People & Culture Assistant

The People & Culture team at AKQA (part of WPP) creates workplace environments where people are empowered to do the best work of their careers. They support our people through every stage of the employee lifecycle from onboarding through to development and progression, ensuring AKQA is a supportive, collaborative and rewarding company to grow within.

The People & Culture Assistant is a true generalist role, assisting the P&C team across a range of areas such as people operations, culture & engagement activities, workplace experience, talent acquisition, L&D, people insights and rewards. Assisting our people and P&C team initiatives across 2 geographies - Australia and New Zealand - ensures that, whilst the majority of activities may be cyclical in nature, two days will rarely look the same. 

The People & Culture Coordinator takes great care in their work, understanding that consistency, pace and creativity are the elements that lead to success. They are energetic, detail-oriented, curious, approachable, and technology-driven individuals, who champion positivity, create memorable experiences for others, and proactively suggest process improvements to improve P&C service delivery.

The role forms part of a multidisciplinary team at AKQA, united by imagination and technology, supported in an inclusive and forward-thinking environment. With access to a broader network of P&C specialists within WPP, the opportunity exists to collaborate with, learn from, and be mentored by a wide community, leading to both future growth in this role and broader career mobility options across WPP. The 3-4 day hybrid in-studio/WFH model supports collaboration, flexibility, and balance.

ROLE REQUIREMENTS

• Maintain accurate and confidential employee records across People team platforms and files. Organise data in a way that supports seamless access to information, reporting and automation. 
• Coordinate end-to-end onboarding and offboarding, including contracts, background checks, visa applications, welcome activities, IT setup, inductions, experience surveys and exit processes.
• Support performance and feedback cycles, ensuring documentation and timelines are managed appropriately.
• Prepare and share regular people reports and insights.
• Coordinate cyclical payroll processes in collaboration with the HRBPs and Payroll team.
• Collate pay and reward benchmarking to support remuneration decisions.
• Administration and reporting of P&C team spend, including coordinating training requests, social event spend, and managing invoices to budgets.
• Coordinate the Social Committee, supporting the organisation of creative social and cultural workplace community events.
• Provide workplace experience support to ensure people are working in a safe and enjoyable environment, with regular opportunities to surprise and delight.
• Proactively seek opportunities for continuous improvement and automation within people operations and workplace experience. 
• Develop and maintain written and video content that provides information and guides about workplace experiences.
• Assist with broader People & Culture projects as required. These can widely range in nature from office moves to emerging talent programs, graduate fairs, company offsites and HR technology implementation.

QUALITIES & CHARACTERISTICS

• Experience in a generalist HR or People Operations role desired. 
• Exceptional organisational skills, with the ability to plan delivery timelines, manage competing priorities, manage expectations and meet deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail in the collection, maintenance and reporting of people information. 
• Proactive, approachable, service-oriented behaviour.
• Confident stakeholder management, with strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to manage confidential employee information with care and integrity.
• Exposure to HR technology such as a HRIS, ATS and performance platforms desired. 
• Confidence, curiosity and enthusiasm for using technology and AI to support people operations and reporting. 
• Experience supporting events and employee experience initiatives desired. 
• Basic understanding of Australian or New Zealand employment legislation and compliance requirements desired. 
• Tertiary qualifications in HR or a related discipline desired.