Human Resources Manager Job Vacancy: Medical Emergency Relief International (Merlin)

losing date: 22 Feb 2010

Location: Kenya

Job Description

Position: Human Resources Manager
Programme: Somalia and Kenya

Responsible to: Country Director
Responsible for: HR and Administration team

Location: Nairobi, Kenya with frequent trips to the field sites in Kenya and flexible travel to accessible Somali field sites

Start Date: ASAP
Duration: 6 months (with a possibility of extension)

Salary: £25,595 to £27,078 per annum (dependant on relevant experience) inclusive of annual Cost of Living allowance.

Benefits: Insurance cover, accommodation, free return flights, annual loyalty bonus, R&R and 24 days annual leave.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Due to the urgency of recruitment for this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer this post before the closing date.

Please note this is an unaccompanied position

Merlin International Profile

Merlin specialises in health, saving lives in times of crisis and helping to rebuild shattered health services. Each year, Merlin helps more than 15 million people in up to 20 countries.

Country Context and Background

Merlin has been working in Kenya since 1998 and Somalia since 2004. Managed from an office in Nairobi Merlin works in two programme areas in Kenya and three in Somalia.

Each programme area has a Programme Coordinator, who is directly responsible for delivering the programme, and a team of staff. There are generally between 70 and 100 staff attached to the Somalia and Kenya programmes on national and international contracts.

In Kenya Merlin work in Nyanza and Turkana. The Nyanza programme is managed from an office in Kisii and deals mainly with the prevention and treatement of malaria and HIV/AIDS. The Turkana programme is run from an office in Lowar and works on nutrition and primary health care programmes with the vulnerable pastoralist communities of that region.

In Somalia Merlin runs programmes in Somaliland, Puntland and South Central. The Somaliland programme office is based in Hargeysa although focused on the far eastern Awdal province where we work directly with the Ministry of Health to strengthen the health care delivery systems.

The Puntland and South Central programmes are mainly concerned with primary health care, nutrition, HIV and TB. For security reasons their Programme Coordinators are based in the Nairobi office, managing their teams remotely.

In all cases, and in line with organisational strategy, the Somalia and Kenya programmes focus on the following broad strategic objectives:

• Support and strengthen the institutional capacity of the health care system;
• Improve access to and quality of health care services, particularly for vulnerable and underserved populations;
• Strengthen the capacity of Merlin and partners in Somalia and Kenya Somalia and Kenya to respond to humanitarian emergencies;
• Advocate for the implementation of improvements in health policy.

Main purpose of the role

To be responsible for establishing and providing professional and effective human resource services as part of the Senior Management Team for both Somalia and Kenya.

Overall Objectives (scope)

• Responsible to manage the recruitment process for all international and national staff within Somalia and Kenya;
• Provide specific advice and guidance to managers and employees on a variety of HR issues including employee relations issues;
• Design, develop and implement HR policies and procedures for national staff to ensure legal compliance and best practice within Somalia and Kenya
• Ensure understanding of and compliance with international HR policies and procedures by all international staff
• Lead specific HR projects and initiatives in line with the country strategies;
• Ensure HR information systems, processes and filing procedures are established maintained and developed;
• Directly manage a small team of staff while advising on the human resource needs of all locations.

Responsibilities

Recruitment and Selection

• To co-ordinate and support all aspects of the recruitment and selection process of national staff.
• Specific responsibilities include job description development, recruitment planning, advertising and short-listing, selection interviews and tests, job offers, salary calculations and issuing contracts.
• To keep updated with relevant new recruitment sources and propose improvements to processes and selection tools to ensure that the recruitment process meets current and future programme needs.
• To work closely with the Country Management Team, HR colleagues in the programme and HO to ensure a coordinated approach to recruitment planning & activity, assessing staffing requirements, ensuring effective forward planning and awareness of available staff resources to fill vacancies, and reviewing the most appropriate and cost effective way to recruit to posts .
• To coach and train all staff involved in recruitment on best practice and equal opportunities.

Management and Organisation

• Together with the Country Director, to provide advice on the management of all staff ensuring a clear understanding and implementation of Merlin Policies, Procedures and the Employment Laws of the country.
• Regularly update the Country Management Team on Human Resource statutory requirements, including tax laws and ensure that Merlin’s status in country fulfils these requirements.
• Liaise with external parties (i.e. specialist advisors, other NGOs) on compliance issues related to Merlin’s operations in country (including work permits).
• Line manage the Human Resource and administration team;
• Ensure that line managers are clear about their responsibilities in ensuring that Merlin’s Code of Conduct is adhered to by staff, and support the implementation of appropriate action by line managers in the event of non-compliance. .
• Ensure that line managers conduct performance appraisals and set objectives regularly and on time and that exit interviews take place for all staff.
• Manage the HR Department budget and ensure expenditures are within budget and in compliance with established financial standards

Policy and Advice

• Develop and monitor Human Resources strategies into country projects and Merlin’s overall mission and operational strategy
• Establish and maintain robust and effective Human Resource management and administrative systems
• Develop and manage the communication, implementation, monitoring and review of all Human Resource policies and procedures for national staff, ensuring they consider local cultural norms, and gender issues, and that all relevant documentation is translated into appropriate languages.
• Ensure understanding of and compliance with international HR policies and procedures by all international staff
• Provide advice and guidance to line managers within the country programme on all aspects of employment and staff related issues.
• Conduct regular field trips to project offices to monitor and review Human Resource and administrative procedures and assist project staff, where appropriate
• Advise and coach staff at all levels on issues related to performance management, legal compliance, disciplinary procedure, grievance procedure with the goal of building knowledge and capacity among staff to improve employee relations and enhance job performance and productivity
• Manage national staff welfare policies including health insurance, group life insurance, personal and accident cover ensuring that they are appropriate and cost effective.

Learning and Development

• Develop a programme-wide Learning and Development policy, in collaboration with the Country Management Team and the Learning and Development team in HO
• Identify the learning and development needs of programme staff and, where appropriate, provide tailored training and support within programme budget constraints
• Work with line managers to develop and deliver an annual Learning and Development Plan based on identified learning needs, with support and advice where necessary from the Learning and Development Team in HO.
• Liaise with Learning and Development in HO to update line managers with information and advise on staff development.
• Evaluate and assess the impact of learning initiatives and activities.

Systems & Projects

• In coordination with the Country Director, lead on specific HR projects e.g. salary reviews ensuring that these are fair, reasonable and competitive, policy and procedures reviews, staff surveys and training & development needs analysis.
• Attend and participate in relevant inter-agency coordination meetings
• Ensure implementation and ongoing management and regular monitoring of tracking systems for timesheets, annual leave and R&R entitlements, return flights, travel permits and work authorizations for all international staff
• Monitor the maintenance of monthly leave schedules, ensuring appropriate levels of cover at all times through effective annual leave planning and allocation.
• Ensure accurate maintenance of timesheets for all sites.
• Develop, implement, and maintain an effective HR database and reporting system.
• Oversee the maintenance of an effective HR filing system, with proper files maintained for each staff member, both manually and electronically.
• Manage the preparation of the staff payroll and the timely disbursement of salaries or other employee benefits.
• Maintain the monthly expatriate movement schedule as well as the expatriate and staff salary coding schedules for onward transmission to HO.
• Ensure the smooth and timely dissemination of information and advice on queries related to human resource and administration (internally and externally).

Person Specification

Essential

Qualifications, experience and competences

• Degree or higher qualifications in Human Resources Management or equivalent by experience
• Strong knowledge and understanding of international HR practices and issues
• Strong experience of working for an International Non Governmental Organisation (INGO) overseas in the capacity of Human Resource Manager
• Experience of providing an HR service to a multi-site operation
• Strong experience of providing a broad range of high quality HR policy advice (including disciplinary and grievance) to managers and staff
• Strong experience of managing and undertaking a high quality recruitment process
• Strong experience of developing and implementing HR policies, procedures, and projects
• Strong experience of dealing with employee relations issues
• Good experience of developing and communicating HR management information
• Good experience of undertaking and supervising payroll
• Excellent interpersonal and consultative skills, including the ability to communicate, present, negotiate and influence a variety of audiences
• Strong communication skills, with excellent written and spoken English
• Confident and proficient in the use of MS Office
• Experience of establishing strong working relationships with colleagues from different functions and cultures
• Experience of a flexible approach to managing and prioritising a high workload and multiple tasks in a fast paced environment with tight deadlines
• Experience of proactively identifying and addressing issues
• An understanding of and commitment to Merlin’s mission and values

Desirable

Qualifications, experience and competences

• Experience of having worked in insecure environments
• Experience of staff management
• Knowledge of health sector Human Resource management issues
• Experience of designing and delivering training

How to apply

To apply for this position

Please download an application form from our website www.merlin.org.uk

Completed form should be emailed to applications @ merlin-uk.org stating in the subject field the job title, country and reference number (if any).

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

Due to the urgency of recruitment for this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer this post before the closing date.

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