Human Resources Manager

About Us:

Mid-States Distributing is the leading Farm, Ranch, and Home Retail Organization. Our 72+ year old company is owned by 29 independent Farm, Ranch & Home retailers ("Members") who operate approximately 700 stores across the US with combined annual sales in excess of 7.5 billion dollars. Our member/owners retail items such as agriculture parts & supplies, petroleum products, hardware & tools, pet food, lawn & garden, animal health supplies, apparel & footwear, sporting goods, and various other products for the Farm, Ranch, and Home.

We are looking for enthusiastic people who like to win! We place a tremendous amount of emphasis on creating a dynamic and positive company culture. Most of our employees will tell you that Mid-States is the best place they've ever worked. We value high-energy people with positive attitudes who believe in the concept of "serving to wow"! Our consumers are primarily rural people raising kids, pets, cows, and crops so traditional values like God, family, and patriotism are important virtues. So, if you are enthusiastic, competitive, have a great attitude, have excellent written and verbal communication skills, like to build strong relationships, like to win, and refuse to eat meat grown in a lab - Mid-States may be the place for you! If you are not, please apply with our competitors!

Position Summary

The HR Manager is the senior HR leader for the distribution center and a member of the facility leadership team, owning the full HR agenda for the site: employee relations, workforce planning, talent, compliance, safety partnership, and culture. Reporting to the HR Director, this role operates with a high degree of autonomy - setting the site's people strategy in alignment with company direction and serving as a trusted advisor to operations leadership on organizational design, retention, and labor cost decisions. The HR Director is engaged as a strategic partner and on matters of significant legal exposure or enterprise policy; the day-to-day people leadership of the facility belongs to this role.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic HR Leadership

• Serve on the facility leadership team
• Own site HR metrics - turnover, absenteeism, time-to-fill, overtime utilization, incident trends and present insights and recommendations to facility and corporate leadership
• Lead change management for facility initiatives such as shift restructuring, automation, process changes, and policy rollouts

Employee Relations & Risk Management

• Own employee relations for the facility; lead complex and sensitive workplace investigations end-to-end and render defensible findings and recommendations with HR Director
• Set the standard for corrective action across the site: ensure consistent, well-documented progressive discipline and approve written warnings and separations, escalating terminations with elevated legal risk to the HR Director
• Monitor the facility climate and proactively address emerging issues, including positive employee relations strategies and early identification of organizing risk
• Partner with the HR Director on charges, claims, and litigation support, including document preparation and witness coordination

Talent & Workforce Planning

• Own workforce planning for the facility, including peak season ramp strategy, temporary labor mix, and performance management
• Lead hiring for salaried and leadership roles at the site; oversee hourly recruiting
• Build supervisor and lead capability through coaching, training programs, and performance management, drive succession and development planning for front-line leadership
• Design and execute retention strategy, with particular focus on first 90-day attrition and critical-skill roles

Compliance & Policy

• Administer complex leave and accommodation cases, exercising judgment on the interactive process and undue hardship questions in consultation with the HR Director
• Recommend policy and handbook changes based on regulatory developments, facility experience, and operational needs
• Accountable for facility compliance with employment law and company policy, including I-9/E-Verify, FLSA, FMLA, ADA, and OSHA recordkeeping; ensure audit-ready documentation at all times.

HR Operations & Team Direction

• Serve as the facility-level liaison to payroll for timekeeping corrections, pay discrepancies, and new hire/termination processing
• Maintain HRIS data accuracy and run standard workforce reports for facility leadership
• Lead new hire orientation, recognition programs, and facility-level engagement efforts; support open enrollment communication and benefits questions

Safety & Workers' Compensation

• Assist with workers' compensation claims management, return-to-work programs, and carrier relationships; monitor claim trends and drive cost-containment strategies
• Partner with operations and safety leadership to drive the facility safety culture, including incident review, root-cause analysis, and corrective action follow-through

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 5-7 years of progressive HR experience, including at least 3 years in a warehouse, distribution, manufacturing, or other hourly-workforce environment
• Demonstrated ownership of complex employee relations matters, investigations, and corrective action with minimal oversight
• Strong command of federal and state employment law (FLSA, FMLA, ADA, Title VII, NLRA fundamentals, OSHA recordkeeping)
• Experience using workforce data and metrics to drive decisions and influence operations leadership
• Proficiency with an HRIS/payroll platform and Microsoft Office, including Excel-based analysis

Preferred:

• PHR or SHRM-SCP certification
• Paycom platform a plus
• Experience supporting multi-shift operations, including peak season workforce ramps
• Exposure to positive employee relations

Working Conditions

Position is based on-site with regular time on the warehouse floor across all shifts. Requires flexibility to support second and weekend shifts as business needs dictate. Occasional lifting up to 25 lbs and exposure to a non-climate-controlled warehouse environment.

A few words from our COO:

I have had the pleasure to work for some incredible companies during my career, but Mid-States is truly the best company I have ever worked for. Lead by our dynamic CEO, Tom Mahlke, our team strives to provide a unique, exciting, fun, and fulfilling work environment for our staff. Things like drama, laziness, and entitlement have no place in Mid-States, which makes Mid-States a refreshing place to work. We offer competitive salaries, have fantastic benefits package, and believe in rewarding those who produce. We serve a wonderful industry, and we are financially sound and growing rapidly. If you are an enthusiastic, high-energy person with a positive attitude and the skills described above, you may have just found the last job you will ever apply for! I look forward to meeting you. - Jeff Rash, COO