Who You Are

You are a true HR guru. You know what employees want and how to ensure they are being taken care of on both a personal and professional level. There is no problem too big or too small that you cannot tackle using your extensive HR knowledge and intuition to drive improvements across the business. Your presence fosters trust among employees and the people around you know you have their backs.

As the Senior Employee Relations Manager, you will serve as an employee relations subject matter expert and act as a trusted, supportive advisor across the business, as well as the go-to point of escalation for your People Business Partner and People Operations colleagues, managers, and leaders. In partnership and collaboration with members of the People and Legal teams, you will be responsible for providing the business with ongoing support and consultation on employee related matters such as, but not limited to, employee performance improvement, proactive coaching & development, investigations into employee related concerns, corrective actions, complaint investigations, employee separation, exit interview survey trends, and other employee matters.

As a Senior Employee Relations Manager, you will report directly to the Director, People Business Partner Group.

Your Success Profile

What You Will Work On

• Partner with leaders and employees to provide guidance and support to create strategies and plans to improve employee performance, drive engagement and build a culture of high performance
• In partnership with the the People Business Partners and Legal teams, conduct investigations for behavioral/workplace issues in a timely manner, while applying appropriate investigative techniques and strategies with supporting documentation
• Create training curriculum and conduct appropriate training for managers and employees in overall manager best practices and performance improvement concepts in alignment with our company’s core values, practices, and processes
• Develop resources, tools and standards for employee relations, including employee counseling and engagement, documentation standards and practices, policy interpretation and application, performance management methodologies, investigations, reasonable accommodations, and responses to other sensitive work-related issues
• Ensure compliance and effective application of company policies and procedures, as well as federal and state regulations and laws
• Improve existing employment practices; develop and draft new policies, document practices, and drive organizational change management as needed
• Advise and train managers on best employee relations practices and strategies to help proactively improve overall employee performance and engagement
• Provide investigation case trend data and actionable feedback and recommendations to Legal, the People Business Partner team, and senior leadership to reduce overall risk in the organization
• Conduct employee exit interviews, summarize findings, and discuss trends and concerns with respective stakeholders
• Conduct employee relations metrics and trend analysis with proactive recommendations on policies and programs to address cases, trends, and/or concept
• Help promote knowledge, understanding, and compliance with company policy and relevant employment laws through proactive coaching and training for managers and employees alike
• Facilitate HR risk assessments regarding employee relations matters to identify and remediate risk
• Build a more formal employee relations program and structure at Justworks, in partnership with members of the People and Legal teams
• Other duties as needed based on departmental and/or organizational needs.

How You Will Do Your Work

As a Senior Employee Relations Manager, how results are achieved is paramount for your success and ultimately contribute to our success as an organization. In this role, your foundational knowledge, skills, abilities and personal attributes are anchored in the following competencies:

• Consultative - takes an approach that focuses on building relationships with others, understanding their problems, and developing solutions to their challenges through open-ended questions and active listening.
• Solution-oriented - identifies the source of a question or challenge and provides the right, or a better, way of doing things.
• Good judgment - the exercise of critical thinking, analyzing and assessing problems and implications, identifying patterns, making connections of underlying issues, understanding risks and developing mitigation strategies, and taking ownership of the outcome.
• Functional expertise - subject matter expertise of specific function(s), including knowledge of principles, practices, and domain knowledge.
• Clear communication - the ability to articulate thoughts and express ideas effectively using oral, written, visual and non-verbal communication skills, as well as listening skills to gain understanding.

In addition, all Justworkers focus on aligning their behaviors to our core values known as COGIS. It stands for:

• Camaraderie - Day to day you can be seen working together toward a higher purpose. You like to have fun. You’re an active listener, treat people respectfully, and have a strong desire to know and help others.
• Openness - Your default is to be open. You're willing to share information, understand other perspectives, and consider new possibilities. You’re curious, ask open questions, and are receptive to thoughts and feedback from others.
• Grit - You demonstrate grit by having the courage to commit and persevere. You’re committed, earnest, and dive in to get the job done well with a positive attitude.
• Integrity - Simply put, do what you say and say what you'll do. You’re honest and forthright, have a strong moral compass, and strive to match your words with your actions while leading by example.
• Simplicity - Be like Einstein: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

Qualifications

• Minimum of 8 years of experience in employee relations role with an emphasis on internal employee related investigations and training
• Minimum of 3 years of experience managing an employee relations team
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience dealing with sophisticated employment issues that drives high performance management, and conflict resolution strategies
• Proven experience developing partnerships with business leaders, and other key stakeholders particularly in helping them lead and manage in a fast-paced start-up environment
• Expert-level experience in a variety of HR competency areas such as employee relations, performance management, and development, leadership development, and change management
• Comfortable working in a high volume, fast-paced environment; not afraid to "roll up your sleeves" to complete tactical work; with the ability to switch between strategic and tactical work daily
• Ability to coach and communicate across all levels of the organization
• Strong strategic and operational thinker, with a knack and excitement for solving problems and building solutions oriented processes
• Ability to navigate highly confidential information with professional maturity and discretion
• Ability to exercise judgment, while balancing time constraints and need for time sensitive resolutions
• Ability to resolve conflicts empathetically and diffuse employee related issues, concerns, situations in a timely manner at times
• Strong attention to detail and excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to write cohesive emails, summaries, and investigations plans/reports
• Consultative, coaching, counseling, and conflict resolution skills; ability to influence and articulate a variety of issues to different audiences, tailoring messages accordingly
• Proven knowledge and understanding of HR regulations, laws and industry best practices to ensure compliance with all applicable international, federal, state, and local employment laws
• Experience supporting both exempt and nonexempt employee populations

The base wage range for this position based in our New York City Office is targeted at $155,500.00 to $171,050.00 per year.

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