Application Open:
Full-Time
Job Purpose:
The Benefits and Employee Relations Officer is responsible for supporting and coordinating all benefits administration and employee relations activities at MBZUAI to foster a positive and productive work environment. This role ensures the effective administration of employee benefits, with a primary focus on health insurance enrollments, Abu Dhabi and Gulf Cooperation Council pension plans, and other applicable benefits. Additionally, the Officer supports employee engagement initiatives and ensures fair and equitable treatment of all employees, helping to address workplace concerns and minimize potential liabilities for the university. By promoting a supportive and compliant work environment, this role contributes to enhancing employee satisfaction and enabling the achievement of MBZUAI’s strategic objectives.
Key Responsibilities:
Benefits administration and support:
- Process health insurance enrollment and deactivation for all MBZUAI employees and their dependents as per the policies and procedures of the university.
- Ensure health coverage enrollment meets employee visa processing requirements for Immigration.
- Enroll all eligible MBZUAI employees under Life Insurance plan and assist with the annual employee census for the insurance renewal.
- Coordinate life insurance claims between employee and insurer.
- Process Abu Dhabi pension enrollment and deactivation of members.
- Advise UAE National Employees on issues related to pension contribution.
- Advise and guide employees with respect to Human Resources’ policies, related issues including conditions of service contractual provisions, etc.
- Respond to and resolve employee inquiries or concerns regarding benefits, services and coverage issues.
- Maintain all benefits data and transactions to capture information not available on the HRIS.
- Collect and analyze data for benefits offered.
- Generate routine and ad hoc reports as requested.
Employee Relations Advisory Services:
- Support employee relations activities in terms of grievance and disciplinary action(s) through gathering required information, facilitating discussions in collaboration with other HR team members by either resolution of matters or escalating to Head of Employee Services and Director of HR.
- Support investigating incidence of violations or infractions of established Human Resources policies and/or regulatory provisions.
- Prepare memos and documents for all employee incidents and ensure the correct documentation is provided to the stakeholders involved.
- Maintain employee relations case documentation, information regarding grievances, etc., provide weekly updates to the Head of Employee Services and prioritize accordingly.
- Deliver high-quality oral and written communication, presenting information clearly and concisely to ensure a thorough understanding of findings and provide well-founded recommendations for corrective actions.
- Assist with all procedures including involuntary separation, handover procedures, final payments, letters and any communication to be sent to the leaver and the supervisor.
- Conduct exit surveys and analyze data and trends in suggesting ways to improve employee retention and engagement.
- Ensure recommendations are in line with the DGE regulations and current HR policies and laws.
Leave Management:
- Support monitoring all leave entries and approvals on the system.
- Run leave accrual reports on a quarterly basis to ensure up-to-date records on the system.
- Reconcile and coordinate with the payroll team for any leave balance payments on an annual basis.
- Track off system leave requests for employees on limited contracts and respond to inquiries related to their leave.
- Advise employees and respond to any inquiries related to leave balances and system access.
- Meet or communicate with employees going on maternity leave to inform them on regulations, leave plans and dependent registration process.
Additional Responsibilities:
- Support with internal audits of HR issues such as employee turnover, hiring, transfer, and promotion practices, exit interviews, etc., to identify trends or situations that need training, counseling and compile findings and recommend action(s) to resolve areas of concerns.
- Update existing forms and/or design new forms for processes related to Benefits and Employee Services form submissions.
- Support the entry and maintenance of employee data for all benefits on HR systems and ensure accuracy and timeliness of the same.
- Support continuous improvement across all benefits and employee services of the Employee Shared Services function.
- Perform all other duties as reasonably directed by the line manager that are commensurate with these functional objectives.
Academic Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in human resources or equivalent.
- A certification in HR, CIPD or SHRM is preferable.
Professional Experience:
- 2 to 4 years of HR experience, of which at least 1 year should be as an Employee Relations Officer in a professional capacity.
- Previous experience conducting investigations is preferable.
