Employee Relations Manager

The PureGym Way
The PureGym Group is a global gym business with a community of more than 700 gyms and over 2 million members. At PureGym, everything we do comes back to one simple idea: helping you feel good.
We're proud of our people and have a strong focus on internal progression. Championing diversity, we are committed to providing an excellent employee experience and workplace culture. As such, we are a Disability Confident Committed employer, and offer interviews to candidates who meet the essential criteria for a role, and opt-in to the scheme on their application form.
Our gyms are friendly, supportive, and judgement-free spaces where everybody can come in, work out and leave Feeling PureGym Good. We are proud to be certified by Top Employers Institute. See our careers page for full benefits.
We offer

Free nationwide gym membership for you + 1
Hybrid working
A truly flexible working culture
Personal private healthcare, including digital GP
Life insurance x4
Company pension contribution
25 days annual leave, plus 1 personal day
Option to purchase additional holiday (up to 5 days)
Great learning & development resources
Enhanced maternity pay, paternity and adoption leave

The Role
Location: Leeds/Hybrid
Type: Full TimeContract type: Permanent
Application Closing date: 9/11/26

As Employee Relations Manager, you'll lead a team of three ER Specialists and be the senior ER expert supporting our Gym Operations teams across the UK and Ireland.
You'll provide practical, commercially focused advice on complex employee relations matters while ensuring legal compliance, consistency and excellent stakeholder experience. You'll also help shape the future of ER at PureGym by driving process improvements, building leadership capability and preparing the business for future employment legislation.

This is more than an Employee Relations role. It's an opportunity to shape how one of the UK's most recognised consumer brands supports its people, influences leadership capability and navigates a changing employment landscape.
If you're looking for a role where your expertise will be valued, your ideas will be heard and your impact will be visible, we'd love to hear from you.

Lead, coach and develop a team of three ER Specialists, creating a high-performing, collaborative and customer-focused function.
Act as the subject matter expert for employee relations, providing expert guidance on complex and sensitive cases.
Partner closely with the Head of People and People Partner team to ensure aligned, consistent and commercially balanced ER decision-making.
Take ownership of escalated ER matters, including Acas Early Conciliation and Employment Tribunal claims, managing risk effectively and achieving positive outcomes.
Drive compliance with current and emerging employment legislation, including supporting the business through upcoming legislative reforms.
Review, simplify and enhance ER processes, policies, templates and guidance to improve efficiency, consistency and colleague experience.
Oversee the management of ER case volumes and team workload, ensuring service levels are met and resources are effectively deployed.
Analyse ER data, trends and insights to identify root causes, reduce risk and influence business-wide improvements.
Build trusted relationships with operational leaders, coaching and developing management capability in managing people matters effectively.

The Person
You'll be an experienced ER leader who enjoys balancing operational excellence with strategic thinking. Comfortable navigating complexity and ambiguity, you'll be equally confident coaching your team, influencing senior stakeholders and managing high-risk employee relations issues.
You'll bring:

Significant Employee Relations experience within a large, complex and multi-site organisation.
Proven people leadership experience, with a track record of building engaged, high-performing teams.
Strong employment law knowledge and experience managing a broad range of complex ER cases through to resolution.
Experience of managing ACAS Early Conciliation and Employment Tribunal matters.
A pragmatic, commercial approach with the ability to balance legal risk with business objectives.
Outstanding stakeholder management and influencing skills, including experience partnering with senior leaders.
Strong analytical capability, using data and insights to identify trends and drive improvement.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to adapt your style to a wide range of audiences.
High levels of integrity, professionalism and discretion when handling sensitive matters.

Skills required

CIPD Level 5 qualified (or equivalent experience)
Previous experience leading an Employee Relations team
Experience working within a large, multi-site organisation customer service led industry
Strong knowledge of UK employment legislation and employee relations best practice

PureGym is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. Our company mantra is ‘Everybody Welcome’ and we are dedicated to promoting a diverse and inclusive place to work. From a hiring standpoint, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to ensuring that our PureGym colleagues reflect the diversity of the nation as well as our millions of gym members we serve.
Please note: Qualifications and Skills represent the essential criteria for the role, which need to be met to be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme. Volume of eligible applications may impact everyone being able to be offered an interview.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and the advert may be withdrawn at any time. Early application is encouraged.