Big Bus Tours is the world’s largest operator of open-top sightseeing tours, fuelling the spirit of adventure in 21 world-famous cities across four continents. Beginning its journey 27 years’ ago, with a fleet of only three buses, Big Bus Tours has swiftly expanded to a global fleet of over 400 hundred  open-top buses, turning 5 million tourists into explorers, every year. Big Bus Tours operates in London, Dubai, Hong Kong, New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, Abu Dhabi, Budapest, Istanbul, Miami, Muscat, Rome, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Darwin, Sydney, Vienna, Washington DC, Dublin and Singapore, with a sightseeing concept designed to provide a flexible approach to city discovery. Each open-top bus tour provides a hop-on, hop-off facility at a variety of interesting locations, with complimentary additions to enhance the visitor sightseeing experience. In February 2015, private equity firm Exponent purchased Big Bus Tours, with a shared vision to make Big Bus Tours the number 1 thing to do in each world-famous city.  In 2016, Merlin Entertainments PLC became a shareholder, offering a natural synergy with Big Bus Tours and Merlin attractions and experiences around the world. With entertaining guides and commentary and knowledge of the latest events in each city, the Big Bus City Crew leaves every passenger with a story to tell.

Background

Los Angeles is one of the most fabulous and eclectic cities in the world, and we believe that Big Bus can add a great new experience for visitors by utilising our expertise of providing tourists with a never before available experience and the perfect introduction to this world-famous city, helping them to discover and explore the wealth of things to do and places to see.

By expanding into Los Angeles, we are making this our 22nd city that we operate from. This is an exciting opportunity for you to create something very special as you will be part of the opening team and be involved in setting up the operation and infrastructure of the business.

Overall Purpose

• To liaise with the Global HR and support the delivery of an operational and strategic HR service, by introducing effective HR practices and people solutions aligned to business objectives
• To be in charge of all the HR initiatives including employee relations, recruiting, performance management, benefits administration.

Key Areas of Accountability and Responsibility

Governance

• Maintain an HR team that effectively supports the business to achieve its goals

• Create effective governance for people issues for all levels, as directed

• Create and monitor a dashboard of HR KPIS via the HRIS system (Cezanne and Paylocity) and off line methods

• Maintain legal requirements and government reporting regulations affecting human resources functions and ensure policies, federal, state and local employment as well as benefits laws are in compliance

Cost Control and budget management

• Manage the HR budget

• Support the business with to control costs effectively to maximise EBITDA (via data, knowledge sharing, coaching etc)

Talent Acquisition

• Support the business to identify and maintain a talent pipeline

• Handle full cycle recruiting, oversee and counsel managers on candidate selections and recommend the best candidates, while filling the staffing needs within a defined timeline

• Improve the recruitment processes to ensure the cost and speed of recruitment is optimised

• Support the Global HR to create and embed an on-boarding  process creating brand ambassadors for the company’s vision, mission and values

• Prepare new employees by establishing and conducting effective on-boarding and training programs to foster positive attitudes toward organizational objectives

Performance management

• Coach managers in people and self-development where necessary

• Administer performance review and management program to ensure effectiveness, compliance, and equity within the organization

Culture

• Help to build a customer centric culture that ensures great customer experience that is best in the market
• Help to build a team culture where there is a strong focus on service and continuous improvement
• Support the creation of an environment that supports effective change management and innovation

Engagement and employee relations

• Work closely with senior and line managers to manage investigations, disciplinary and grievance matters, provide sound advice and guidance on all employee relation issues and mitigated financial risks associated as well as represent the organization at legal hearings
• Ensure that action is taken on the root causes of employee relations problems
• Ensure that the barriers to high engagement are understood and addressed
• Support the Global HR with reviewing, introducing and maintaining methods to assess and address employee engagement (to include exit interviews, annual employee surveys, action planning workshops)

Policies & Procedures

• Prepare and maintain handbook on policies and procedures; maintain the work structure by updating job requirements and job descriptions for all positions
• Managing the company employment, health and safety legal, and relevant standards compliance requirements and representing the company as appropriate
• Ensure that the local policies and procedures that are easy to use and fit for purpose
• Assist the Global HR team with rolling out the global HR policies and procedures

Learning & Development

• Ensure that Learning, and training methods, exist to support the roll out of People initiatives within a global organisation
• Draw insights from the performance management process to improve learning

Communications

• Communicate with Global HR teams across the globe and support improved communications within the organisation and the embedding of organisational mission, vision and values
• Liaise with and assist with Union contracts, if and when necessary

Reward

• Perform benefits administration to include claim resolution, change reporting, approving invoices for payments; and communicating benefit information to employees
• Administer payroll and assist with the implementation of a Payroll system

HR Administration & Systems

• Maintain all employee records
• Ensure compensation and benefits are administered as directed
• Support the global  implementation and embedding  of HRIS (Cezanne)
• Support the creation of global and local frameworks and templates

Advisory

• Collaborate with senior and line managers to provide them with expert guidance on full range of HR processes

Performs other duties as assigned

Knowledge

• Strong knowledge of relevant employment regulatory and legal framework
• Understanding budget management
• Best practice HRM policies and procedures

Skills

• Experience of researching, designing, streamlining, improving and automating best fit HR local and global initiatives and projects
• Strong team leadership and motivational skills
• Ability to build and maintain relationships with stakeholders at all levels, and have the confidence to challenge when required
• Excellent verbal, written and numerical skills 
• Creative and innovative problem solver
• Ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines with flexible working hours
• A thought leader – up-to-date with the most relevant industry issues
• Proficient IT skills with a good knowledge of HRIS (Cezanne an advantage)
• Superb audience appropriate communication and presentation skills

Experience/Qualifications

• A minimum of 7 years’ recent practical experience of working in a role where they have proactively partnered with managers to progress the people agenda 
• Degree in Human Recourse Management or relevant field.
• HR Qualification
• Proven experience in managing an HR team within fast moving customer focused environment.
• Working in an unionized environment
• Demonstrable experience of working in partnership with managers to deliver innovative and proactive HR solutions that are focussed on meeting business needs e.g. organisational change projects, restructuring, culture and/or process change
• Proven experience of the creation, delivery and embedding of best fit People Initiatives within a multi-site environment
• Experience of managing the HR aspects of the Company’s statutory obligations and/or completing statutory reporting

Competencies

• High level of flexibility
• Communication
• Leadership
• Approachability
• Analytical, problem solving and decision making
• Planning and Organising
• Integrity and Trust
• High work ethic
• Adaptability/ Flexibility
• Persuasiveness
• Customer Focus
• Innovation/Creativity
• Drive for Results
• A professional and commercial approach to HR
• Confident in advising managers on all aspects of people management and development
• Ability to represent Human Resources as part of the bigger business picture

Working Hours and Conditions

 5 days, 40 hours a week; due to the nature of role there is a requirement to be flexible to travel, with notice, and be available seven days a week depending on business requirements and work an occasional weekend day

Physical Requirements

• Ability to effectively maintain calm and objective under pressure
• Overseas travel may be necessary
• A high standard of personal presentation is expected