Jobs - 29702- UN Women: Human Resource Specialist

UN Women: Human Resource Specialist

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

13-May-12 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-3

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The UN Women (UNW), grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The Human Resource Section under the Division of Management and Administration, is responsible for the timely, accurate, equitable, effective and efficient delivery of all human resource management services, i.e. strategic staff planning, recruitment, staff administration, organizational and design and learning/career development, for the continuous development and improvement in human resource operations, policies, and methods to align with UN Women evolving business needs and for providing advisory support to the Executive Director in the formulation and implementation of the UN Women overall mission, strategy and plans of actions.

The Human Resource Specialist reports to the Team Leader, Recruitment and Staffing and is responsible for the management, implementation and monitoring of staff benefits, salaries and allowances in close collaboration and interaction with relevant partners under established outsourced arrangements to ensure the timely, accurate and correct application of benefits and allowances in accordance with UN Staff Regulations and Rules as well as relevant UN Women policies and procedures. The HR Specialist also works closely with internal UNW HR colleagues, staff, managers and other clients/stakeholders to provide advisory services on the application and interpretation of HR rules, regulations, policies and procedures.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

Administration of benefits and entitlements
Advisory services and reporting
Knowledge management, innovation and capacity building
Database maintenance and enhancement
Representation and networking

Administration of benefits and entitlements

Review all new recruitments for adherence to due process and consistency in supporting documentation; determine step, evaluate application of entitlements based on contractual status and submit required documentation to relevant partners through outsourced arrangements to ensure the correct and timely application of benefits and allowances.
Determine benefits and entitlements for complex cases including hardship and security related situations. Provide orientation and recommendation to address emergency cases that require fast tracking procedures in order to meet organizational and staff's needs.
Monitor the correct implementation of entitlements working closely with staff and external partners in outsourced arrangements to ensure the smooth flow of information and timely and accurate processing.
Monitor and track all transactions in the applicable ERP system (ATLAS) in relation to HR data, benefits and entitlements, take timely and appropriate action to ensure compliance with organizational standards of accountability and staff well being.
Support corporate initiatives to streamline administration of benefits and entitlements and provide training and orientation to staff as applicable.

Advisory services and reporting

Advise and counsel staff in respect of their rights, responsibilities, obligations, code of conduct and other related issues associated with their contractual status to ensure that they are fully informed and able to act/perform accordingly.
Provide management with authoritative clarification/briefs and/or advice on the interpretation/application of HR rules, regulations and policies.
Submit necessary and/or mandated reports for senior management monitoring, decision or oversight purposes.
Prepare ad hoc reports for high level management bodies, extracting data from different sources. Coordinate and manage inputs from different external parties, as required.
Operational support to the Chief of HR Section to implement staffing actions as part of organizational development and change management processes, including deployment/re-deployment of staff.

Knowledge management, innovation and capacity building

Contribute to the review of policies and procedures and recommend changes in relation to staff and benefits administration and services. Draft policy notes for the conceptualization of policy changes/guidelines as required.
Keep the supervisor, the Chief of HR and Policy and the Organizational Design Unit duly informed on best practices and/or areas for improvement, and contribute to policy discussion, development formulation, planning and implementation.
Identify areas for enhancing HR services and operations including areas for decentralization and greater delegation to field offices to bring services closer to the clients and stakeholders and maximize efficiency.
Work closely with the Learning Specialist to design training activities to build capacity at the HQ and field office level on benefits administration and other related areas.
Provide technical support to the implementation of career development, performance management and other related initiatives.

Database maintenance and enhancement

Monitor position data in the ERP System (ATLAS) and requests updates from position manager providing relevant technical details.
Manage and update the UN Women Department Tree in the Human Capital Module of the ERP System (ATLAS) for accuracy and consistency with UN Women's organizational structure. Monitor compliance to ensure the required updates in the finance/budget and security system components.
Work closely with IT and other ERP system partners on the development of necessary component and/or upgrades related to benefits and entitlements.
Review system workflows and recommend improvements to management.

Representation and networking

Participate as designated, in inter-agency meetings and other events to represent UN Women interests and agenda on human resource discussions and to keep abreast of evolving trends, development and needs, share ideas for improvements and to align services according to needs.
Participate in UN Women HR strategic discussions and staffing succession planning.
Undertake field missions to support HR services and contribute to capacity building and enhancement.

Impact of Results:

The effective and efficient delivery of staff benefits, salaries and allowances and the contribution to human resource knowledge management, innovation and enhancement result in gaining/maintaining the respect and confidence of the staff in UNW as a fair and equitable employer and consequently contribute to ensuring a high level of staff morale and performance.

Competencies

CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES:

Integrity:

Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity:

Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff.
Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORE COMPETENCIES:

Ethics and Values: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity.
Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Self-development, initiative-taking
Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work
Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control
Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Managing conflict
Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others
Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making: Informed and transparent decision making

Functional competencies

Strong knowledge and expertise human resource management.
Thorough knowledge of UN Staff Regulations and Rules as well as UN Women regulations, policies and procedures and/or human resources principles, policies and practices.
Thorough knowledge of ERP Systems
Organization, analytical and evaluation skills and capacity to formulate clear opinions, ideas and solutions.
Strong commitment to deadlines and results and persistence in resolving complex and difficult cases.
Strong commitment to support organizational change and development.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree in human management, psychology, or other social science related field.

Experience:

At least 5 years of experience in human resource staff benefits administration and operations in a large international and/or corporate organization preferably in the UN system and its organizations, including experience in change management processes.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in oral and written English is required. Proficiency in another UN working language is highly desirable

Application:

All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment
Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note: In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.