People & Culture Assistant

ABOUT FINISTERRE

Born two decades ago from the needs of hardy British surfers, Finisterre is proudly B Corp certified and a leader in its field; designing functional and sustainable products for those that share a love of the sea and adventure. Whether based at our cliff top headquarters in St. Agnes, Cornwall or in one of our eleven retail locations across the UK, Finisterre is a truly unique brand and career proposition.

Perched a few hundred meters from the crashing Atlantic, our HQ at St. Agnes’ Wheal Kitty Workshops is at the heart of our brand. Here we stay true to our original design ethos of functionality and sustainability brought to life in an understated style and identity, always remaining committed to product, environment, and people.

Our people are at the very heart of the Finisterre brand, wherever they may be in the world, sharing our values and vision to make the world a better place. Culture and team are everything here. We take care to create a working environment where our people are valued and can thrive and grow with us. It’s a buzzing place to work, and we are privileged to enjoy the natural environment and ocean on a daily basis.

As we enter the next exciting stage of global growth, we are on the lookout for talented individuals to join our crew. So, if you are as passionate about the ocean as we are, if you embody our values to be Brave, Honest and Driven, if you want to be part of a truly authentic, purpose-led brand and you share our vision to create exceptional products in a responsible way, then we would love to hear from you

ABOUT THE ROLE

Finisterre is looking for an up-and-coming People & Culture Assistant to join our Head Office team in St Agnes, Cornwall. With aspirations to develop your career in HR, you’ll work closely with our People & Culture team to support the delivery of an excellent HR service.

Ideally with a CIPD Level 3 HR Support under your belt, or working towards it, you’ll have a passion for good HR practice and appreciate the value it brings to a business and its people. With very strong, well developed administration skills, you’ll be an efficient and effective individual. You’ll have a strong work ethic and be highly organised, enabling you to keep on top of a busy, varied and deadline driven workload. Being hard working, diligent and resilient, you’ll ensure transactional HR work is handled with exceptional attention to detail.

You’ll be flexible and adaptable, providing enthusiastic administrative support across a wide variety of general HR tasks. With an outgoing and helpful nature, you will build a rapport quickly with our people and managers, upholding our culture and values in all that you do. You’ll understand the importance of operating with the utmost confidentiality and discretion at all times, safeguarding personal information and confidential data.

In turn, we will support your professional growth providing exposure to a broad range of HR activities and initiatives. Our knowledgeable team will be on hand to support and guide you as you develop your career. 

This is an exciting opportunity to join a growing, progressive and forward-thinking organisation that really does put people up front and centre in all that we do. Together we’ll achieve great things!

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Be highly visible and accessible within the business, acting as the first point of contact for all employees and resolving 1st line queries in a customer-focused and timely manner.
• Provide basic advice to staff, as required, on our policies and procedures.
• Ensure an open-door policy to all employees and find ways to make them feel at ease to discuss more sensitive issues.
• Act as a role model; inspire others and project the company values in all that you do.
• Be the superuser for all HR systems ensuring that they are optimised for use across the business, maintained with accurate, up-to-date employee records, and training teams and recommending improvements, where necessary.
• Manage all administration throughout the employee lifecycle including job offers and employment contracts, onboarding, probations, amendments to terms and conditions of employment, benefits, leaver correspondence, and the creation and maintenance of employee files
• Support the administration of the recruitment process, including opening a vacancy, preparing documentation, placing adverts, processing applications, liaising with candidates and their representatives, liaising internally with hiring managers, scheduling interviews, closing the vacancy and evaluation.
• Compile, analyse and present key HR data, for example staff metrics, holiday data, sickness absence, turnover data, providing ad hoc reports as required.
• Assist with the measurement of employee satisfaction and identify areas that require improvement.
• Assist with the key HR processes such as Performance & Development reviews, salary reviews, etc, including communicating with managers and employees, creating letters, filing reviews and collating any changes to details.
• Assist with development and maintenance of an annual training programme and organise training as required, using both internal and external resources.
• Assist with the creation and implementation of new policies, procedures and systems where required to achieve long term business plans and a smooth HR operation.
• Support with projects and employee initiatives to drive and support employee engagement.
• Support formal HR meetings, processes or consultations and provide effective minute taking.
• Support in the smooth running of our head office by assisting with key projects. 
• Continuously evaluate current systems, policies and core HR processes, making recommendations to the Head of People & Culture while ensuring relevance, compliance and managing risk.
• Remain up to date with the changes in relevant employment legislation, procedures and practices, and ensure absolute compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements related to people and employment across all people processes.
• Provide administrative support and undertake individual ad-hoc HR related projects as directed by Head of People & Culture.

Requirements

WHAT YOU’LL BRING TO FINISTERRE

• You’ll be committed to learning and developing your skills in HR, ideally holding or working towards CIPD Level 3 HR Support.
• Previous experience in a busy admin focused, office-based role, is essential.
• Previous experience working within an HR function would be advantageous, but not essential.
• You’ll possess excellent administrative skills and be highly organised, enabling you to keep on top of a busy, varied and deadline driven workload.
• You’ll be on the ball, forward thinking and enjoy providing top notch administrative support to a busy team.
• You’ll be a real people person, able to form good working relationships with colleagues at all levels, as well as provide a warm Finisterre welcome to visitors and guests.
• You’ll have excellent interpersonal skills, a high level of tact, diplomacy and discretion, and the ability to establish effective working relationships with staff at all levels.
• With excellent written and verbal communication skills you’ll be able to communicate to diverse range of people clearly and effectively.
• Being a self-starter who is adaptable, flexible and committed, you’ll have the ability to work autonomously and manage your own workload, adhering to deadlines and meeting the demands of the business.
• You’ll demonstrate excellent attention to detail, with high levels of numeracy and literacy and maintain high standards, 100% accuracy and absolute confidentiality in all situations.
• You’ll be super organised, methodical, process driven, with excellent time management skills and the ability to work to tight deadlines while maintaining a positive can-do attitude.
• You’ll act with professionalism, confidentiality, discretion and integrity.
• Your IT skills will be excellent in Outlook, Excel (advanced level preferred), Word, PowerPoint and SharePoint.

Important: The successful candidate must, by the start of their employment, have permission to work in the UK. Please note that Finisterre are not licensed to sponsor overseas workers.

Benefits

WHAT YOU’LL RECEIVE FROM FINISTERRE

We are offering a full time, permanent contract, based at our Headquarters at Wheal Kitty, St Agnes, Cornwall. We’ll invest in you with a competitive salary, circa £23,400 - £25,000, depending on your skills and experience.

But it’s not just a job. At Finisterre, we provide an opportunity to grow and develop yourself within at a fast-paced, growing B Corp certified brand with a great culture and an exciting purpose. You’ll get the chance to collaborate with a diverse community of people with a shared mission. In return, we take good care of you through a range of initiatives and rewards, including:

• A discretionary bonus scheme, based on company performance
• A pension scheme with Nest
• 25 days holiday per year, plus up to 8 UK bank holidays
• Additional holidays for length of service
• Your birthday day off
• 60% product discount for personal and gift use
• 30% Friends and Family product discount
• Life assurance with access to an employee assistance program
• Access to a wide range of wellbeing programs, including counselling services, headspace membership, eye tests, yoga, cycle to work and a range of perks
• Regular company social events
• Paid volunteering opportunities – we will support you in giving back to communities and causes
• Various discounts from our B Corp community
• Individual training and development plans
• Sea Tuesday companywide updates
• And so much more!

Closing date: 16 August 2024. We’ll be interviewing as we go along, so we’d encourage you to submit your application at the earliest opportunity, as the role may close earlier than advertised.

Finisterre is committed to building diverse and inclusive teams. We celebrate difference and encourage everyone to join us and be themselves at work.