US Retail People Relations Manager

BP • Chicago, IL

4d • $128,000 - $238,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Retail People Relations (RPR) is a globally connected team within People, Communications & Culture, responsible for providing expert People Relations support across bp’s retail COCO network. RPR team members partner closely with business leaders, People & Culture (P&C) teams, legal, and external stakeholders to deliver consistent, high-quality guidance on all People Relations matters. The team’s expertise spans everything, including (but not limited to) general RPR queries, policy interpretation, workplace investigations and disciplinary, grievance resolution, business change (eg. divestments and acquisitions), and support with Industrial Relations. The Retail People Relations (RPR) Manager provides strategic leadership in People Relations across bp’s retail COCO network in the market, ensuring compliance, mitigating risk, and building a positive approach to People Relations. This role partners with RPR Managers in all markets and local P&C business partners, to drive consistency in People Relations practices and provide subject matter expertise in all areas of People Relations. In this role you will oversee and implement the regional People Relations strategy, providing expertise on labour rights, modern slavery, policy, and concerns management. The role acts as a key liaison between the markets ensuring connection, efficiency and aligned ways of working.

Requirements

• Experience in People Relations, HR, or employment law, preferably in a retail or operational environment.
• Strong expertise in handling complex employee relations matters, including grievances, performance management, and investigations.
• Experience leading or influencing teams in a matrixed environment.
• Strong understanding of regional labour laws and compliance requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with business leaders to drive people-related strategies.
• Experience with large-scale workforce changes, such as acquisitions, divestments, and organizational restructuring.
• Technical Advanced knowledge of employment law, policy interpretation, and workplace investigations.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to interpret case trends and recommend proactive solutions.
• Proficiency in HRIS/Case management systems (e.g., Workday, Salesforce).
• Ability to design and implement people-related policies and procedures.
• Knowledge of works council and consultation processes where applicable.
• Behavioural: Stakeholder management – builds trusted relationships with business leaders, legal teams, and external regulators.
• Problem-solving – demonstrates critical thinking and applies sound judgment to resolve complex issues.
• Leadership – mentors and develops team members, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Resilience – remains calm and focused in high-pressure situations and ambiguous environments.
• Collaboration – works effectively across multiple teams, functions, and geographies.
• Business insight – understands the commercial impact of People Relations decisions.
• Inclusion & diversity – proactively creates an inclusive and psychologically safe workplace.
• Continuous improvement mentality – finds opportunities for efficiency and process enhancements.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Provide guidance to business leaders on all aspects of People Relations, ensuring compliance with country-specific regulations and global bp policy.
• Build PR capability related to but not limited to policy interpretation, grievance resolution, discipline, PIPs, investigations, arbitration, and mediation.
• Team Development: Develop and deploy tools that proactively support a positive People Relations environment and capability.
• This could include (but not limited to) mentoring, coaching, and encouraging peer-to-peer support.
• Effectively train teams on policy interpretation and exceptions.
• Business Change Support: Lead People Relations support for acquisitions, divestments, and other large-scale workforce changes.
• Operational Excellence: Develop, manage, and oversee country-specific policies, ensuring best practices in consultation and workforce engagement.
• Compliance & Risk Management: Monitor team performance against SLAs and collaborate with BI, and E&C to ensure adherence to SLAs.
• Where potential People Relations risks are identified, take ownership to provide solutions which mitigate the risk.
• Policy: Support the Specialist and Advisory team with the development, implementation, and maintenance of People Relations policies, providing guidance on local adaptations while maintaining global consistency.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a key point of contact for business leaders, PC&C teams, legal, BI, E&C, and external regulatory bodies.
• Labour Rights & Modern Slavery : Drive awareness, training, and proactive engagement on LRMS across field-based teams.
• Works Council & Consultation (where relevant): Manage works council relationships and lead the consultation process for people-related changes.
• Industrial Relations: Support the Group People Relations team where required, including collective consultation, negotiation, comms and engagement activity, governance and industrial action response plans.
• Psychological Safety: Provide guidance to business leaders on creating to create a more inclusive, supportive and diverse workplace, and drive psychological safety within their own team by encouraging transparency, respect, and constructive feedback

Benefits

• flexible working options
• a generous paid parental leave policy
• excellent retirement benefits
• discretionary annual bonus program
• long-term incentive program
• generous retirement benefits that include a 401k matching program
• pension for eligible employee
• access to health, vision, and dental insurance, as well as life and Short-Term Disability and Long-Term Disability

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed