Application Open:
Full-Time
Job Purpose:
The Employee Relations Specialist is responsible for leading and managing employee relations matters at MBZUAI, ensuring fair, consistent, and compliant handling of grievances, disciplinary actions, workplace investigations, and employee conduct issues. This role supports the development of a positive and productive work environment through sound judgment, confidentiality, and adherence to MBZUAI HR policies and UAE laws. In addition, the Specialist contributes to employee engagement initiatives and provides secondary support to benefits administration activities to ensure continuity of service delivery and enhanced employee experience.
Key Responsibilities:
Employee Relations (Primary Responsibility)
- Act as the primary point of contact for employee relations matters, including grievances, complaints, workplace disputes, and disciplinary issues.
- Manage end-to-end employee relations cases, including case assessment, documentation, investigation coordination, and closure.
- Conduct fact-finding investigations by collecting information, interviewing relevant stakeholders, and preparing investigation summaries and recommendations.
- Support the implementation of disciplinary processes, ensuring procedural fairness, compliance with MBZUAI policies, and alignment with UAE law requirements.
- Provide advisory guidance to managers and employees on employee relations matters, workplace conduct, and policy interpretation.
Employee Engagement & Workplace Culture Support
- Support employee engagement initiatives aimed at strengthening employee satisfaction, inclusion, and workplace culture.
- Assist in planning and coordinating engagement activities, campaigns, and internal initiatives in collaboration with Talent Management team and internal stakeholders.
- Support communication initiatives related to employee well-being, engagement programs, and HR awareness campaigns.
- Collect feedback from employees and stakeholders and contribute to recommendations that improve employee experience and retention.
- Support HR leadership in developing engagement-related reporting, insights, and improvement opportunities.
Employee Relations Support (Secondary Responsibility)
- Support employee relations activities through coordination and documentation, including memos, incident documentation, and supporting case records.
- Assist in tracking employee relations cases and follow-up actions, ensuring documentation is organized and audit ready.
- Support coordination of employee meetings and HR case discussions wherever required.
- Collaborate with the Employee Relations & Benefits Specialist and HR leadership in cases where benefits intersect with employee relations matters (e.g., medical leave, insurance disputes, eligibility cases).
Benefits Administration Support (Secondary Responsibility)
- Provide support and assistance to the benefits function as required, including administering enrollments of various benefits and responding to employee inquiries related to eligibility.
- Coordinate with the Benefits Specialist to support cases involving medical leave, insurance disputes, or benefits-related employee concerns.
- Support documentation and coordination of benefit-related transactions as needed to ensure service continuity.
Other Duties
Perform all other duties as reasonably directed by the line manager that are commensurate with these functional objectives.
Academic Qualification:
- Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Law, or a related field (master’s degree is an advantage).
Professional Experience:
Essential
- Minimum 5-7 years of HR experience, with demonstrated specialization in employee relations and case management.
- Proven experience handling employee grievances, disciplinary actions, investigations, and workplace conflict resolution.
- Exposure to employee engagement initiatives, culture programs, or employee experience projects is strongly preferred.
- Strong working knowledge of UAE law, HR compliance practices, and employee relations standards.
- Strong employee relations and HR advisory capability.
- Excellent documentation, report writing, and record-keeping skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
Preferred
- Proficiency in HR systems (Oracle / HRIS exposure preferred) and MS Office applications.
