Employee Relations Lead - Merchant BU

Job Objective: The role holder will have to develop & execute the ER strategy for Merchant Business. We are looking for a Employee Relations Manager with strong commercial acumen for our Merchant Business that comprises a large cohort of field sales employees (30000+). The role holder will have to ensure our drive for a performance-driven culture is balanced with fair employment practices, compliance, and a healthy workplace climate. This role holder works closely with Sales leadership, People Managers, HRBPs, Legal, Compliance, and People Experience teams to ensure ER practices enable speed and scale without compromising on governance or employee experience. The role is based in our HQ at Bengaluru and will lead the Employee Relations from a commercial (sales) perspective within the merchant business. This role provides an excellent opportunity to learn and experience both traditional retail/FMCG & startup ways of working.

Key Responsibilities:

Policy Design & Process Improvement

• Draft, review, and continuously improve ER policies, disciplinary guidelines, SOPs, and playbooks.
• Standardize ER processes across the country while allowing local flexibility where legally required.
•   Leverage technology and automation for ER case management, documentation, and analytics.

Stakeholder Management & Advisory

•   Act as a trusted advisor to Sales leaders, Regional Heads & HRBPs on ER risk and people decisions.
•   Influence leaders to adopt preventive ER practices and early-intervention approaches.

Employee Relations & Grievance Management

•   Own end-to-end management of employee grievances across on-roll and off-roll sales workforce (including freelancer model where applicable).
•   Ensure timely, fair, and consistent resolution aligned with internal policies, Standing Orders, and statutory requirements.
•   Build and manage a centralized grievance tracking and MIS system with root-cause analysis and trend reporting.
•   Act as the escalation point for sensitive, high-risk, or high-visibility ER cases.

ER Analytics & Preventive Focus

•   Build dashboards on grievance trends, misconduct themes, attrition-linked ER issues, litigation risk, and turnaround times.
•   Use insights to drive preventive interventions, manager capability building, and policy changes.
•   Contribute to building a proactive ER culture, not just reactive case handling.

Disciplinary Action & Investigations

•   Train HRBPs to conduct domestic inquiries, misconduct investigations, and disciplinary proceedings, including show-cause notices, charge sheets, suspensions, and terminations.
•   Partner with Legal to ensure process sanctity, documentation rigor, and defensibility in case of litigation.
•   Train managers and HRBPs on principles of natural justice and correct handling of disciplinary matters.

Labour Law & Compliance

•   If necessary, manage interactions with labour authorities, inspectors, and external counsels
•   Support audits, inspections, and legal responses related to employee complaints or disputes.

Training & Education

•   Develop and deliver training for Sales Managers on best practices for employee relations, documentation, and creating inclusive environments.
•   Promote a culture of respect and integrity in a high-pressure, competitive environment.

Qualifications & Experience

• MBA / MSW / LLB
• 5+ years of progressive experience in Employee Relations; exposure to factory and commercial / central / sales teams preferred
• Prior experience in FMCG, Manufacturing, BFSI, telecom or logistics businesses strongly preferred
• Hands-on experience dealing with labour authorities and litigation support. Expertise in Employee Relations & Indian Labour Laws
• Data-driven mindset with comfort in ER MIS and dashboards
• Exposure to a start-up environment is an added advantage

What Success Looks Like in This Role

• Reduced ER escalations and litigation risk
• Faster, more consistent grievance resolution across regions
• A visible shift from reactive ER to predictive and preventive ER
• High confidence among Sales / HRBP in ER decision-making
• Strong compliance posture with zero critical audit findings