Head of People & Culture

This is a new role in a fast-growing organisation working with business to transform the economy to benefit all people, communities and the planet.

The B Corp Movement

B Lab UK is the UK home of the B Corp movement, a community of over 1,500 UK businesses who meet high standards of social and environmental performance, legal accountability, and transparency. Some B Corps you might have heard of include Innocent Drinks, Patagonia, Tony’s Chocolonely, Finisterre, Jude’s Ice Cream, GiffGaff and WeTransfer. Our goal is to transform our economy so that all businesses can be a force for good - and we’re looking for people who can help us get there.

B Lab is the global non-profit network with the mission to inspire and enable people to use business as a force for good. B Lab creates standards, policies, tools, and programs that shift the behaviour, culture, and structural underpinnings of capitalism.

B Lab UK is a registered charity, building and engaging the UK B Corp community. Our team of 40 staff is friendly, hard-working and committed to changing how business operates. We strive to foster an environment where staff can bring their whole selves to work, by their own definition.

The role: Head of People & Culture

With the growth in demand from businesses to join the B Corp movement, this is an exciting time for an outstanding person to support the Director in B Lab UK’s growth and development to deliver our strategy within an inspiring work environment. We have doubled our staff number in less than 2 years and this new role will be critical in our next stage of development.

 Tasks and responsibilities include: 

• Develop and implement a People strategy that delivers B Lab UK’s ambitions, enabling our values to come to life through our culture, including:

  • internal engagement that promotes an inclusive culture, and alignment of practices that support and deliver our justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) strategy

  • agile policies and practices to pragmatically support strategic objectives;

  • Mechanisms to attract, reward and retain high performers from a range of diverse backgrounds;

  • Organisational, team and role design to deliver strategic objectives

  • Practices to create and embed a culture of high performance, innovation, collaboration, flexibility, risk taking with employee wellbeing;

  • succession plans and tools to ensure we have the right skills and right people to deliver our work now and in the future;

  • complementing staff resources and skills, e.g. interns, apprentices, and secondments internally and in and out of our global network.

• Oversee the efficient management of HR operations and employee relations.

• Ensure our rewards and benefits systems are aligned with organisational needs as we develop and grow.

• Establish learning and development programmes that enable organisational learning, deliver strategic needs, enable career progression and enhance life skills.

• Transform leadership and management skills and expertise, to get the best of our people.

• Work with counterparts in B Lab UK global partners, B Corps and others to develop and maintain best practice and innovative approaches that enhance our employer offer.

• Report and present to others (including the Senior Leadership Team and Board, if required), on performance of the function and initiatives, making recommendations for action.

• Contribute, with other functional Heads, to cross-organisational planning, decisions, projects, initiatives and processes.

 Skills, Knowledge and Experience  

Essential (used for short-listing) -

●        CIPD qualified to Level 5 or equivalent experience

●        Experience of leading, motivating and developing a team

●        Significant experience of HR operations, people management policies and practices.

●        Experience of impactful learning and development programs

●        Proven skills in driving effective organisational processes, including:

o   Planning and project management to deliver objectives

o   Engagement of staff and stakeholders

o   monitoring and reporting on impact

●        Experience of embedding inclusive practices

●        Experience of translating strategy into operational plans, implementing them and monitoring progress.

●        Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, able to adapt style to different audiences and inspire others

●        Demonstrated ability to assimilate and analyse information, develop innovative solutions to problems, formulate decisions and make recommendations that are timely and take account of long term risks and benefits.

●        Sound IT skills including use of spreadsheets, communication tools (e.g. Slack) and project management tools (e.g. Asana)

●        Eligible to work in the UK (we do not have a licence and are not able to provide visa sponsorship)

Desirable:

●        CIPD qualified to Level 7

●        Knowledge of organisational development theory and practice.

●       Experience of updating/improving rewards & benefits systems

●        Experience of working for a charity, non-profit or campaigning organisation

Person Specification

●        Passionate about the role that business can play in creating the future that benefits all people and the planet.

●    Proactive, with ability to work on their own initiative with limited supervision

●        Flexible and adaptable with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities

●        Excellent organisational and leadership ability

●        Collaborates effectively with colleagues to find solutions and good outcomes

●        Ability to work under pressure and manage deadlines and priorities

●        A desire to achieve outcomes

●        Ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with discretion and professionalism

Salary & Benefits:

●   £53,460-£55,420 per annum, dependent on experience

●   Hybrid working (min 2 days/week in office)

●        Opportunity for Flexible working 3 to 5 days per week

●        25 days holiday plus bank holidays (pro rata for part-time staff)

●        1 additional annual leave day (pro-rata for part-time staff) for each complete annual year of service, up to a maximum of 30 days

●        Our office is closed between Christmas and New Year, no need to take extra holiday!

●        Private Medical and Dental cover

●        £200 tax free Annual Wellbeing allowance and Employee Assistance Programme

●        2 paid volunteer days per year

●        Enhanced Parental Leave and family friendly policies, including carers leave

●        Learning and Development opportunities

●        Enhanced Pension and Life Assurance

●        Cycle to Work Scheme

●        Income Protection policy

●        Working in a flexible office workspace

How to apply:

B Lab believes an equitable and inclusive work environment and a diverse, empowered team are key to achieving our mission. We’re not looking for candidates who are “culture fits.” We’re looking for candidates who can expand our culture and challenge business as usual. We strive to foster an environment where all staff can bring their whole selves to work, by their own definition, and we strive to provide all candidates with an equitable and accessible recruitment process. If we can offer accommodations for you in the recruitment process, or if you have feedback on how to make our recruiting more equitable or accessible, please contact us at hiring@bcorporation.uk.

Recruitment Process

We use a blind recruitment process, to avoid biased screening, where the initial selection is based on answers to predefined questions and an anonymised CV review which are scored by a panel against predefined criteria for the role.

N.B. the anonomysed scoring panel does not see the applicant's CVs or any other information about them (until interview stage). Please ensure your answers to the questions are specific and give real examples of what you have done to demonstrate your experience and skills that are required for the role.

All candidates will be contacted after the initial screening process. The short-listing process will consist of at least 2 panel interviews. Candidates may be asked to prepare and present a task. Interviews will likely to be remote, and one conversational in-person interview.

1st Interviews are likely to be held in the week commencing 19th March.