People Relations Specialist
bp
Chicago IL 60604 US
Entity:
People, Culture & Communications
Job Family Group:
Job Description:
Retail People Relations (RPR) is a globally connected team within People, Communications & Culture, responsible for providing expert People Relations support across bp’s retail COCO network.
RPR team members partner closely with business leaders, People & Culture (P&C) teams, legal, and external collaborators to deliver consistent, high-quality guidance on all People Relations matters. The team’s expertise spans everything, including (but not limited to) general RPR queries, policy interpretation, workplace investigations and disciplinary, grievance resolution, business change (eg. divestments and acquisitions), and support with Industrial Relations.
The Retail People Relations (RPR) Specialist provides guidance and support to employees and ex-employees related to Retail P&C policies and processes. The RPR Specialist is the first point of contact for managers and employees, providing responses to general enquiries, advising managers on policy and procedural matters, intake for People Relations concerns and offering advice for non-reportable concerns, and some direct action concerns.
The role also involves administrative transactions including but not limited to, creating and updating concerns in the Case Management System, creation of letters, e-filing, scheduling meetings, and any other adhoc administrative tasks.
Role Purpose
To provide frontline support to employees and managers, coaching to managers, answering queries, handling non-reportable and some direct actions concerns, raising complex concerns, providing administrative support and ensuring consistent application of policies across the business.
Role Accountabilities
- Concern Triage & Escalation: Record and categorize concerns in the Case Management System, ensuring efficient triaging to the appropriate teams. Prioritize concerns based on urgency/complexity to meet or exceed SLA targets.
- Query Resolution: Supporting full employee life cycle query resolution and responding to basic process and policy questions from employees and managers. Example queries include life events, time and attendance, performance and compensation queries, and exits.
- Administrative Support: Provide operational support to RPR Advisors, Senior Advisors and Managers
- Concern Handling: Manage transactional PR concerns, including non-reportable, some direct-action, low-level performance, grievances, and disciplinary concerns.
- Concern Escalation: Escalate concerns to the RPR Advisors and/or Senior Advisors in accordance with the SLA, providing comprehensive details, and efficiently handing over in the Case Management System.
- Coaching Leaders: Provide support and guidance to managers on policy interpretation and process execution.
- Policy: Provide feedback on People Relations policies, identifying opportunities for improvement based on trends and Team Member feedback.
- Continuous Improvement: Proactively seek advice on unclear processes and suggest solutions to problems. Support knowledge creation and maintenance.
- Compliance: Maintain up-to-date knowledge of People Relations policies, ensuring accurate and consistent application when responding to inquiries and raising issues as needed. Ensure People Relations support aligns with local legislation and bp policies.
- Risk Management: Identify potential People Relations risks, and share with RPR leaders. Where possible, provide recommendations for mitigation.
- Record-Keeping: Accurately record and triage concerns promptly and relevant information is captured in the Case Management System. Ensure all concerns are documented, and Workday (where relevant) in accordance with local regulations and bp record keeping policies.
- Psychological Safety: Act as a supportive first point of contact, ensuring employees feel heard and respected, handling all concerns with empathy and care. Recognize and escalate wellbeing concerns where additional support is needed, and maintain a respectful and non-judgmental approach in all interactions.
Required Qualifications & Skills
- Psychological safety
- Continuous learning
- Legal and regulatory environment and compliance
- Communication
- Continuous improvement
- Organizational knowledge
- Analytical thinking
- Agile core principles
- Resilience
- Teamwork
- Coaching
- Customer centric thinking
Essential Experience and Job Requirements:
- Ability to manage and triage employee queries and low-level concerns.
- Ability to understand and interpret People Relations policies and procedures.
Technical
- Strong customer service and communication skills
- Basic understanding of employment law, and policy interpretation
Behavioural:
- Customer focus – ensures employees receive clear and timely support.
- Problem-solving – assesses concerns and escalates appropriately.
- Attention to detail – maintains accurate records and case documentation.
- Psychological safety – handles employee concerns with empathy and care.
Why join us
At bp, we support our people to learn and grow in a diverse and ambitious environment. We believe that our team is strengthened by diversity. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment in which everyone is respected and treated fairly.
There are many aspects of our employees’ lives that are meaningful, so we offer benefits ( https://exploreyourbenefits.com/landing.html) to enable your work to fit with your life. These benefits can include flexible working options, a generous paid parental leave policy, and excellent retirement benefits, among others!
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
How much do we pay (Base)? $58,000 - $108,000 *Note that the pay range listed for this position is a genuinely expected and reasonable estimate of the range of possible base compensation at the time of posting.
This position offers paid vacation depending on your years of relevant industry experience and will range from 120 – 240 hours of vacation per year for full times employees (60 - 240 hours of vacation per year for part time employees). You will also be eligible for 9 paid holidays per year and 2 personal choice holidays. You may learn more about how we calculate paid vacation and view our generous vacation and holiday schedules at benefits@bp. Bp has a parental leave policy as well, which offers up to 8 weeks’ paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child. Learn more at benefits@bp.
We offer a reward package to enable your work to fit with your life. These offerings include a discretionary annual bonus program, long-term incentive program, and generous retirement benefits that include a 401k matching program. These benefits may include a pension for eligible employees. You may learn more about our generous benefits at benefits@bp.
As part of bp’s wellbeing package, bp offers access to health, vision, and dental insurance, as well as life and Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability. You may learn more about our generous benefits at benefits@bp.
Travel Requirement
Relocation Assistance:
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Skills:
Legal Disclaimer:
We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics like race, religion, color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status or disability status. Individuals with an accessibility need may request an adjustment/accommodation related to bp’s recruiting process (e.g., accessing the job application, completing required assessments, participating in telephone screenings or interviews, etc.). If you would like to request an adjustment/accommodation related to the recruitment process, please contact us.
If you are selected for a position and depending upon your role, your employment may be contingent upon adherence to local policy. This may include pre-placement drug screening, medical review of physical fitness for the role, and background checks.