needs and risk trends
Act as an escalation point for complexity and risk, determining when matters should be transferred to ER Consultants / ER Manager
Oversee escalation pathways for complex, sensitive or high-risk cases in partnership with ER Consultants and the ER Manager, in line with the agreed escalation procedure
Lead the coordination and oversight of the Appeals process, ensuring consistent handling and governance 
Engage with wider People Services and business stakeholders to ensure visibility and impact of ER priorities 
Own operational ER reporting for the advice service, including demand, trends, risk hotspots and service performance measures, translating insights into targeted interventions, guidance and capability-building 
Use MI to identify pressure points, capability gaps and opportunities to improve manager outcomes and colleague experience 
Act as the operational SME for the Manager’s Advice Service, providing practical input to ER optimisation and change programmes owned by the ER Optimisation Lead 
Support implementation and embedding of agreed changes within the advice team (process, tools, guidance and ways of working) 
Provide insight and feedback from triage activity and quality reviews to inform service improvements and training needs 
Monitor the impact of implemented changes within the service and feedback outcomes, risks and further improvement opportunities Base Location: Hybrid – Reading
Working Pattern or hours: 36 hours

What you should bring to the role
To thrive in this role, the essential criteria you’ll need are:

Demonstrated ability to lead a team, with a focus on team development and performance, preferably within an ER or HR operational environment
Strong ER advisory background with experience of triaging, prioritising and overseeing high-volume ER activity 
Proven experience in quality assurance, risk escalation, and driving consistency in ER advice
Experience in producing and interpreting dashboards / MI and applying insight to improve service delivery and manager capability 
Highly organised and resilient, with the ability to manage sustained high volume demand and competing priorities, maintaining sound judgement, professionalism and personal effectiveness in a pressured ER advisory environment
Excellent communication and relationship building skills, with strong judgement and the confidence to coach, challenge and escalate appropriately Additional skills and experiences would be great to have/bring:

Experience working in unionised or highly regulated environments
Professional recognition such as CIPDWhat’s in it for you?

Competitive salary up to £52,000 per annum, depending on experience
Annual Leave - 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
Generous Pension Scheme through AON
Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling, to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

Who are we?
We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water
Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else, just let us know. We’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment

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