ER Absence Management Specialist (Hiring Immediately)

​
Job reference 338601
ER Absence Management Specialist

Competitive salary, 10% annual bonus potential, 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and a company pension scheme with highly competitive contribution rates

Location: National – hybrid working from a local Royal Mail office with occasional national travel

Full time, fixed-term 12 months

Join a high‑performing HR team at the heart of the organisation, where people strategy directly supports business success. This is an opportunity to champion employee wellbeing, influence operational outcomes, and help shape a healthy, high‑engagement workplace culture.

We continue to focus on employee outcomes and delivering positive operational impact across ER landscape. This is a rare opportunity to work on reducing sickness absence and delivering measurable operational impact. The work is fast‑paced, highly visible and outcome‑driven, offering direct exposure to senior HR and operational leaders across the business.

About the Role

You’ll play a hands‑on role in managing and resolving complex absence cases while contributing to the design of sustainable, future‑ready HR practices.

Key responsibilities include:

• Managing long‑term sickness absence cases from end to end
• Applying Employee Relations expertise to achieve clear, fair and timely outcomes
• Partnering closely with Occupational Health and operational leaders
• Coaching and supporting managers to lead confident, effective conversations
• Using data and insight to prioritise cases and measure impact
• Developing tools, playbooks and processes to embed best practice into business‑as‑usual operations

Why Join?

You’ll join a highly motivated, specialist team united by a shared goal: to make a real and measurable difference.

Being part of this programme offers:

• A chance to work on one of the organisation’s most important HR priorities
• Exposure to complex, high‑impact Employee Relations and absence management work
• The opportunity to influence outcomes at scale, not just manage individual cases
• Development of specialist skills in absence reduction, long‑term ill‑health, protected conversations and organisational change

About You

We’re keen to hear from candidates who:

• Have experience in HR or Employee Relations
• Build strong, credible relationships with stakeholders at all levels
• Thrive in fast‑paced, complex and sometimes ambiguous environments
• Enjoy problem‑solving and driving cases through to resolution
• Are motivated by impact, outcomes and continuous improvement

If you’re looking to stretch yourself, influence meaningful change and be part of a programme that delivers tangible results, this is an opportunity not to be missed.

Extra Benefits

• Family friendly support - enhanced maternity pay, paternity leave, adoption leave and shared parental leave
• Supportive and generous company sick pay
• Funded Dental – As a manager you are eligible to a level of employer funded dental insurance*
• Health Assessment – As a manager you are eligible to an employer funded health assessment every 2 years*
• Benefits Account – You will have access to your personal benefits account on our ‘My Bundle+’ platform. There are more than 800 retail offers to help you save on things like groceries, days out, holidays and your household bills as well as employer provided and voluntary benefits to suit your lifestyle.
• Your Wellbeing - you and your family have 24/7 access to services and tools to help you get the most out of life. From your physical and mental health to financial and social support and advice. It’s free, and it’s for everyone.

*Available only to permanent employees

Next Steps

The next stage of the selection process will be a face to face/virtual interview consisting of competency based and role specific questions.

Trust is the foundation of Royal Mail. We aim to be transparent about the qualities we seek and what a career with us entails, building trust from the start of your journey with us. Your interview is the first step, and we want you to shine. To help you prepare, we’ll provide your interview questions in advance, so you can have your best examples ready. At Royal Mail Group, w e value trust and our people.

We understand that candidates may not meet all the criteria for the role. If your experience is different, but you have relevant skills we’d love to hear from you.

Royal Mail Group is committed to inclusion and representing the diverse communities we serve. We welcome applications from all individuals. As a proud Gold signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant, we especially encourage applications from the Armed Forces community, including cadet instructors and spouses/partners.

We are committed to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process. If you require any adjustments to support you during the hiring process, please discuss these with your recruiter when contacted.

We are Forces family friendly and a Gold signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant. We welcome applications from ex-Armed Forces personnel, reservists, veterans, cadet instructors and military spouses/partners.

For more information on Royal Mail Group and our values please click here:

Closing Date: Wednesday 24th June 2026. Please note, this advert may close early if the appropriate number of applications has been reached.

#LI-Hybrid #LI-POST #LIMRT

​