Senior Manager – Employee Welfare & Relations

Transguard Group was established in 2001 and has diversified significantly, we lead in the fields of Cash Services, Security Services, Manpower Services, Facilities Management & Aviation. Transguard Group is the UAE's most trusted business support and outsourcing provider and has a large, dynamic and culturally diverse workforce with 70,000 employees!

We are currently recruiting for a Senior Manager – Employee Welfare & Relations to join our Group HR team located in Dubai.

Scope:

Accountable for managing the employee welfare and employee relations function for all site-based staff, ensuring matters are addressed promptly, professionally, and in compliance with company policies, client requirements, and UAE labour regulations. The role oversees the consistent application of EWRT standards across site operations. It acts as a senior functional reference point and escalation authority for complex or high-risk welfare and employee relations cases, providing analysis, insights, and recommendations to the Head of HR Operations. The role also leads and develops EWRT management teams and works closely with Operations and HR stakeholders to support positive employee outcomes, operational continuity, and continuous improvement aligned with HR Operations priorities.

Responsibilities:

Financial

• Ensure all disciplinary actions managed by EWRT teams are processed within approved timelines and escalation protocols, preventing unnecessary delays or financial exposure.
• Oversee medical case management to ensure treatments fall within insurance eligibility and manage exclusions in a cost-effective manner that minimizes out-of-pocket business expenses.
• Analyze and interpret HR related data to identify trends, operational gaps, and root causes contributing to attrition, providing evidence-based insights and recommendations to inform actions that reduce turnover related financial inefficiencies.
• Monitor annual leave accrual balances and proactively alert Business Units to high-risk accrual cases.
• Engage with management to ensure timely booking of site-staff leave to control financial liability and reduce leave-provision exposure on the balance sheet.
• Ensure employee welfare cases and support measures are managed effectively, maintaining an appropriate balance between employee well-being and the financial impact on the business.
• Identify opportunities to enhance cost efficiency within welfare, medical, and disciplinary workflows, implementing process improvements that reduce unnecessary expenditure or repeated administrative effort.
• Identify, assess, and monitor employee‑relations‑related financial exposure across disciplinary, medical, welfare, and leave domains, escalating material risks with analysis and mitigation recommendations to the Head of HR Operations.
• Manage and validate EWRT-related financial reporting to ensure accuracy, transparency, and timely submission, providing inputs to support forecasting, budgeting, and informed financial decision-making by HR Operations leadership.
• Support the optimization of insurance utilization by tracking high-cost medical trends, ensuring timely claim submission, and coordinating with Insurance and Finance teams to reduce rejected or non-recoverable claims.

Customer

• Ensure timely, fair, and consistent resolution of employee relations matters across site operations, including oversight of complex or sensitive cases, maintaining high standards of quality, accountability, and compliance.
• Ensure all employee welfare and relations cases for site-based staff are managed with empathy, confidentiality, and consistency, in alignment with approved policies and UAE Labour Law.
• Act as the senior escalation point for complex, sensitive, or high-risk employee welfare and relations matters across site operations, providing analysis and recommendations to the Head of HR Operations.
• Lead regular reviews with Business Units to highlight key employee relations trends … and recommend clear, actionable follow-up plans to address risks and service gaps.
• Ensure regular HR visibility across site accommodations and work locations, including maintaining up-to-date HR notice boards and promoting awareness of policies, welfare initiatives, and available support channels.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with external stakeholders such as network and non-network hospitals, insurance partners, and relevant regulatory bodies to support employee welfare needs. Work closely with the Head of HR Operations to embed service standards that enhance employee experience.

Process

• Maintain, govern, and continuously update all SOPs to ensure full alignment with approved HR Operations frameworks current processes, policies, operational requirements, and compliance standards.
• Ensure EWRT teams adhere to all legal, internal, and client-specific requirements, including the accurate and timely updating of Oracle in accordance with approved SOPs.
• Ensure all matters are managed efficiently and in compliance with UAE Labour Law while upholding company policies identifying and escalating compliance risks where required.
• Own and govern EWRT process controls across site operations, identifying control gaps, operational risks, and non-compliance trends, and escalating issues with recommendations to the Head of HR Operations.
• Provide subject-matter input into the review and enhancement of HR Operations processes impacting employee relations and welfare, based on operational insights and risk analysis.
• Oversee and coach HR Managers within EWRT to ensure effective team management and consistency in the handling of employee relations and welfare matters. Develop and deliver training for Managers on topics such as policy compliance, conflict resolution, and customer experience enhancement.
• Oversee the HR Managers within EWRT teams in managing disciplinary and investigation cases, ensuring quality, consistency, and full policy compliance.
• Oversee the management and approval of absconding cases, ensuring strict verification, complete documentation, and full compliance with MOHRE requirements to mitigate legal and operational risk.
• Establish, standardize, and govern end-to-end employee lifecycle frameworks—including onboarding, leave administration, disciplinary processes, welfare interventions, and offboarding controls—ensuring consistent execution, regulatory compliance, and effective risk mitigation across site-based operations.
• Develop, automate, standardize, schedule, and publish key reports and analyses to disseminate accurate data and actionable insights on site-based employee relations and welfare.

Innovation

• Identify opportunities for efficiencies to increasingly minimize transactional activities and replace with more value-added HR activities.
• Stay abreast of key trends and legislation within the HR landscape and advise HR leadership as to any related suggested improvements in Transguard.
• Provide reporting and insights to the Head HR Operations on employee relations trends and potential risks.
• Lead on proposing initiatives to streamline operations within the EWRT team.

Selection Criteria:

• Degree in Human Resource Management is preferable.
• Minimum of 5 years experience in Human Resources or People Management, particularly in a role supporting blue-collar employees within the GCC region.
• Exceptional understanding of UAE labour legislation.
• Advanced proficiency across the Microsoft Office suite and MI applications are essential.
• Experience in roles where a high volume of data analysis is involved.
• Knowledge of SharePoint is preferable.
• Exceptional communication skills with natural problem-solving ability to improve situations for employees.
• Experience in managing a team.