Employee Relations Manager

Role Description

• *Company Introduction :**

Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG) is the world leader in online travel and related services, provided to customers and partners in over 220 countries and territories through six primary consumer\-facing brands \- Booking.com, KAYAK, priceline, agoda.com, and OpenTable. The mission of Booking Holdings is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. **Job Overview :**

Booking Holdings India is a Center of Excellence (COE) based in Bangalore, India and was created to support the increasing business demands of Booking Holdings Inc. and its Brands. The COE is a key enabler of Booking Holdings Inc.’s global talent strategy for several technology functions such as Cybersecurity, Fraud monitoring/analytics, IT, and others across our Brand subsidiaries.

The COE is looking for a seasoned employee relations professional with deep expertise in labour laws and Labour Compliance to support the COE Senior Legal Counsel (Legal \& Compliance) in overseeing the COE’s adherence to local laws and regulations, handling employee relations matters in partnership with the People team, implementing Compliance \& Ethics program initiatives at the COE, and to provide the People Team support as needed in Policy drafting and reviews. **Job Responsibilities :**

Together with the Senior Legal Counsel, Legal \& Compliance and India People Lead, lead the employee relations activities:

* Employee Relations

(i) Act as the primary point of contact to receive all the Employee Relation Matters reported within India COE,

(ii) Handle employee grievance and take end to end ownership of conducting a due diligence on the matters received, reporting and summarizing the issues and recommending corrective actions on the matters and tracking them to closure,

(iii) Maintaining a comprehensive dashboard to ensure we have visibility of all such issues reported, (iv) share a quarterly dashboard and also lead org wide initiatives to drive corrective actions.

• Labour Law Compliance

(i) Lead all the statutory (non \- payroll related) compliances

(ii) Monitor and supervise the compliance filings managed by external consultants and ensure that the company is compliant with its regulatory filings (e.g Shops and Establishment Act, CLRA, Minimum Wages, EPF, Gratuity.)

(iii) Monitor regulatory changes and ensure timely implementation s (e.g Menstrual Leave and New Labor Code) and program manage them to closure.

(iii)Together with the Senior Legal Counsel, Legal \& Compliance and India People Lead, lead and own the policies mandated by the Shops and Establishment Act, the Contract Labor Regulations Act and/ or driven by the work environment and drive compliance of the policy

(For e.g. Contingent Worker policy, Working in Shifts or On \- Call, Hybrid Work arrangements policy, Creche/ Day care etc.)

(iv) Support internal and external compliance audits

• Governance \& Risk Management

(i) Track and report on the Compliance KPI with BH Compliance teams and regularly drive compliance on the timely completion of compliance training. Track and report the issues with Compliance Trainings.

(ii) Drive rigor around topics such as Ethics Ambassador, Prevention of Sexual Harassment committee and Global Ethics Day etc. Track, analyse and report data on PIPs, successful and unsuccessful, and Probation non confirmation cases. Maintain a repository of all the

relevant documents in one folder and ensure that we are following the right procedures and controls on this.

(iii) Conduct onboarding/ awareness sessions for new hires on Legal and Compliance obligations for new hires.

(iv) Drive regular updates on policies and reviews with the People, Legal and Finance team to ensure that policies are updated and compliant with the latest regulations etc.

• *Qualifications :*** 8–10 years of work experience ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations (including the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act (“POSH”) and employment/labor), advising on employee relations matters and assisting with fact finding through witness interviews and memoranda drafting, and implementing compliance and ethics programs
• A bachelor’s degree in human resources, or a related field.
• A master’s degree (e.g., MBA in HR, Master’s in HR/IR) or especially valuable for handling complex employee issues, investigations, and labour compliance.
• Fluency in English and ability to work and communicate directly in English.
• Ability to articulate complex matters to the COE management team.
• Strong writing and editing skills and solid organizational skills.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• This is an independent contributor role that involves close collaboration with both India\-based and international stakeholders, as well as functional teams. Therefore, the ability to work effectively with individuals from diverse functions, backgrounds, and locations to influence perspectives and build consensus is essential.
• Ability to comfortably work with both audiences within and outside the Legal department and across all levels in the organization.
• Ability to engage with employees and hold fact\-finding conversations in the context of employee relations matters independently.

Other Skills

• International experience: Self\-awareness of communication style and cultural differences.
• Experience with employee matters and responsibilities.
• Consultative style: Ability to formulate and articulate a perspective and present it in a manner that generates understanding and alignment.
• Self\-motivated and capable of operating independently with limited oversight. Strong sense of personal accountability for work tasks.
• Comfortable acting in a role both as individual contributor and influencer.
• Comfortable dealing with ambiguity and a fast\-paced entrepreneurial environment.
• Assertive, intellectually curious, and self\-starter personality