Human Resources Manager

HR Manager

Manufacturing | Corrugating & Converting Operations

Reports To: Director of Human Resources

Experience Required: Minimum 5 years of progressive Human Resources experience, preferably in a manufacturing, paper, packaging, corrugated, converting, or industrial environment.

Position Summary

The HR Manager serves as the boots-on-the-ground Human Resources leader for a fast-paced manufacturing facility supporting corrugating and converting operations. This position is highly visible on the plant floor and works closely with plant leadership, supervisors, managers, and employees to ensure effective people management, employee engagement, workforce planning, compliance, and operational support.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on HR professional who understands manufacturing culture, hourly workforce dynamics, production demands, attendance challenges, employee relations, and the importance of being present where the work happens.

This role will balance strategic HR responsibilities with daily execution and will be expected to build strong relationships throughout the facility while holding leaders and employees accountable to company policies, performance expectations, and workplace standards.

Essential Responsibilities

HR Leadership & Plant Partnership

• Serve as the primary HR point of contact for the manufacturing facility.
• Maintain a consistent and visible presence throughout the plant and production areas.
• Partner with the General Manager, Plant Manager, department managers, and supervisors on workforce and employee related matters.
• Provide HR guidance and coaching to leaders regarding employee performance, attendance, conduct, staffing, and policy application.
• Translate business and production needs into practical HR solutions.
• Participate in daily/weekly plant leadership meetings and workforce planning discussions.
• Support organizational structure, staffing levels, succession planning, and workforce development.

Employee Relations

• Manage day-to-day employee relations issues in a fair, consistent, and timely manner.
• Conduct and/or support workplace investigations involving employee complaints, harassment, discrimination, policy violations, misconduct, and other concerns.
• Coach supervisors and managers on effective employee communication, documentation, corrective action, and performance management.
• Administer disciplinary processes, including verbal coaching, written warnings, final warnings, and terminations.
• Maintain confidentiality and appropriate documentation throughout employee relations matters.
• Promote an environment of respect, accountability, communication, and employee engagement.

Manufacturing Workforce Management

• Support staffing requirements based on production schedules, business demands, turnover, and workforce plans.
• Monitor headcount, turnover, absenteeism, overtime, vacancies, and other workforce metrics.
• Partner with operations leadership to identify staffing gaps and develop recruitment strategies.
• Maintain strong relationships with production employees and understand the unique challenges associated with hourly manufacturing work.
• Support workforce planning for corrugator, converting, warehouse, maintenance, quality, and other plant functions.

Recruitment & Staffing

• Manage full-cycle recruitment for hourly and salaried manufacturing positions.
• Develop effective sourcing strategies for production, maintenance, warehouse, supervisory, and professional positions.
• Conduct interviews, facilitate selection processes, and coordinate offers and pre-employment requirements.
• Partner with hiring managers to establish appropriate job requirements and selection criteria.
• Monitor time-to-fill, candidate flow, turnover, and hiring effectiveness.
• Support onboarding and ensure new employees receive an effective introduction to the company, plant, policies, safety expectations, and job requirements.

Attendance & Performance Management

• Administer and monitor attendance policies and procedures.
• Partner with supervisors to address attendance, punctuality, no-call/no-show, and performance concerns.
• Track attendance trends and identify recurring issues requiring leadership attention.
• Support performance reviews, performance improvement plans, coaching, and corrective action.
• Ensure documentation is timely, accurate, consistent, and aligned with company policy.

Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws and company policies.
• Provide guidance regarding FMLA, ADA, EEO, workers' compensation, wage and hour requirements, and other employment matters.
• Partner with safety and operations leadership regarding workplace safety initiatives and employee compliance.
• Support workers' compensation claims, return-to-work processes, and workplace accommodations.
• Maintain accurate and confidential personnel records.
• Prepare for and support internal and external HR audits.

Leave Administration

• Coordinate and administer employee leaves of absence, including FMLA and other applicable leave programs.
• Partner with employees, managers, benefits providers, and third-party administrators as appropriate.
• Track leave status, documentation, return-to-work requirements, and accommodations.
• Ensure managers understand appropriate communication and expectations regarding employees on leave.

Payroll, HRIS & Benefits

• Partner with payroll to resolve employee pay, timekeeping, attendance, and payroll related issues.
• Monitor timekeeping records and assist with corrections and approvals.
• Maintain accurate employee information within the HRIS.
• Support benefits administration, employee questions, open enrollment, and benefit related communications.
• Utilize HR systems and reporting tools to analyze workforce data and identify trends.
• Employee Engagement & Culture
• Maintain a strong presence and open-door relationship with employees at all levels.
• Conduct employee check-ins, stay interviews, exit interviews, and engagement activities.
• Support employee recognition and plant engagement initiatives.
• Assist leadership in addressing employee feedback and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Promote effective communication between employees, supervisors, and plant leadership.
• Help create a workplace culture centered on safety, accountability, respect, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

Training & Development

• Partner with plant leadership to identify training and development needs.
• Coordinate onboarding, compliance training, leadership development, and required employee training.
• Support supervisor development and effective people management practices.
• Assist with succession planning and development of high-potential employees.
• Monitor training completion and maintain appropriate records.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or related field preferred.
• Minimum 5 years of progressive HR experience.
• Manufacturing, paper, packaging, corrugated, converting, industrial, distribution, or similar operational experience strongly preferred.
• Experience supporting a predominantly hourly workforce.
• Strong employee relations and investigation experience.
• Working knowledge of federal and state employment laws.
• Experience with FMLA, ADA, workers' compensation, EEO, wage and hour, and leave administration.
• Experience with recruiting, onboarding, performance management, and corrective action.
• Strong HRIS and Microsoft Office skills.
• Experience with payroll/timekeeping systems preferred.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, organizational, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Manufacturing Experience

Candidates with experience supporting any of the following environments are strongly preferred:

• Corrugator operations
• Converting operations
• Paper manufacturing
• Packaging manufacturing
• Printing and converting
• Industrial manufacturing
• Production operations
• Maintenance operations
• Warehouse and distribution
• 24/7 or multi-shift manufacturing environments

Key Success Factors

The successful candidate will be:

• Visible – regularly present on the plant floor and accessible to employees.
• Hands-on – comfortable handling day-to-day HR matters rather than operating solely from an office.
• Business-minded – understands how staffing, attendance, turnover, engagement, and employee performance affect production.
• Credible – able to build trust with hourly employees while maintaining appropriate leadership accountability.
• Decisive – capable of addressing employee relations issues promptly and professionally.
• Collaborative – works effectively with Plant Managers, supervisors, maintenance, safety, quality, and operations.
• Data-driven – uses HR metrics to identify trends and support business decisions.
• Consistent – applies policies fairly and maintains appropriate documentation.
• Proactive – identifies workforce and employee issues before they become operational problems.

Key Performance Indicators

Success in this position may be measured through:

• Employee turnover and retention
• Time-to-fill and staffing levels
• Attendance and absenteeism
• Employee relations resolution
• Safety and compliance support
• Training completion
• Employee engagement
• Internal promotions and development
• Payroll/timekeeping accuracy
• Leadership satisfaction with HR support
• Successful implementation of HR initiatives

Work Environment

This is a plant-based, highly visible HR leadership position. The HR Manager is expected to spend significant time throughout the manufacturing facility and interact regularly with employees and leaders in production, corrugating, converting, maintenance, warehouse, quality, and other operational areas.

The successful candidate must be comfortable working in a manufacturing environment where priorities can change quickly and where HR must be closely connected to the operation—not separated from it.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is an experienced HR professional who can walk onto the production floor, build relationships with employees, coach a supervisor, investigate an employee concern, recruit a hard-to-fill production position, address an attendance issue, partner with the Plant Manager, and then analyze the workforce data needed to improve the operation.

This position requires someone who is present, practical, approachable, accountable, and capable of balancing employee advocacy with business and operational needs.