Rewards Review Staff Engagement Advisor at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

uration: 18 month contract

Reporting to: International HR Coordinator

Contract: Full-time position 

Starting date: ASAP

* By default, the successful candidate will be offered a contract in the MSF office of their country of residence at the time of application

1. Background

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is a leading international independent medical humanitarian organization, dedicated to providing expert medical care to vulnerable populations at times of armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and exclusion from healthcare. In over 70 countries worldwide, MSF provides both life-saving emergency care and longer-term assistance to make basic healthcare services available to the most vulnerable or excluded communities. MSF’s aim is to provide impartial assistance, on the basis of need alone, regardless of ethnic origin, gender, creed or political affiliation.

MSF is in the process of reviewing tangible rewards for our global workforce, recognising that existing policies and practices do not match our ambition for a diverse global workforce and do not fully support our evolving operational and organisational needs. In 2020, the MSF workforce was composed of more than 62.000 individuals working in our programmes as locally recruited or internationally mobile staff and in our headquarter offices.

This rewards review process will lead to the development of concrete deliverables including: a new contracting and reward packages strategy; a framework that defines the principles that inform our rewards; minimum standards for pay and benefits; and a common system for grading HQ and field positions. These deliverables involve developing new policies that will require significant changes in our HR practices. As such it essential that there is timely and adequate staff engagement in their design.

2. Place in the organisation

The post holder will be a member of the International HR (IHR) Team, which is part of MSF International. MSF International is the legal entity that binds MSF’s operational centres, sections, associations and other offices together. Based in Geneva, MSF International provides coordination, information and support to the MSF Movement, as well as implements international projects and initiatives as requested.

The post holder will report hierarchically & functionally to the Senior International HR Partner: Rewards Review. They will work in close collaboration with the other IHR Partners in charge of the Rewards Review deliverables, the relevant international HR platforms and HR and other stakeholders throughout the Movement. They will be required to present regularly to the IDRH (the platform of the HR Directors of the Operational Centres) and the Core ExCom (the platform of the General Directors of the Operational Centres).

3. Overall purpose

Staff awareness of and involvement in the Rewards Review process is a considered as key to achieving the aim “to develop a new rewards framework for the whole MSF global workforce that enables us to better meet our operational needs. This framework will be consistent, transparent and adapted to the diversity of our workforce and will contribute to MSF becoming a more equitable, just and global organisation.” With more than 62,000 staff, we need a robust, strategic approach to equitably and effectively engage with our diverse workforce.

The Rewards Review Staff Engagement Advisor will be responsible for the design and implementation of a staff engagement strategy that produces relevant staff input in the Rewards Review process, exploring explicit and implicit staff needs and expectations and generating insights that will inform our policy choices. It will require developing creative and innovative engagement tools and appropriate channels for staff to express their needs and expectations for this process. It will also involve working closely with the MSF entities that employ staff.

They will also contribute to the implementation of other priorities in the international HR work plan as a member of the international HR team.

4. Key responsibilities

• Develop a strategy for staff engagement in the Rewards Review which explains how staff will be engaged, including engagement methods, activities, timeline, key milestones, communication, principles and resources needed.
• Engage with the lead of each Rewards Review deliverable to identify key points for engagement of staff and explore how to best get this, including considering appropriate methods and tools and using HR data to develop sampling. Staff engagement will need to include specific, targeted groups of staff (eg contractual groups) and to ensure all staff have opportunities to contribute.
• Create appropriate channels for staff to express their needs and expectations for this process and creative, scalable engagement tools (polls, on-line and in person focus groups, etc)
• Organise and facilitate staff engagement events including focus groups (on-line and in person) and capture outcomes.
• Design and run targeted surveys to get input from staff on specific questions.
• Contribute to communication materials for staff and stakeholders.
• Develop materials to support formal engagement with staff representatives, which will be undertaken by each entity.
• Provide regular updates on staff engagement in the Rewards Review to the IHR team, IDRH, Core ExCom, HR29 and wider stakeholders.
• Contribute to our objectives to improve the diversity of our workforce.
• Provide advice and support for staff engagement on other work priorities of the international HR team.

Job requirements

• Knowledge of staff engagement methods and strategies.
• Experience of planning and organising staff engagement exercises.
• Knowledge of qualitative research and experience of running focus groups.
• Excellent analytical skills, including an ability to analyse qualitative and quantitative data.
• Excellent communication skills, with an ability present complex information succinctly.
• Strong networking skills.
• Excellent IT skills including the use of social media, content management, Microsoft Office and image and video editing.
• Experience of working in an international organization.
• Knowledge of MSF HR policies & processes would be an asset.
• Direct knowledge of MSF and its programmes would be an asset
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
• Fluency in written and spoken English and another MSF working language (French, Arabic or Spanish).