CHIEF OF UNIT, HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT, P-4 – Brindisi Italy

The United Nations Global Service Centre (UNGSC) provides critical Supply Chain, Geospatial, Information and Telecommunications Technologies services and Training to all Secretariat Entities, Peacekeeping and Special Political Missions, Agencies, Funds and Programmes of the UN system worldwide.

This position is located in the Human Resources Unit within the Central Service of the United Nations Global Service Centre (UNGSC) in Brindisi, Italy.

The incumbent reports to the Chief Central Service.

Responsibilities

The Chief Human Resources Officer is responsible for a fully integrated, interdisciplinary and regulatory compliant human resources unit for the UNGSC including tenant units comprised of: Standing Police Capacity, Justice and Corrections Standing Capacity, Strategic Air Operations Centre, and the Field Central Review Bodies Unit.
He/she serves as the Human Resources Adviser to the senior leadership team and hiring managers for workforce planning and management, policy implementation and monitoring in order to ensure that HR and the organizational strategy are aligned and responsive to the evolving changes in mandate and phase, operational priorities and budgetary imperatives. This position is responsible for two locations: Valencia, Spain and Brindisi, Italy.

Within delegated authority, the Chief Human Resources Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

Strategic Planning:
• Participates in the UNGSC planning process throughout the mission lifecycle and plays a critical role in determining the staffing requirements and structures.
• Advises the Senior Management Team on emerging capacity gaps in accordance with the evolution of the mission mandate.
• Advises Senior Leadership on workforce planning, including implementation of succession planning and forecasting of human resources requirements during start-up, mission transition and draw down, including closely coordination with DOS to manage the drawdown and retrenchment of staff.
• In coordination with all UNGSC components, develops coherent staffing strategies to support the implementation of UNGSC’s mandate including recruitment and deployment plan.
• He/she is also responsible for assessment of the workforce per function, skill, level, category, occupation group, gender and geography and for identifying the gap and determining actions to respond to needs taking into account existing vacancies, projected changes due to retirements, returns to parent duty station and turnover rates.
• Advises UNGSC leadership on the implementation of Organization-wide change initiatives especially those related to and have impact on the human resources.
• Reviews UNGSC structures to establish required adjustments that may lead to consolidation, retrenching and reduction of posts.

Budget Process:
• Participates in the budget development process of UNGSC and provides guidance and advice to the Senior Management Team on the human resources requirements, staffing table and organizational structure of all sections based on the DOS’ guidelines on budget review.
• Drafts strategic narratives, justification, and responses for HR related matters during the budget development and reviews the staffing aspects of UNGSC budget.
• Manages preparation of documentation for classification of posts and the implementation of classification results.
• Ensures that expenditures related to staffing are within the budgeted staffing costs, coordinating with the Finance and Budget Units at both in UNGSC and Headquarter levels to ensure availability of funds.
• Ensures the integrity of the staffing table as approved in the budget without discrepancy in sections and locations.
• Advises hiring managers on loaning of posts between sections and movement of posts and staff between locations based on the SOP on Staffing table and Post Management.

Recruitment and staff selection:
• Manages the selection and appointment process of highly competent candidates by advising managers on organizational policies and SOPs on the staff selection process and ensuring compliance and required level of skill to conduct and document competency-based interviews for position specific job openings, if required.
• Facilitates UNGSC’s participation in expert panels to evaluate applicants to generic job openings.
• Manages recruitment and selection related process in a transparent, consistent, merit-based and fair manner, complying with policies related to gender balance, geographic diversity, as well as enhancing both the management and staff awareness of these policies.
• Manages the recruitment and selection of national staff ensuring the development of job descriptions for approved posts, liaising with the UNHQ on the classification of such posts, advertising and guiding managers on the selection process in line with UN Staff rules and regulations.

Human Resources Management:
• Advises and communicates to Senior Management and staff on Human Resources policies and practices and provides direction and coherence to all HR activities and systems for the UNGSC.
• Supervises the process of knowledge/awareness building amongst program managers, senior management, and staff members with regard to the staff rules and regulations, and related guidelines in the administration of entitlements and their strict application by the HR Section, including consistent implementation of delegated authority.
• Provides direction and advice on interpretation and application of policies, regulations and rules.
• Monitors and evaluates the effectiveness of related guidelines, HR rules, regulations practices and procedures, and recommends revisions to DOS, where necessary.
• Responsible for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of delegated authorities, through inter-alia, the Human Resources Management Scorecard (HRM-S), Service Level Agreements, HRM-S indicators, and the Senior Managers’ Compact
• Represents Senior Management on a variety of joint staff-management advisory bodies in an ex officio advisory or active capacity, as appropriate;
• Facilitates the review of the recommendations for Special Post Allowance, ensuring adherence to the applicable policies.
• Serves as primary interface regarding cross-cutting HR issues between the Head of UNGSC and DOS, with a key proactive role of open communications, advisory services, and collaborative problem resolution;
• As requested by the supervisor, might be required to represent the office in joint bodies and working groups relating to salaries and other conditions of service.

Performance Management:
• Supports in the implementation of the performance appraisal system and monitors its compliance, providing guidance and substantive support to the mission components on standard for the development of service, section, unit and individual work plans
• Oversees training/orientation program in performance management and supervisory skills as well as work plans. Ensures full compliance of e-Performance and provides input to the establishment of Management.
• Coordinates with the Conference and Learning Centre (CLC) to organize training/orientation programs in performance management, supervisory skills, work plans and any other trainings supporting the implementation of the organization’s initiatives.
• Ensures full-compliance of e-Performance and provides input to the establishment of Management Review Committee and Joint Monitoring Committee and Rebuttal Panel and acts as their facilitator and ex-officio member.
• Provide advice to Rebuttal Panel and acts as their facilitator and ex-officio member
• Counsels staff and managers in cases of underperformance and facilitates the implementation of a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) or other remedial measures, when required.

Staff Development:
• Advises on training opportunities for HR Staff as well as staff in general giving particular attention to developing and implementing career development paths for national staff members.
• Provides regular information on global vacancies and opportunities for the generic rostering system.
• Coordinates with DOS as a conduit for headquarters initiatives and as the initiator of individual career advice and counselling, which includes the planning and shaping the progression and movement of staff both within and among entities as part of the global secretariat.

Capacity Building:
• Assesses the level of skills, expertise and knowledge of the HROs and HRAs and ensures the provision of training programs including the use of HR systems, data analysis, report writing, etc.

Administration of Justice:
• Works with interested parties such as the Staff Association(s), the Conduct and Discipline component and the leadership team, the CHRO will address and mitigate staff grievances with the purpose of resolving them at the lowest practical level. This includes preventive activities such as training and sharing best practices and recent jurisprudence related to human resources management.
• In coordination with senior management and DOS, the CHRO will also coordinate the responses to formal and informal requests coming from different entities under the Administration of Justice (AoJ) system and implement decisions applicable to the UNGSC.

Staff and Management Relations:
• Develops an “open door” dialogue between the management and international and nationals staff unions (Field Staff Union and National Staff Committee respectively to discuss HR matters and related staff issues;
• Meets frequently with staff representatives to address issues affecting the staff and coordinate the quarterly meetings with the Head of the Mission and Director/Chief of Mission Support;
• Organizes, as necessary, general or specific meetings for the staff on issues such as HR aspects of mandate implementation, status of HR reforms and other organizational change initiatives etc.

Travel and Visa:
• Oversees the administration of travel and issuance of visa for staff and dependents.

Other:
• Develops a set of actionable and targeted change management plans, including coaching and training in order to implement these responsibilities and reports on possible gaps and risks and recommends corrective action.
• Develops a communication strategy with a dedicated SharePoint page on HR issues and regular formal and informal meetings.
• Maintains constant dialogue with the Heads of Operations/Administration of UN Country Teams for coordination of national staff salary surveys, cost of living surveys, and other common policies on in-country entitlements for staff.
• In consultation with the Chief of Security and the Welfare Officers, the CHRO works on the responses to a natural disaster/incident with focus on anticipating, planning and coordinating the overall HR response in coordination with DOS.
• Collects and analyzes data to identify trends or patterns and provides insights through graphs, charts, tables and reports using data visualization methods to enable data-driven planning, decision-making, presentation and reporting.
• Performs other related duties as required.

Education

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) in human resources management, business or public administration, social sciences, education or a related field is required. A first level university degree in combination with additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Successful completion of both degree and non-degree programs in data analytics, business analytics or data science programs is desirable.

Certification in Project/Programme Management methodology by an accredited body (e.g. PMP, PGMP, PRINCE 2 Foundation Project Management certification or practitioner level) or equivalent is desirable.

Work Experience

A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in human resources management, administrative or related area is required.

Experience in the strategic and operational application of human resources management policies/practices is required.

Experience in interdisciplinary Human Resources (HR) Services including staff selection, talent management and the administration of benefits and entitlements and any other HR related area is required.

Experience in managing and leading interdisciplinary teams is desirable.

Experience leading joint UN Common System or similar International Organization initiatives is desirable.

Experience working in a multicultural and international organization is desirable.

Experience with workforce planning, organizational redesign and change management initiatives is desirable.

Experience in data analytics or related area is desirable.

Experience in the area of policy advice and administration of non-staff (affiliate) personnel is desirable.