Plant HR Manager

About The Role We are seeking a hands-on Plant HR Manager to lead people operations in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. This role blends strategic HR leadership with day-to-day execution-supporting leaders and frontline teams across talent acquisition, onboarding and training, employee relations, compliance, and workforce analytics. You'll be a visible presence on the plant floor, translating operational needs into practical people solutions that strengthen performance, engagement, and retention. About The Role We are seeking a hands-on Plant HR Manager to lead people operations in a fast-paced manufacturing environment. This role blends strategic HR leadership with day-to-day execution-supporting leaders and frontline teams across talent acquisition, onboarding and training, employee relations, compliance, and workforce analytics. You'll be a visible presence on the plant floor, translating operational needs into practical people solutions that strengthen performance, engagement, and retention. What You’ll Do Partner with operations leaders by maintaining a strong plant-floor presence - listening, observing, and helping resolve workforce issues with operators, supervisors, and leaders. Use people data to identify trends, recommend actions, and drive accountability to results. Build trusted relationships with leaders and employees to improve communication, engagement, and retention. Talent Acquisition, Onboarding & Training Develop and execute recruiting strategies for hourly and salaried roles in a competitive labor market (trade schools, universities, community partnerships, and creative sourcing channels). Own and continuously improve onboarding, delivering an effective in-house orientation and ensuring rapid integration into production environments. Lead and execute continuous training and cross-training initiatives, including development and maintenance of training materials and manuals. Compensation & Workforce Analytics Support compensation planning processes aligned to market benchmarks and internal equity, including salary bands, merit increases, and pay-for-performance programs (within approval frameworks). Maintain employee census data and deliver workforce analytics to support leadership decision-making. Employee Relations & Culture Serve as the primary point of contact for employee relations, including conflict resolution, investigations, coaching, and performance management. Lead disciplinary actions and terminations with thorough documentation in alignment with policy and employment law. Strengthen a positive, high-performance culture aligned with operational excellence. Compliance & Safety Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment regulations. Partner with safety leadership to support incident investigations, corrective actions, and ongoing compliance. Own and continuously update the employee handbook and HR policies to reflect legal compliance and organizational standards. Leave Administration Manage leave of absence programs including FMLA, ADA, workers' compensation, and CT state-specific leaves. Ensure documentation accuracy and coordinate effectively with payroll and benefits partners. Labor Reporting & Operational Support Build and maintain dashboards and recurring reports (daily/weekly/monthly) for operations leadership. Track and analyze key labor KPIs (overtime, headcount, attendance/absenteeism, turnover, productivity, and labor efficiency) and highlight meaningful variances. Identify trends and root causes; translate findings into clear recommendations and action plans that improve labor performance. Support labor planning and forecasting by partnering with operations on staffing needs, schedule changes, and workload drivers. Partner with operations leaders to identify cost drivers and improvement opportunities. Experience & Qualifications Bachelor's degree and 5–8+ years of progressive HR experience in a manufacturing or light industrial environment. SHRM-CP or PHR certification preferred. Fluency in Spanish preferred. Strong knowledge of OSHA, FMLA, ADA, and employment laws. Experience supporting production environments required; with direct hands on production experience preferred. Strong analytical skills and HRIS/reporting capability. Accountability mindset-sets clear priorities and measurable goals, follows through on commitments, and uses KPIs and metrics to drive results. Process- and systems-oriented problem solver-comfortable using data, root-cause thinking, and simple, repeatable workflows to improve outcomes. Working knowledge of Lean/continuous improvement concepts and structured quality management practices (standard work, document control, audits, corrective actions) within a manufacturing environment. Key Strengths for Success Operational acumen and experience in a manufacturing environment. Strategic, forward-looking business partner who anticipates people and operational needs and helps leaders drive change and growth. Employee-centered leadership with a proven ability to engage, develop, and support employees while partnering with leaders to build a high-performing culture. Data-driven decision making and strong follow-through. Conflict resolution and employee relations expertise. Compliance and risk awareness. Influential communication and professionalism at all levels. Continuous improvement mindset. #J-18808-Ljbffr