Senior Advisor, Human Resources, Middle East

Firm Summary

White & Case is an elite global law firm serving leading companies, financial institutions and governments worldwide. Our long history as an international firm means we are perfectly placed to help our clients resolve their most complex legal challenges wherever they may be.

With lawyers operating from more than 40 locations, working in virtually every country of the world, we have invested heavily in building a high-quality full-service practice competing at the top of the market. We are distinguished by our on-the-ground presence in the world’s key financial markets and our strengths in handling complex cross-border work.

It’s not just about our global network of offices; it’s the global interconnectedness of the Firm that our people, and our clients, value most. We work well together across geographic and practice boundaries. It’s one of the reasons we attract and retain cross-border work.

Our lawyers are globally minded, enterprising, collaborative, and committed to excellence. Our people represent 90 nationalities and speak 80 languages.

Position Summary

As a core member of the small Middle East People Team, you are tasked with helping White & Case translate our business strategy into talent imperatives that deliver on our strategic vision of profitable growth, engaged people and outstanding client relationships.

Working across all 6 Middle East offices, the role holder will provide operational support on day-to-day people matters, be responsible for advising on and managing key human resources processes and supporting the Head of HR and HR Manager in the successful delivery of human resources services at all stages of the employee lifecycle.  The role holder will also be expected to work with the wider EMEA HR team to help drive forward the global and regional people agenda through participating in HR projects and programs.

Our People Advisory Team

Trusted advisor or career coach, project manager or strategist, recruitment administrator, talent expert or experienced generalist? As part of our global People (Advisory) team, you can expect to utilize and develop your skills across every aspect of human resources and talent management.

Whilst traditional HR tasks are an important component of our work, we also apply this practical knowledge to high-level strategic initiatives that deliver on our employer value proposition to best enable and grow our business. We lead and manage significant projects to attract, retain and engage the best people, and we are recognized for our ability to get the job done.

We are proud of our high-performance work ethic, as well as the central role that we play in fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture. Through extensive contact with partners and business services leaders, we are trusted to offer advice and implement changes that help our teams perform at the highest level and deliver outstanding client service. Working with us will enable you to become a great professional and develop a uniquely broad range of experience to draw on throughout your career.

Duties and Accountabilities

Recruitment

• Support stakeholders with drafting business cases for hiring requests across Middle East
• Work with the Recruitment team on candidate offers, including advising on the appropriate level and salary in accordance with experience and benchmarking.
• Work closely with the Early Careers Team on the regular trainee rotation and identifying NQ roles

Induction and onboarding

• Work with the HR Operational Delivery (HROD) team to design, refine and implement the onboarding processes in the Middle East.
• Organize and present the Middle East induction, reviewing materials regularly to ensure they are up to date and relevant, aligning where possible for global consistency.
• Meet and greet new joiners, conducting new joiner check-ins during probation.
• Track all probations in the Middle East, including conduct first stage probation reviews where required, escalating any potential issues to the HR Manager and relevant Partners or Managers.
• Analyze new joiner feedback, highlighting themes and where appropriate proposing improvements to processes, environment and culture, along with solutions to any issues identified.
• Work closely with the mobility team, assisting with joiner visa applications, including drafting of job descriptions and associated documents for both assignments and transfers.

Employee Relations

• Primary contact for all policy related queries, ensuring advice is applied in a commercial and practical way.
• Interpret complex policy and employment legislation to provide advice, guidance and support to meet various situations, escalating to the HR Manager or Head of HR as required.
• Guide and advise managers in employee performance and conduct concerns.
• Lead investigations for disciplinary and grievance processes.
• Take part in meetings and formal hearings and produce notes, formal minutes and reports; ensure compliance with local law, policy and best practice.
• Manage Maternity/Paternity leaves across all offices, in conjunction with local Office Managers where applicable.  
• Manage long term absences and occupational health cases.
• Conduct exit interviews, synthesize and record key messages and formulate proposals for improvement.

Performance Management

• Work collaboratively to support the HR Manger with the timely launch and successful delivery of the performance evaluation process and Salary and Bonus processes.
• Main point of contact for evaluation queries and evaluation system training.
• Assist with departmental moderation meetings, including collation of relevant reference materials, utilizing support from HROD as required.
• Actively drive participation in the evaluation process.
• Manage communications with the relevant support teams in Manila and the global project team in terms of process and outputs relating to the annual review processes.

Mobility

• Work closely with the Global Mobility team, assisting with joiner visa applications, including drafting of job descriptions and associated documents.
• Manage client secondments for respective groups.
• Develop processes with Business Development to ensure pre and post reviews take place to optimize the success of secondments.

Operational

• Act as an internal mentor to more junior members of the team.
• Maintain the relevant People data sources, including career trackers and headcount reports.
• Review monthly audit reports and take action where necessary.
• Analyze attrition data on a quarterly basis, reporting back to the leadership team on trends and insights, including proposals to address any peaks identified.
• Build and develop relationships with other Business Support functions, identifying opportunities for process improvements and efficiencies.
• Lead on the relationship with HROD to ensure accuracy and efficiency in our operational processes, monitoring quality of work and providing feedback where necessary.
• Lead on specific HR projects and programs as required.
• Keep up to date with external trends and best practice in HR, proactively sharing with the team.

Qualifications

• CIPD qualification (full or part) or equivalent advantageous.
• Professional services background; experience in a global law firm working with fee-earning populations preferred.

Skills / Experience

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships at all levels with a strong client focus.

• Excellent attention to detail, with the ability to question constructively existing procedures and consider alternatives.

• Team player, enhancing the reputation of and contributing to the success of the broader People team.

• High levels of integrity, ability to balance confidentiality with duty of care, and able to act with discretion and diplomacy.

• Excellent technical skills and ability to learn new systems (knowledge of PeopleSoft or WorkDay advantageous).

• Effective time management and prioritization skills, along with the ability to meet deadlines under pressure.

• Self-motivated and able to work under own autonomy or as part of a team.

Other Information

• This is a fixed-term contract to cover a maternity leave period
• This role is based in Dubai
• This role reports to the HR Manager- Middle East and Head of HR, Middle East

This role reports to

The Firm may modify and amend any job description at any time in its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

The above is only a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

Note to Recruitment Agencies

Our internal Recruitment team manages all aspects of lateral hiring. All agencies must have signed terms of business—specific to the relevant office—before submitting any candidates. CVs or applications sent directly to White & Case partners or employees will also not be considered formal introductions. If you have questions, please contact the relevant Recruitment team. We work with our preferred suppliers when engaging agencies.