15863 - Sr Internal HR Specialist, People Relations - AZ, GA - On Site

Senior Internal Human Resources Specialist - People Relations & HR Partnerships

The Senior Internal Human Resources Specialist - People Relations & HR Partnerships will play a critical role in fostering a positive work environment by managing employee relations, conducting thorough investigations, assisting in reviewing and providing guidance to the team on termination consultation escalations, and offering performance management and discipline training and coaching to managers. The Sr. Specialist will also serve as a strategic advisor to company leaders and managers, providing expert HR guidance and support to drive business objectives. This involves aligning HR strategies with business goals, conducting HR audits, and implementing HR initiatives that enhance organizational performance and culture, optimize processes, manage organizational risk, and ensures compliance with employment laws and regulations. This position requires a seasoned HR professional with a deep understanding of employment laws, conflict resolution, and best practices in employee relations.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

People Relations

Serve as a trusted advisor to employees and managers on a wide range of employee relations issues.

Conduct thorough and impartial investigations into employee complaints, grievances, and allegations of misconduct.

Promote a positive work environment and culture.

Lead and manage complex investigations related to workplace issues, ensuring compliance with company policies and legal requirements.

Document findings and prepare comprehensive investigation reports.

Recommend appropriate actions based on investigation outcomes.

Escalate complex issues and follow through to resolution, ensuring appropriate communication to all involved parties.

Provide guidance and support to managers on handling sensitive employee relations matters.

Partner with management at all levels to improve work relationships, build morale and increase productivity and retention.

Create investigation plans, send investigation notices, schedule investigation interviews, prepare investigation interview questions based on the specific details of the complaint, conduct investigation interviews, take detailed investigation notes, ensure signed statements and/or interview notes are signed off on by the investigation participants, prepare investigation summary report and exhibit list to document findings and evidence collected, update the investigation tracker, and ensure investigation files are complete and organized.

Communicate with leaders and employees to update them throughout the investigation process. Assist in following up post-investigation to help check in to monitor and prevent retaliation toward the complainant and/or participants.

Ensure follow through and implementation of post-investigation disciplinary actions, sit in on disciplinary meetings upon request, ensure disciplinary actions are signed and added to the personnel file. If post investigation recommendation includes participation in mandatory training, follow up and verify that training was completed, and ensure documentation of completed training is stored in personnel file in Prism.

Identify legal and regulatory compliance concerns related to employee relations and partner with managers to conduct employee coaching, counseling, reduction in force decisions, and termination analysis.

Assist with reviewing pre-term cross-check escalations and providing guidance to our internal team, and provide recommendations to Internal HR leadership for review.

Update educational guides, the Managers Corner, and other manager training resources in collaboration with the learning department on key managerial concepts such as performance management, disciplinary actions, conflict resolution, providing feedback, setting performance expectations, managing underperformance, employment law 101, responsibilities to inform us of leave of absence requests, navigating the hiring process, etc.

Review EEOC position statements, documentation, exhibit lists, etc. prepared by legal as a double check prior to sending back to the EEOC.

Ensure all internal employee legal actions and EEOC complaints are tracked on the shared tracker with legal. Follow up with legal on the complaint process and outcome.

Follow up with legal on the debrief/autopsy on their rating of how well the situation was documented to collect insights on areas of improvement and provide coaching recommendations back to leaders to enhance documentation best practices.

Review proposed unemployment responses for cases the company plans to contest based on allegations of misconduct. Review documentation packet and provide guidance back to the Internal Human Resource Associate responsible for responding to unemployment claims prior to sending documentation to ensure the company does not overprovide information that may inadvertently confuse state unemployment workers.

Review initial unemployment determinations to determine whether or not an appeal should be filed by analyzing whether it would be helpful or harmful for the former employee to have a copy of the documentation (usually required to send to the employee if the company chooses to appeal).

Prepare and coach the Internal Human Resources associate on how to respond and participate in unemployment hearings prior to their participation in an appeal hearing. Perform a post-call debrief to review opportunities to continuously enhance responses and improve outcomes.

Assist with providing guidance and training our internal team on performance improvement plans and reviewing them for other specialists on the team by request.

Assist in the development and updating of HR policies and procedures Complete HR compliance projects and other department projects as assigned Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.

Stay current with industry trends and best practices in employee relations and performance management.Compile KPI data, measure, track progress, and take ownership and accountability for updating assigned scorecard statistic for assigned accountability area prior to every level 10 meeting and be prepared to engage in IDS discussions if the metric is off track. Participate in department rock planning meetings, lead and participate in at least 1-2 department rocks per quarter, meet with rock team members at the beginning of the quarter to successfully plan out rock milestones and goals and have prepared to discuss with direct manager to help further frame out the rock prior to the start of the quarter. Take ownership and accountability for independently working on rock projects throughout the quarter and updating the quarterly rock sheet prior to every level 10 meeting.

Prepare an issues list of any observations, opportunities to streamline and enhance processes, or issues that need to be troubleshooted and develop solutions for to bring to the level 10 meeting as IDS topics.

Participate and be fully engaged in the EOS/Traction department processes surrounding areas of accountability, department projects (Rocks), Scorecard statistics, IDS, To Dos, etc.

Compliance

Partner with the HR Compliance team on Internal HR Compliance projects and initiatives and bring back updates to the Internal HR team to help ensure compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards.

Assist in the development, implementation, and maintenance of compliance policies and procedures.

Conduct regular risk assessments to identify potential areas of compliance vulnerability and risk.

Conduct internal audits and investigations to ensure compliance with policies and regulations. Prepare reports and recommend corrective actions as necessary.

Provide guidance and support to various departments on compliance-related matters.

HR Partnerships

Execute on the Business Leadership excellence program quarterly conversations & company scorecard discussions with the leaders of assigned departments in coordination with the rest of the HR partnership team.

Collaborate with business leaders to understand their goals and challenges, and develop HR strategies that support business objectives.

Serve as a communication conduit for leaders on key company initiatives, objectives, and priorities.

Execute on the Vensure Leadership Development Succession planning program with assigned department leaders to ensure succession planning for all key leadership roles, transition plan documents are completed, and follow up to ensure regular updates on potential successors progress in their development.

Provide insights and recommendations on workforce planning, talent management, and organizational development.

Conduct HR audits and assessments to identify areas for improvement. Provide expert advice on employee relations, performance management, and compliance issues.

Coach and guide leaders on the performance management process, disciplinary action best practices, and performance improvement plans. Provide coaching and support to managers and employees on HR-related issues.

Provide guidance to leaders on professional development conversations with employees, guide them on Vensure's Professional Growth Plan template and process, and communicate internally with the HR operations team to set up employee Professional Growth plans in Agile by request.

Respond to complex employee inquiries and provide guidance to employees on HR policies, procedures, laws, and standards in a timely and professional manner, and direct front line/basic inquiries to the HR service team.

Monitor and respond to inquiries from department leaders and employees within department response time standards and KPIs

Conduct pre-termination consultations and escalate pre-term cross-check issues to Internal HR leadership.

Coordinate on-site support for separation conversations, lead termination meetings in partnership with department leaders, and coordinate and ensure the successful execution of the complete offboarding process with the HR operations team.

Respond to escalations and questions from leaders on HR tickets that have been submitted, and communicate internally with the HR operations team on ticket progress, troubleshooting, and to help resolve inquiries from department leaders and employees

Properly and timely document all employee-related interactions.

Perform job evaluations and job analyses.

Prepare job descriptions according to department processes, and update department career paths following the company's standard title hierarchy and ensuring proper approval routes are followed