People Services Director The Netherlands

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

As a globally connected People function, Arcadians will experience an improved Quality of Life in us being human-centered and inclusive in everything we do. We will – in true partnership with the business - drive a high-performance culture. The People function will support Arcadians in developing relevant (digital) capabilities that will enable Arcadis to deliver in the best possible way. Together we will build a sustainable future for Arcadis.

The People Services Director (PSD) role will be the key lead in developing efficient people services to support our People Function for the country or group of countries that enhances the overall employee experience. Furthermore the PSD is responsible to maintain a solid relationship with the Works councils and Unions within the Netherlands.

Role accountabilities:

To transform the country People function in line with global ways of working to develop an efficient and effective People Services for Arcadis 

Serve as a local “steward” for all country People team members and point of focus and escalation for all country people matters both internally as well as externally (including local Works council, labor unions, compliance, authorities). 

This role will lead the alignment and harmonization of country people services to ensure a positive and seamless employee experience for all Arcadians. The role in coordination with the defined global ways of working will plan and manage the operational delivery of services that executes the activities associated with the employee lifecycle. The role will require the adoption of new people technology and this role requires the person to advocate and drive local adoption.  

In more detail, the People Services Director will: 

Country People Function Management 

• Work will both People Business Partners and COE leads to translate global frameworks/policies into operational delivery within the country to ensure there is an alignment with global direction
• In conjunction with People Business Partners and COE specialists, lead the delivery of initiatives which support our employer of choice ambitions ensuring an aligned and consistent approach and narrative is adopted across the people function and wider business within the Netherlands
• In collaboration with People Business Partners support the creation of the country culture where people are engaged and passionate about the company
• In conjunction with Business Partners develop strategies and activity to drive employee engagement, loyalty and commitment to the Company. Support the development of initiatives to respond to the outcomes of the employee engagement survey and ensure our people feel connected to the country and wider business
• In collaboration with COE leads for Compensation & Benefits ensure delivery of the annual C&B processes for the country (i,e merit round, incentives, recognition), ensuring Line Managers follow global Compensation and Benefits procedures
• Manage payroll for the country and ensuring that all country employees are paid in line with local legislation/procedures 
• Work with the country or GBA leads to oversee recruitment and selection activities in the Netherlands with the in-country Talent Acquisition specialists to ensure that country staffing requirements are satisfied
• Work with the COE leads for Capability to ensure Arcadians have access to learning and development in line with both personal and company objectives
• Work with the COE for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging to ensure that progression is made in line with global direction for the area and local legislation is adhered to 
• Participate and be the local people country representative for country management meetings and manage any required external reporting / auditing with support from the People Analytics COE  
• Develop relationships with and supporting senior leadership teams and other key stakeholders to ensure the alignment of the People Services Delivery with the business strategy

People Services Delivery and Transformation 

• Coordinate across People Services, COEs and Business Partners to implement the blueprint for the functions target Operating Model in the country 
• Establish a high-performing People Services team with a healthy balance between globalized and localized activities
• Implement the globally defined processes and procedures for people service delivery, and ensure they are compliant with local labor law 
• Work with Global People Services Leader to ensure there is clarity around roles, responsibilities, points of escalation & workflows for country People Services and interaction with other parts of the operating model  
• Lead on projects for global policy alignment, to help drive process alignment that supports and consistent and efficient People Services Delivery and employee experience  
• Monitor country service delivery metrics to inform continuous improvement
• Engage with country / regional stakeholders for ongoing feedback on people services delivery
• Ensure the HCM system in Oracle or relevant system of record is accurate and up to date and corresponding HR processes are efficient and effective to enable the business to manage staff and aligned globally
• Ensure People system access is managed in line with the company access management policy

Employee and Labour Relations 

• By guiding/managing local people team members, supporting managers and employees on managing Employee Relations/Industrial Relations (Central Works councils and Unions) legislation to ensure compliance with relevant employment legislation
• Act as an escalation point for in-country People Advisors handling challenging employee relations situations or grievances
• Take on the role as the Compliance Officer and work to implement the global integrity plan actions
• Manage any required local consultation body requirements with Country Managing Director 
• Ensure that all privacy obligations are adhered to with respect to the collection, use and storage of employee data 
• Coordinate the negotiations with Unions on the CLA

Shared Services 

• As part of the operating model design, work with the appropriate Shared Services leads to develop the creation and implementation of the People Services Shared Services strategy 
• Implement shared services aligned to the global model 

Technology 

• Advocate the adoption of greater employee and manager self-service 
• Implement digital people services aligned to the global implementation plans 
• Support functional design of enabling technology enhancements
• Allocate key users for digital people solutions and ensure the attendance at community meetings 
• Support the roll out of Arcadis Way, and where necessary ensure operations team members are involved in continuous improvement implementations

General 

• Play a key role in the Global People Services Leadership Team and take an active role on group wide People Services projects as agreed with the Global People Operations Director and other global team members
• Role model the Arcadis Way principles
• Act as a visible steward of Health and Safety and ensuring familiarity and compliance with Health and Safety regulations and guidelines including wellbeing and resilience
• Where required, undertake external promotion and presence for both the Arcadis and personal brand in the marketplace through though leadership and speaking engagements
• Travel: This role will may require travel from time to time to meet with key stakeholders, and attend meetings and workshops
• Depending on location it may require to work outside normal business hours.

Qualifications & Experience:

The candidate should have an academic degree (preferably in human resources) and progressive human resource experience and relevant experience in a complex international matrix setting. They should have broad experience and understand the complexity of implementing people activities and particularly in HR operations. 

Further the candidate should have thorough knowledge of project business and driving change and transformation (including leading, motivating and developing remote teams).

Other required experience and competencies for this role:

• Demonstrated management & leadership skills and ability to coach and guide a team of HR professionals 
• Having a broad knowledge of all major components of People related functions, employee/labour relations, management of change, diversity, compensation, benefits and talent development
• Excellent understanding of Dutch Employment law and demonstrated experience in maintaining solid relationships with Works councils and Unions
• Business fluency with financial acumen and operations knowledge
• Stakeholder management and the maturity to deal with local management at all levels 
• High level communication skills (English proficiency at last C1) strong consulting, coaching and presentation skills

For this role Arcadis values professional experience across the following priority areas: 

• People management: Creating high performing teams, communicating vision and purpose, engaging others and ensuring aligned objectives. Caring for employee wellbeing and recognizing and celebrating success
• Mobilizing talent: Embracing new workforce profiles and planning approaches, attracting and developing talent, leveraging talent in different markets, catalyzing a movement. 
• Living our purpose: Mentoring and sponsoring people coming through the business and from outside. Proactively, supporting communities and social initiatives, and showing attention for the planet and sustainability 

Aligned to the Arcadis Leadership model we seek leaders with a strong fit to our leadership success profile, to build and drive our culture of inclusion, accountability, human-centricity, and sustainability. Successful leaders at Arcadis will possess strong learning agility, combined with a balanced mix of being curious, driving success and igniting passion. 

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day, which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people.

Recruitment agencies need not respond. Details from this vacancy are not to be used for marketing purposes.

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