Senior Manager, Employee Relations

About Agoda

At Agoda, we bridge the world through travel. Our story began in 2005, when two lifelong friends and entrepreneurs, driven by their passion for travel, launched Agoda to make it easier for everyone to explore the world.

Today, we are part of Booking Holdings [NASDAQ: BKNG], with a diverse team of over 7,000 people from 90 countries, working together in offices around the globe. Every day, we connect people to destinations and experiences, with our great deals across our millions of hotels and holiday properties, flights, and experiences worldwide.

No two days are the same at Agoda. Data and technology are at the heart of our culture, fueling our curiosity and innovation. If you're ready to begin your best journey and help build travel for the world, join us.

The Opportunity

We are looking for someone to lead our Global Employee Relations Team as a Senior Manager, Employee Relations. This role leads the development of policies, advisory standards, case governance and analytics to ensure fair, consistent and legally sound people practices. The incumbent partners closely with HR leadership, Legal, unions, and government agencies to manage complex disciplinary matters, labor relations issues and emerging workforce risks.

The role combines deep industrial relationships expertise, policy leadership, stakeholder influence, and data-driven decision making, and serves as a subject-matter authority on employment legislation and industrial relations strategy.

Our Employee Relations consultants work closely with key stakeholders including our Legal/Compliance team, Corporate Tax, Corporate Governance, Talent Business Partner team and the Senior Management Team to support employees in challenging circumstances, and we seek to identify trends and share insights to adjust our people management practices to get the best talent outcomes. We advise and enable managers to make the best possible decisions, challenging practices that go beyond legal obligation to protect our unique culture at Agoda.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the go-to specialist on ER Matters, guiding managers in adhering to company policies, local laws, and regulations. Establish governance standards, operating guidelines and decision frameworks to ensure consistency across the organization. Translate employment legislation, case law and regulatory changes into clear institutional policies and guidance.
• Lead the design, review and implementation and advise people managers on the Organization-wide employee & labor relations and HR policy framework. Critically evaluate systemic issues in manager capability and practices and escalate them appropriately to business leaders for sustainable resolution.
• Represent the organization in union consultations, negotiations, arbitration and dispute resolution forums. Analyze union and management proposals to assess policy, financial and employee-relations implications. Support collective bargaining strategies through data, benchmarking and scenario analysis.
• Ensure accurate execution and documentation of disciplinary actions and terminations to minimize labor disputes.
• Conduct impartial investigations into grievances and serve as a dedicated Employee Relations partner, identifying trends and insights to inform procedural improvements.
• Analyze performance management data and past misconduct cases to develop recommendations for capability-building, policy revisions, training enhancements, and more effective management practices.
• Spearhead improvements in performance management systems and refine offboarding processes, incorporating data from different sources to enhance employee experiences.
• Liaise with Legal team to represent and manage the Company in negotiations, arbitrations and dispute resolution forums or other regulatory authorities.

Required Qualifications

• Degree in Human Resource Management, Law, Industrial Relations, or related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• A minimum of 13 years in Employee and Labor Relations or HR Business Partnering roles within large or regulated organizations, with a proven track record of handling complex employee relations issues.
• Deep understanding of employee relations, labor relations and workplace dispute management.
• Strong working knowledge of employment legislation, regulations and industrial relations practices.
• Ability to interpret legislation and apply it practically within complex organizational environments.
• Extensive knowledge of employment laws and regulations in the relevant region, with the ability to interpret and apply them in various scenarios.
• Hands-on experience managing and executing restructuring/change management projects.
• Advanced stakeholder management and influencing capability across senior leaders, unions and regulators.
• Strong negotiation, mediation and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to balance organizational risk with empathy and sound judgement.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders.
• Ability to cope well with ambiguity and change.
• High level of discretion, confidentiality, and ethical standards in handling sensitive information and situations.
• Sound judgment and the ability to make well-informed decisions, balancing legal compliance with business needs.
• Proficiency in using data and analytics to inform decision-making processes and improve employee relations strategies.
• Fluency in written and spoken English, with strong communication skills to effectively convey complex information.
• Demonstrated leadership qualities and a desire to take on managerial responsibilities.