Halfords

About us

At Halfords, our mission is to inspire and support a lifetime of motoring and cycling. As a specialist retailer, we lead the market through customer-driven innovation and a distinct product range. We are dedicated to providing our customers with an integrated, unique, and convenient service experience—from e-bike and electric vehicle servicing to on-demand solutions. Our commitment is to foster customer loyalty by offering compelling reasons to keep coming back to our stores, ensuring a lifetime of motoring and cycling enjoyment.

The teams at our Redditch Support Centre work with every other area of our business, putting them at the heart of the action and playing a key role in our success and growth. Everyone brings their individual knowledge and experience to work every day, working as one team to keep things moving smoothly.

If you’re willing to get stuck in, you’ll love it here too. So put yourself at the heart of a dynamic, fast-paced working environment where expertise and focus take people far.

About the role

We're looking for a confident and knowledgeable Employee Relations Advisor to join our dynamic HR team and provide expert support across the Halfords Group. In this key role, you'll offer timely and commercially-focused advice on a range of ER issues, helping line managers navigate complex cases while ensuring adherence to company policy, employment law, and best practices across the UK and ROI. From investigations to disciplinaries, grievances to absence management, you’ll be at the heart of guiding fair and consistent outcomes while protecting our people and our brand. 

You'll act as a trusted advisor, balancing employee wellbeing with the needs of the business, and mitigating risk at every step. Whether it's coaching managers through sensitive situations or ensuring our policies align with evolving legislation, your contribution will help us maintain a positive and compliant working environment. If you're solutions-focused, commercially savvy, and passionate about supporting people through change and challenge, we’d love to hear from you. 

Key responsibilities

• Act as a trusted advisor to line managers across the Halfords Group, delivering expert, commercially minded support on a range of ER matters including disciplinary, grievance, performance, absence, flexible working, redundancy, TUPE, and contractual changes.
• Build meaningful relationships across all levels of the business to ensure effective collaboration during formal meetings, investigations, and consultations—ensuring a supportive and consistent experience for all stakeholders involved. 
• Deliver proactive, solution-focused case management, balancing empathy and fairness with the operational needs of the business to support positive outcomes. 
• Provide clear, well-documented written correspondence including outcome letters and advisory guidance. 
• Contribute to the continuous development of our line managers through one-on-one coaching and by helping design, deliver, and review training materials and processes that build ER confidence and capability. 
• Monitor and update ER templates, policies, and practices to ensure they remain legally compliant, fit for purpose, and aligned with evolving employment legislation in the UK. 
• Champion a data-driven approach by accurately logging case details and maintaining up-to-date records across internal systems (e.g. Hornbill, Dayforce), enabling insight generation and trend analysis across the People Team. 
• Support key People initiatives and company-wide projects, such as engagement survey follow-ups, policy reviews, and team development sessions—always with a focus on driving a culture of continuous improvement. 

• Collaborate with our legal teams and People Support Specialists to handle sensitive cases requiring COT3 agreements, early conciliation, or tribunal response, ensuring confidentiality, discretion, and legal compliance throughout. 

About you

• CIPD level 3 qualified as a minimum – with opportunities to progress your level 5 with us!
•  Experience within a similar ER role, providing advice and guidance to line managers at all levels within a high case volume and fast paced business. 
• Experience in the effective handling and management of complex ER cases and excellent knowledge of current employment law.  
• Excellent verbal and written communication and influencing skills, and ability to hold difficult conversations in a way which leads to the desired outcomes. You will have excellent coaching skills and effective questioning techniques.
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage and prioritise own workload in a high-volume, fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work within a highly confidential environment with respect and integrity for the information that is managed discreetly and in accordance with GDPR regulations.
• Customer focused and service oriented, with experience in building and maintaining strong; relationships effectively with teams and stakeholders both face to face, and remotely via telephone or Microsoft Teams.
• Excellent team player who works collaboratively for the success of the wider team.

Reward & benefits

• A fair and competitive salary evaluated against market data, annual discretionary bonus scheme, pension, life assurance, 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, holiday buy & sell and enhanced family leave.
• Commitment and dedication to your ongoing personal and professional development. We help you to own and grow your potential so you can be at your best in your current role and to support your future career aspirations.
• We offer hybrid working in our Support Centre, you will be based at our Support Centre 2-3 days a week.
• You will have access to a wealth of employee discounts across the Halfords suite of products and services.
• Wellbeing and inclusion are at the heart of our colleague experience. We offer resources and ongoing support to enhance your wellbeing at work and active Colleague Networks supporting inclusion initiatives across Halfords.

Not sure you meet all the criteria? We'd encourage you to take the wheel and apply anyway! At Halfords we are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for our colleagues. We're an equal opportunities employer and proud to welcome applications from all backgrounds and embrace diversity within our one Halfords Family.

At Halfords, we operate a hybrid working policy with 2 days per week on-site at our Support Centre in Redditch Worcestershire.