ER & Policies Senior Manager

About Accenture 

 

We work with one shared purpose: to deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity. Every day, more than 775,000 of us help our stakeholders continuously reinvent. Together, we drive positive change and deliver value to our clients, partners, shareholders, communities, and each other. We believe that delivering value requires innovation, and innovation thrives in an inclusive and diverse environment.  

We actively foster a workplace free from bias, where everyone feels a sense of belonging and is respected and empowered to do their best work. At Accenture, we see well-being holistically, supporting our people’s physical, mental, and financial health. We also provide opportunities to keep skills relevant through certifications, learning, and diverse work experiences. We’re proud to be consistently recognized as one of the World’s Best Workplaces™. Join Accenture to work at the heart of change. 
Visit us at www.accenture.com 

Role: Employee Relations and Policies Senior Manager

Location: Sydney / Melbourne

Fixed Term Contract for 6 months

Employee Relations (ER) shapes the way we engage with, support, and protect our people across the entire employee lifecycle. It is a critical lever in Accenture’s culture, leadership capability, people management practices, and policy frameworks.

The Employee Relations and Policies Senior Manager, Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) is a senior subject matter expert and strategic leader responsible for providing authoritative advice across complex and high-risk employee relations matters. The role partners closely with HR leadership, senior business leaders, and global teams including Employment Law, Global Sensitive Matters, Corporate Investigations, Global Employee Relations, and Global Policy.

This role plays a key leadership position in setting ER strategy for ANZ, driving policy governance and enhancements, leading complex investigations, and uplifting ER capability across HR and the business.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Subject Matter Expertise & Advisory

• Act as the senior ER authority for ANZ, providing high-impact, timely, and pragmatic advice that is culturally aligned, strategically sound, operationally practical, and compliant with Accenture/Avanade policies, Employment Agreements, and statutory obligations

• Lead and advise on complex, sensitive, and high-risk employee lifecycle matters, including:

  • Large-scale change management and workforce transformations

  • Talent planning and reorganisations

  • Complex performance and conduct issues

  • Redundancy programs and workforce exits

  • Ethics, respect, fairness, mediation, and conflict resolution

  • Work health and safety, wellbeing, duty of care, illness and injury management

  • Terms and conditions of employment and Making Our Conduct Count

• Maintain deep expertise in Australian and New Zealand employment law, Modern Awards, Employment Agreements, and HR policies, and translate legal requirements into practical ER guidance

• Provide compassionate, trauma-informed advice that balances organisational risk with genuine care for employee wellbeing

• Partner with HR leadership to embed ER, Health & Safety, and wellbeing programs into broader people strategies

• Lead ER data insights, trend analysis, and risk identification, translating findings into proactive interventions and recommendations

• Design and deliver executive-level education and capability uplift, including development of ER learning materials and presentations

• Apply strong understanding of WHS principles and their intersection with employee relations and organisational risk

Investigations Leadership

• Lead and oversee complex and sensitive workplace investigations, ensuring fairness, procedural integrity, and defensibility

• Partner with Global Conduct, Sensitive Matters, and Employment Law teams on escalated or cross-border investigations

• Exercise judgement in determining when investigations are appropriate, and when alternative resolution pathways are more effective

• Provide expert oversight, coaching, and escalation support to People Partners and HR Business Partners conducting investigations

• Ensure investigation outcomes are evidence-based, consistent, and aligned with policy and legal frameworks

Case Management, Governance & Reporting

• Own and oversee end-to-end management of complex ER cases, ensuring consistency with Accenture guides and frameworks

• Establish strong governance, documentation standards, and quality assurance across ER case management

• Drive robust ER reporting, insights, and executive-ready dashboards

• Lead the development, execution, and monitoring of ER compliance and risk mitigation plans

Policy Leadership, Enhancement & Education

• Act as the policy authority for ANZ HR policies, including Making Our Conduct Count (Policies 1000–1004)

• Lead interpretation, localisation, and implementation of global policies for the ANZ context

• Stay abreast of employment law reforms, landmark cases, and regulatory changes across Australia and New Zealand

• Drive continuous improvement of policy supplements in response to statutory, strategic, or business changes

• Educate HR and leaders on policy intent, application, and risk management

Program & Project Leadership

• Provide end-to-end leadership of ER and Policy initiatives, including:

  • Strategic program design

  • Change and stakeholder management

  • System and tool development or migration

  • Embedding sustainable operating models

• Influence global ER and Policy roadmaps by contributing ANZ insights and requirements

Operational Excellence & Stakeholder Leadership

• Set high standards for ER operational discipline, record-keeping, and case management system usage

• Build strong, trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, including executives and HR leadership

• Demonstrate exceptional judgement, responsiveness, and ownership in high-pressure and time-critical situations

• Role-model precision, discretion, and attention to detail in all ER matters

Mindset & Leadership Style

• Strategic, calm, and decisive under pressure

• Strong ethical compass with a commitment to fairness and respect

• Confident influencer who balances empathy with commercial judgement

• Curious, forward-looking, and committed to continuous improvement

• Acts as a role model for Accenture’s values and culture

Career Level Expectations

Complexity

• Operates in highly complex, ambiguous, and high-risk environments

• Solves novel and unprecedented ER challenges, often shaping new approaches and solutions

• Deep understanding of ANZ ER strategy and its alignment to global direction

• Regular interaction with senior HR leaders and executives

Authority

• Operates with significant autonomy and judgement

• Sets direction for ER practices and policies within ANZ

• Trusted advisor on critical people and risk decisions

Impact / Decision Impact

• Decisions have material impact across ANZ, including reputational, legal, and cultural risk

• Influences outcomes at enterprise and leadership-team level

Scope

• Leads ER programs, initiatives, and complex work efforts across ANZ

• May lead or mentor ER practitioners and influence broader HR capability

Skills & Proficiency Expectations

Skill

Expected Proficiency

Change Management

P5 – Expert

Operational Excellence

P4 – Expert

People Safety & Health

P5 – Expert

Safety Reporting

P5 – Expert

Talent Management

P3 – Advanced

Training & Performance Support

P5 – Expert

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement for Australia and New Zealand:

At Accenture, our intention is to foster a culture and a workplace in which all of our people feel a sense of belonging and are respected and empowered to do their best work. 

We encourage applications from all people with the relevant skillset, and we are committed to removing barriers to the recruitment process and employee lifecycle. All employment decisions shall be made without regard to age, disability status, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, religion or sexual orientation and we do not tolerate discrimination. If you require any accommodations or adjustments for interviews and/or at work, please reach out to [email protected] or contact us at +61 2 9005 5000 (Australia) or +64 44666056 (New Zealand). 

Learn how Accenture protects your personal data and know your rights in relation to your personal data. Read more about our Privacy Statement.

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About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 791,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities.

Visit us at www.accenture.com 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement for Australia:

At Accenture, our intention is to foster a culture and a workplace in which all of our people feel a sense of belonging and are respected and empowered to do their best work. 

As part of our talent strategy, we hire and develop people who have different backgrounds, different perspectives and different lived experiences. These differences ensure that we have and attract the cognitive diversity to deliver a variety of perspectives, observations and insights which are essential to drive the innovation needed to reinvent, and we hold our leaders accountable for ensuring we have the most innovative and talented people in our industry.

 
We encourage applications from all people, and we are committed to removing barriers to the recruitment process and employee lifecycle. All employment decisions shall be made without regard to age, disability status, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, religion or sexual orientation and we do not tolerate discrimination. If you require adjustments to the recruitment process or have a preferred communication method, please email [email protected] and cite the relevant Job Number, or contact us on +61 2 9005 5000.

Learn how Accenture protects your personal data and know your rights in relation to your personal data. Read more about our Privacy Statement