Director, Human Resources at Samuel, Son & Co. (USA) Inc. in Woodridge, Illinois

Job Description:

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Supports 700+ team members for this $500m business across 15 locations in the US, Canada and Australia.


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  Employee communications, engagement, retention:  Actively involved with business and HR Centers of Excellence (COE) in developing strategy, plans and programs that align key elements of performance culture, talent management, individual development, total rewards and employee engagement. Assesses organizational climate and implements organizational changes as appropriate to drive employee engagement and retention.  Leads communication efforts around same; ensures the business message is conveyed to the workforce.


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  Positive employee relations: Aligns with Operations and business leadership to build and maintain a positive employee relations (PER) environment; develops and delivers on a PER strategy.  Ensures there are feedback loops of communication to ensure the workforces is positively engaged and the organization remains union free. Builds relationships at all levels of the business, engaging equally well with senior leadership and direct labor workforce.  Works with business leadership to understand and apply fair and consistent treatment of employees in context of policy, precedent, and in balance of advocating for the employee and the Company.  Ensures HR has a presence among all its employees.


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  Labor & employment law SME: serves as the business unit’s SME on the application of labor & employment law in the US states and Canadian provinces where PSG has a presence. Focus areas include but are not limited to wage and hour, harassment prevention, anti-discrimination, restrictive covenants, unpaid and PTO, family leave and accommodation. Engages outside legal as needed.


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  Culture change leadership: Partners with business leadership to transform culture, champions the  adoption and absorption of Samuel Values and the Samuel Way while preserving and leveraging legacy values and practices that best drive local business success. Is a change leader in the adoption of an Agile, continuously improving, lean environment.


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  Succession planning and talent development: Partnering with COE, drives the continuous process of developing and positioning talent for succession opportunities to ensure business continuity and success.


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  Business partner and coach: Partners closely with the business leadership team to understand business strategy, execute on shared deliverables, and defines/aligns human resources priorities, delivers feedback and coaches executive team as required.


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  HR evolution: leads or supports country and/or enterprise-level HR project work, e.g. policy & procedure and process enhancement and development.


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  Acquisition & integration: plays a lead role in the HR due diligence and business integration process as required.


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  Recruiting, workforce planning, on-boarding, engagement: Supports and drives recruiting and workforce planning efforts in alignment with business needs. Ensures effective execution of employee on-boarding and orientation, engagement, development and integration to drive individual success and improved EBITDA for the business unit.


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  Strategic & Tactical Balance: Effectively balances the need to drive long-term change and business process improvement while also actively engaging with the HR team to ensure deliverables are met; is no less a “doer” than a “delegator.”

HR FUNDAMENTALS

• Implements fit-to-purpose processes and systems to ensure the efficient and effective performance of the HR Unit and people-related processes applicable to all areas involved. Implements metrics, runs reports and analytics to measure value, efficiency and effectiveness of processes.


• Partners with leadership on the effective management of change in the business; drives and supports the formulation and delivery of communication and engagement with the workforce to facilitate and ease transformative or disruptive business initiatives.


• Works with the Total Rewards COE benchmarking total compensation and reward practices, to ensure market driven pay and internal equity. 


• Works with the Leadership & Talent Management COE to create and implement strategies to grow, develop and retain the leaders of the company and provide strategic direction to ensure the workforce meets current and future organizational needs though objective alignment and fostering of a performance culture.


• Investigates, reports on and recommends corrective course of action to resolve employee relations issues, ranging from one-dimensional to very complex. Fields and responds to employee inquiries from across the business; refers issues as appropriate to HRVP or others according to the HR Escalation Policy.


• Partners with the Leadership & Talent Management COE to identify the capabilities needed to deliver on the strategic intent of the business. Facilitates the annual talent review process to identify, assess and develop successors and high-potentials. Ensures training and development needs are addressed and performance issues are handled.


• Develops and implements solutions with the Leadership & Talent Management COE on organizational design and structure, organizational effectiveness, cultural assessment and gap analysis.


• Ensures compliant and consistent application of employee leave administration; reviews and works with COE on the assessment and adjustment of related programs.


• Ensures that all annual US & Canadian compliance reporting requirements are met, as well as any associated audit activity. Ensures compliance with state, provincial, federal and Samuel posting requirements, e.g. Poster Guard.


• Maintains and updates job knowledge and HR acumen by identifying opportunities for personal and team professional development and continuing education, builds professional network (internal and external), participates in professional organizations for the benefit of Samuel.


• Performs all other duties as assigned.

Qualifications & role requirements

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college/university; MBA preferred.


• Current professional certification from SHRM/HRCI preferred.


• Experience supporting Canadian manufacturing centers preferred.


• Canadian labor & employment law knowledgebase required; or aptitude to learn and acclimate quickly.


• 10+ years of senior level HR experience, engaging & supporting business leadership.


• Demonstrated experience in creating and supporting high performance teams 


• 7-10 years of overall business experience, majority in HR; exposure to manufacturing environments required.


• Superior technical systems and software aptitude required. Must be able to leverage disparate systems and databases to derive data supporting business case conclusions. Strong report-writing and data mining skills essential.


• Demonstrated track record in delivering sustainable business results through best-in-class people practices.


• Periodic travel within North America (including Canada) of up to 20% required.


• Past merger/acquisition due diligence or integration experience preferred.


• Previous Continuous Improvement focus and experience 


• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to handle pressures of deadlines, diverse assignment loads and high work volumes.


• Excellent ability to independently problem solve and troubleshoot required.


• Able to thrive in a matrixed organizational structure


• Superior interpersonal and communication


• Superior attention to detail and accuracy is critical.


• Authentic individual with impeccable integrity.


• Game-changer/change agent. A confident and well-prepared leader who thrives in complex environments as a leader influencing change and transformation.


• An individual with a great sense of humor who likes to have fun.


• Credible and savvy businessperson who will be perceived as a trusted consultant and functional expert to senior management. 

SAM123