About the job

Summary

The Home Office is here to make our country safer. As well as working to reduce crime and enforce the law, we work to protect the most vulnerable. Whether it's fighting crime, protecting our borders or combatting slavery, we are at the cutting edge of public policy and our work is some of the most challenging and rewarding in Government.

The department recently implemented a cloud-based solution for HR, Finance and Commercial transactions which is used by all our circa 38,000 Home Office and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) staff and others. It is key to how we provide services including payroll, how we interact with suppliers and how we ensure our accounting is in order. It's also how we provide advice and guidance to staff, managers and seniors, and has an integrated learning platform too. It's our system of record so is crucial in providing good data to support effective decisions. We are supported by a Business Processing Outsourced (BPO) partner, Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL), which delivers transactional and support services, including a contact centre. This role is in the BPO management team and will contribute to service improvements so we can deliver the benefits of new technology together. These services impact all 38 000+ staff and touch many corporate processes. The team will ensure that services are carried out effectively, issues are identified and resolved and SLAs are adhered to.

Job description

Your role is to become a subject matter expert in the services provided to support users of the HR and payroll functionality. You will be the eyes and ears of the team in the business, engaging at all levels to ensure the customer experience is optimised while we continue to change and develop services. You will work across Capabilities and Resources directorate and the wider department, building on existing relationships and the recent contract extension with SSCL to identify root causes of problems and support the management of incidents and escalations. Working with policy and product owners you will support the coordination of business input to the BPO service. This will include taking on responsibility for a service improvement forum.

The team is currently based in Croydon however there are Finance hubs in Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool too and we welcome applicants based in those areas. Regular planned travel will be required including to Croydon and Newport. Please note the team is currently home based however are moving towards a hybrid working model. This is a new and developing team which offers an opportunity to work with a wide range of partners. Development will be supported and if you hold relevant professional qualifications, you'll be encouraged to maintain your CPD.

Responsibilities

You will engage across the HO and with the BPO delivery partner and others to:

• Act as the lead for the identification of issues and problem trends relating to the HR and payroll processes provided by the BPO service provider SSCL, working collaboratively to understand root causes and resolve issues.

• Support the business with managing escalations and ensuring that the correct processes are followed so that good quality data is collected to help identify issues.

• Identify areas for improvement in business or SSCL processes, including ensuring that where issues are being caused by poor business or SSCL process compliance that this is addressed with the relevant party. This includes responsibility for a Service Improvement forum.

• Where appropriate, and in collaboration with Business Product Owners, propose improvements, providing information on the case for the change.

• Identify where knowledge bases used by SSCL might need to be updated and ensure that the business SME updates the appropriate guidance.

• Review the performance data for SLAs and KPIs with business process owners and ensure that they have an opportunity to question and provide input to both operational service delivery and service development. Providing support to minimise inefficiencies in work processes and activities.

• Support the development and delivery of the BPO service improvement plan .

• Support the parallel SEO and wider team.

Please note, as the team grows and develops specific responsibilities may flex, and you may be expected to cover similar activities appropriate to their grade. Although there is no line management of staff at this point, it’s planned the team will be supported by HEO analyst/s and there will be scope to manage staff in the future.

Essential criteria

• Experience of at least one of the key subject areas (HR and Payroll services)

Candidates will need a background understanding of the policies and processes associated with their field which can be through working directly in those fields or may have been gained in a project management/delivery/partnership role, working closely alongside customers in those areas.

• Experience of working with third parties, understanding performance standards, and working collaboratively to deal with incidents.

• Excellent stakeholder management skills with evidence of building and maintaining effective and constructive strategic relationships.

• Strong verbal and written communications skills.

Desirable criteria

• Business Change and/or Project management qualifications e.g. APM, MSP, Management of Risk or Business Cases.

• Confidence in commissioning, handling, and using data.

• Continuous Improvement qualification and/or experience.

• HR related qualification eg CIPD.

• Service Management qualification and/or experience.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service