HR and Payroll (Contingent Labour) Team Manager

HR and Payroll (In House Contingent Labour) Team Manager

Home based – with travel to UK sites
Full Time, Permanent
Band 5/ Salary - £32k-£36k dependent on experience

Are you passionate about operational excellence, employee support, and leading high-performing teams? We’re looking for an experienced Aftercare Team Manager to lead the Aftercare function supporting Serco’s contingent workforce across the UK.

This is a critical role that ensures smooth onboarding, payroll, vetting, HR case management, and ongoing employee support services—playing a vital part in delivering a positive and compliant workforce experience across all stages of the employee lifecycle.

As part of this you’ll:

Driving Team Performance

• Lead and mentor a team of Aftercare Coordinators
• Conduct regular MyCatchup sessions to support development and alignment
• Set KPIs and ensure performance meets or exceeds service-level standards
• Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Monitor response times to stakeholders and employees

Aftercare & Workforce Support

• Manage absence processes and welfare interventions
• Oversee onboarding compliance, health questionnaires, and risk assessments
• Support mandatory learning completion (e.g. Serco Essentials)
• Maintain accurate employee records and approve leave/expense requests
• Oversee internal communication via the MyWork newsfeed
• Track attrition and contribute to retention strategies

Employee Relations & Case Management

• Faciliate grievance, appeal, maternity, and disciplinary meetings with the support and guidance of central HR
• Ensure compliance with UK employment law, Serco HR policy, and GDPR
• Collaborate with HR, Legal, and key stakeholders on sensitive casework
• Maintain detailed and confidential case records in the system

Payroll Oversight

• Lead weekly payroll processing for the contingent workforce
• Oversee the resolution of payroll queries
• Ensure ≥98% payroll accuracy and maintain audit-ready documentation

What you’ll need to do the role:

Leadership Excellence
Proven experience in managing and coaching teams within HR or operational settings, with a track record of delivering strong performance outcomes.

Contingent Workforce Expertise
In-depth understanding of temporary workforce management, including onboarding processes, payroll cycles, and compliance with relevant standards.

Clear & Influential Communication
Ability to communicate with clarity and tact, build trust across all levels, and influence key stakeholders to achieve aligned outcomes.

Organisational Agility
Strong time-management and prioritisation skills, capable of handling multiple deadlines and fast-changing recruitment demands.

Problem Solving & Resilience
A solution-focused mindset with the ability to stay resourceful and composed in high-pressure or rapidly evolving environments.

Compliance & Policy Knowledge
A sound understanding of UK employment law, data protection regulations (GDPR), and HR policy frameworks including casework protocols is  desirable. However, support will be available from central HR, Compliance, and Policy teams to guide and advise as needed

Collaborative Working
Proven ability to engage cross-functionally and align team efforts with broader strategic business objectives.

Systems Proficiency
Confident working with HR platforms such as time and attendance systems and ticketing systems ensuring accurate data and process management.

Why Serco:

Serco’s purpose is to impact a better future - we bring together the right people, the right technology, and the right partners to create innovative solutions that deliver positive impact and address some of the most urgent and complex challenges facing governments globally. Our services are powered by more than 50,000 colleagues working across multiple sectors including defence, space, migration, justice, healthcare, transport, and customer services in four regions: UK & Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East.

In this position, your work is vital to the business, in terms of decisions and growth. You will gain a world of opportunity working for a globally operating business delivering essential services across 5 vital sectors, personal growth, achievement, and development won’t be hard to find. You'll also work with great people. You’ll find yourself working in a highly motivated, supportive environment where no two days are the same, with experienced colleagues who strive for excellence.

What we offer:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Annual leave purchase scheme.
• Up to 6% contributory pension scheme
• Flexible working options.
• Serco discounts which include cinema, merlin entertainment and online shopping discounts, and discounts on mobile phone plans and leisure centre memberships.
• A range of benefits to support the health and wellbeing of you and your family such as Employee Assistance Programme, Health Cash Plans, free flu jabs and more.
• A wealth of career development training to suit your future aspirations. These range from role specific training, leadership coaching, formal study and much more to support you to build your career with Serco.
• A safe and supportive culture.
• A company passionate about diversity and inclusion.

About Serco
At Serco, not only is the nature of the work we do important, everyone has an important role to play, from caring for vulnerable people to managing complex public services.  We are a team of 50,000 people responsible for delivering essential public services around the world in areas including defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and citizen services. We are innovators, committed to redesigning and improving public services for the benefit of everyone.

By joining Serco you will have unlimited access to our Global Employee Networks – SercoInspire (Gender), SercoEmbrace (Multicultural), SercoUnlimited (Disability) and In@Serco (LGBT & Networks). Serco Employee Networks, led by colleagues who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and belonging. 

Apply
Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment. 

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview.  
 

At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the ‘Ban the Box’ pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required).