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Senior People Operations and Labor Leader – Sistersville, WV

Hirenexus has partnered with a rapidly growing, Private Equity backed, chemical manufacturing company to help them add a Senior People Operations and Labor Leader to lead their largest manufacturing plant, located in Sistersville, West Virginia.

This is a fantastic opportunity to work directly with the firm’s Global People Operations & Global HR Leader to enhance employee experience and optimize workforce performance. This leader will be responsible for developing and implementing human resources and labor relations strategies that foster a high-performance culture, and ensuring compliance with employment laws to support local business objectives.

The ideal candidate will have at least 7 years of applicable experience (ideally within manufacturing) with a focus on strategic planning, hands-on management, and a focus on process improvement of HR practices. Experience as a first chair labor negotiator is required.

Responsibilities:

HR Advising / Coaching / Business Partnering

• Advise leaders and first-level supervisors regarding managing employees.
• Facilitate team sessions and develop content based on needs and lead local leadership and strategic workforce planning.
• Lead union interface on all contractual and policy issues, collective bargaining, grievances, and arbitration – internal and external.

Employee Life Cycle Management

• Design new employee site-specific orientation and advice on changes in employee activities (adjustments, promotions, compensation, benefits, rewards, and recognition).
• Lead local labor relations, grievance process steps, union avoidance, and union activity.
• Lead labor conversations with employees and managers, addressing employee concerns, issues, and investigations promptly, escalating risks and solution patterns.
• Advocate for employees by resolving conflict and seeking win-win solutions, promoting positive and effective associate relations and influencing a focus on human issues in the organization

Talent Acquisition and Development

• Lead local recruiting efforts, partnering with the Talent Acquisition team. Responsibilities including workforce planning, attraction initiatives or partnerships, and preparing hiring managers & teams.
• Participate in the interviewing and selection process to facilitate the selection of qualified and diverse candidates.

Compliance, Policy & HR Development

• Stay current on legal and compliance requirements within the state, country, and employee population. Preform any needed changes, upkeep, and implementation.
• Initiate continuous improvement to HR processes to eliminate waste and raise service levels, including process documentation, workflow optimization, and reassessing the value of work tasks.

Requirements:

• Minimum 7+ years’ experience with hands-on labor relations/union activities at a manufacturing site.
• Experience managing core Human Resources activities.
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Labor Relations or a related discipline: Master’s degree a plus.
• Knowledge of Federal and State labor laws, specifically West Virginia and Texas states (NLRB, preferred).
• Experience with union grievance process and serving /managing grievance activities.
• Demonstrated ability to coach managers and leaders in employee and labor relations.
• Workday HRIS experience a plus.

Location: Sistersville, WV

Position Description

Position Title:

R7148 Senior HR People Operations and Labor Leader – On-Site

Position Summary:

The People Operations and Labor Leader is a pivotal on-site role within our organization. This leader focuses on enhancing the employee experience and optimizing workforce performance. This leader is responsible for developing and implementing human resources and labor relations strategies that align with the company’s goals and core values, foster a high-performance culture, and ensure compliance with employment laws to support local business objectives.

Strategic planning, hands-on management, and a focus on continuous improvement in HR practices are essential for a People Operations and Labor Leader to create a supportive and productive work environment.

Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to, talent acquisition/recruiting, managing the employee lifecycle, employee/labor relations, collective bargaining, performance management, coaching, training, compensation, and benefits. This leader is responsible for 400+ employees at the Sistersville, WV plant and 25+ at the Texas City, TX manufacturing facility and will require travel as needed.

Responsibilities Include:

HR Advising / Coaching / Business Partnering

• Advise leaders and first-level supervisors regarding managing employees.
• Participate in cross-functional collaborative discussions and working sessions.
• Facilitate team sessions and develop content based on needs.
• Lead local leadership and strategic workforce planning.
• Union interface on all contractual and policy issues, collective bargaining, grievances, and arbitration – internal and external
• Design community relationships to brand Momentive and ensure Sustainability goals are met.

Employee Life Cycle Management

• Design new employee site-specific orientation.
• Advice on changes in employee activities such as adjustments, promotions, compensation, benefits, rewards, and recognition.
• Employee Relations / Labor Relations:
• Lead conversations with employees and managers.
• Address employee concerns, issues, and investigations promptly, escalating risks and solution patterns.
• Lead local labor relations, grievance process steps, union avoidance, and union activity.
• Implement, design, and drive local HR programs, policies, practices, and tools locally, including performance management, Goals, and Objectives, Development Planning, Change Management, Corrective Action, Relocation, etc. – partner with Center of Excellence (COE)
• Advocate for employees by resolving conflict and seeking win-win solutions, promoting positive and effective associate relations and influencing a focus on human issues in the organization

Talent Acquisition and Development

• Lead local recruiting efforts, including workforce planning, attraction initiatives or partnerships, and preparing hiring managers & teams.
• Partner with the Talent Acquisition team to develop a strategy to fill vacancies.
• Participate in the interviewing and selection process to facilitate the selection of qualified and diverse candidates.
• Employee Development: Identify high potentials, successors & development opportunities.
• Training: Facilitate training on key company processes to ensure leaders, managers, and employees have a solid understanding and drive common practices throughout the company.

Compliance and Policy

• Stay current on legal and compliance requirements within the state, country, and employee population.
• Local policy upkeep, changes, and implementation

HR Skillset Development

• Advanced HR Acumen
• Build/maintain external market knowledge to support local needs.
• Initiate continuous improvement to HR processes to eliminate waste and raise service levels, including process documentation, workflow optimization, and reassessing the value of work tasks.

Qualifications:

The following are required for the role

• 7+ years’ experience with hands-on labor relations/union activities at a manufacturing site
• Experience managing core Human Resources activities such as recruiting, employee relations management, employee life cycle activities, performance management, employee development, compensation & benefits, etc.
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Labor Relations or a related discipline.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and HRIS technology (Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Word, SharePoint)
• Knowledge of Federal and State labor laws, specifically West Virginia and Texas states (NLRB, preferred).
• Experience with union grievance process and serving /managing grievance activities.
• Strong influencing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to coach managers and leaders in employee and labor relations.
• Excellent verbal & written communication skills
• Capable of multi-tasking and managing competing priorities

The Preferred Qualifications for this role are:

• Preferred Masters in Human Resources, Labor Relations, or Industrial Relations
• Workday HRIS experience

Base Pay Range: $93,000.00 – $135,850.00

Bachelor’s Degree