Employment Policy Advisor

Summary

Usually based at our Cannon Place office, but presently working from home, the successful Policy Advisor will join the CBI’s Employment Policy team. This is a great opportunity to join the UK’s largest and most influential business representative organisation at a time of unprecedented political and economic change.

The Employment Policy team works with businesses and the government to influence policymaking and business practices that deliver prosperity for all. This means building a vision for UK employment that is flexible and fair. Labour market flexibility supports jobs growth and underpins its competitiveness. Equally, being treated fairly by your employer has a big impact on UK productivity and trust in business. As the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic throws the resilience of the UK’s labour market and changing employment relationship into sharp relief, these issues have never been more important.

Reporting to the Head of Employment, the successful candidate will be responsible for:

• Consulting with CBI members to develop policy positions that represent the business view on a wide range of employment issues
• Providing CBI members with political and policy insight and intelligence so that they can make more informed HR decisions
• Working with stakeholders and partners, such as civil servants, trade unions, public agencies and think tanks to support the objectives of CBI members
• Engaging with CBI members to share learning on collective challenges that helps firms better attract, develop and engage their staff
• Co-ordinating with colleagues in the Policy, Press and Marketing teams to ensure consistency and coherence in our messages to government and businesses
• Contributing to the delivery of a compelling offer on employment policy issues that encourages more businesses of all sizes and sectors to join the CBI

Key Responsibilities

Developing the CBI’s employment policy positions, both new and existing, including:

• Building a strong grasp of the policy issues affecting employment policy, including relevant regulation, good practices and the wider political context
• Developing policy by consulting CBI members to produce positions with broad support from employers of all sizes and sectors
• Working on multiple discrete projects (e.g. policy briefs, reports, consultation responses), using project management skills to track progress, manage risk and measure success
• Drafting papers for the Exec-level Employment & Skills Board which meets quarterly and informs and mandates the CBI’s work on employment, inclusion, health, education and skills.  

Communicating the value of the CBI’s employment policy work to members and in the media, including:

• Publicly campaigning on the role employment plays in evidencing the social impact of business as a force for good
• Distilling political and practical insight on employment policy issues into accessible and engaging content for CBI members
• Providing CBI members with examples of good employment practices to inform how they respond to shared challenges in attracting, developing and engaging the people and skills they need

Building strong internal and external relationships, including:

• Acting as a point of contact within the CBI for members, staff, and other stakeholders on employment policy, including advising your line manager and director of relevant debates in the wider political and media landscape
• Working alongside colleagues in Press and Marketing to maximise the impact of the CBI’s employment policy work with CBI members and stakeholders in the government, the opposition, and media.
• Meeting with officials in key government departments, including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Department for Work and Pensions and HM Treasury
• Meeting with business leaders with responsibly for people issues at CBI member companies to ensure that the Employment Team’s work meets business’ priorities.   

Supporting the CBI’s commercial strategy, including:

• Acting as a representative for the Employment Policy team’s work to support commercial colleagues to recruit and retain CBI members, including strategic accounts
• Contributing to a strong member proposition on employment policy, including working with commercial colleagues to secure partnerships that grow the CBI’s non-subscription income  

Internal Contacts: CBI staff at all levels

External Contacts: CBI members, civil servants and wider policy stakeholders

Knowledge & Experience

What an individual must know or understand to be able to fulfil both role’s requirements

Essential

• Demonstrable interest in politics and public policy
• Enthusiasm for employment and labour market issues
• Awareness of the commercial environment facing businesses

Role specific skills

The practical actions required to be able to fulfil both role’s requirements

• Strong research and analytical skills – including quickly picking up new issues and concepts, assessing new information, proposing solutions and advising colleagues
• Excellent oral and written communication – including the ability to communicate to a wide range of audiences
• Influencing skills – including the ability to persuade policy makers of the benefits of working with business to achieve joint policy aims
• Good interpersonal skills – including the ability to maintain member satisfaction and manage external stakeholder relationships, and to collaborate with a range of internal teams to deliver the team’s work
• Organisational skills – including delivering complicated projects with multiple moving parts in a shifting external environment
• High personal efficiency, proactivity and flexibility, with the ability to work well in a team – including working independently or with others in a fast-paced and at times pressured environment.

Behaviours

The behaviours and characteristics required to be able to fulfil both role’s requirements

• Collaborative – Listening, seeking views and sharing information; constructively challenging when appropriate
• Taking ownership – Ensuring delivery and holding others to account; can influence, irrespective of hierarchy
• Agile – Proactive and responsive to provide a strong member service; responding positively to shifting priorities
• Commercial – Awareness of the wider business environment
• Innovative – Exploring, sharing and integrating best practice; generating new ideas and challenging a mind-set of “what we’ve always done”
• Analytical – gathering information and using logic to analyse, problem solve, evaluate risk and make decisions

Salary

Applicants will be considered at either of the following pay-points, commensurate with their skills and experience:

• First pay-point - £27,500 per annum
• Second pay-point - £31,500 per annum

Diversity and Inclusion  

At the CBI, we are committed to attracting diverse talent that represents the society we live in. 

We encourage applications from all regardless of age, sexuality, socio-economic background, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion, or beliefs. We are committed to building a culture of belonging and inclusion and this is reflected in our policies, practices, and internal employee-led networks and supported by our executive leadership team.

We are a family friendly organisation, and we encourage flexible working as we want our employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance. Currently our employees are working flexibly (formally and informally) and remotely due to COVID-19, but we offer the opportunity to work in our offices in line with government guidance if somebody should need to.

Our employee-led networks are: BAME, LGBT, Women’s and Working Families and we have qualified Mental Health First Aiders who support our employees in having good mental health.