Director of People & Culture

Job Summary

PAWS Chicago is seeking a Director of People & Culture who will forge strong relationships with managers and employees, providing advice on people matters. The person in this role assesses and anticipates people related needs and formulates partnerships to deliver value-added service to management and employees that reflects the mission, values, and objectives of PAWS. The partner ensures the organization is both a great place to work for its valued employees and volunteers and inspires new people to join our PAWS community to help animals. This representative will be a strong advocate of PAWS Chicago and the No Kill mission, always fostering a culture of warmth and passion for animal welfare and the people acting on their behalf.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Employee Relations & Culture

• Be a strategic thought partner for the team to maximize employee engagement to achieve exceptional operational performance.
• Contribute to employee development and engagement initiatives in support of, and in partnership with, the organization, i.e. training programs, culture events, roundtable discussions, engagement surveys, etc.
• Conduct investigations of employee relations issues in alignment with PAWS Chicago’s standard, values and leadership principles.
• Support DEI initiatives as it relates to the mission, values and culture.

Leadership

• Provide coaching and guidance to our Medical Center leaders using PAWS Chicago’s vision and values to help them effectively apply our people practices, particularly around performance feedback, employee relations, and development discussions.
• Collaborate with employees at the Medical Center who are seeking guidance or support related to our practices and systems.
• Maintain a positive and inspirational environment for staff and volunteers, keeping all people focused on the life-saving goals of PAWS Chicago.
• Partner with the People & Culture team to create and implement process improvements and other special projects as they arise.
• Identify ways to innovate and evolve the industry forward, with a continuous improvement mindset. Assist in facilitating the development of new aspects of the People & Culture program to keep PAWS Chicago on the cutting edge

Talent Acquisition/Management

• Partner with hiring managers to coordinate interview scheduling for phone and onsite candidates.

• Work with leaders to effectively onboard new hires to set them up for success in their career with PAWS Chicago. This may include facilitating new hire trainings, setting them up in our HR Systems, answering onboarding questions, etc.
• Cohort for managing, tracking, and communicating with candidates throughout the recruitment experience.
• Support the People & Culture team on change management, communications and participate in training to educate leaders, managers, and employees on performance management processes.

Benefits, Compensation, Risk Management

• Consult with the Head of People & Culture on compensation and benefit related items; coach management on salary increase recommendations and new hires, promotions, and other staffing changes.
• Administer leave of absence programs by advising and supporting employee throughout the LOA process.
• Ensure worker’s compensation claims are administered in an effective and compliant manner, including incident investigations, data analysis and recurrence prevention program and procedures.

Systems & Compliance

• Manage the process, data collection, and reporting for the various tools and systems we use on a daily basis, i.e. Paycom, OneAmerica
• Process HRIS transactions including organizational changes, separations, and LOA’s.
• Ensure the Medical Center is up to date on all federal, state and contractual requirements.

Requirements

• Passion for animals and animal welfare

• A bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of Human Resources experience with progressive career development

• Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification preferred
• Knowledge and commitment to PAWS Chicago’s No Kill model
• Individual must be proficient in MS Office
• Effective management of the details as you work towards the bigger picture
• Ability to handle multiple projects and prioritize your work without compromising quality or the experience you are working to deliver
• Excitement about the opportunity to navigate in ambiguity, get creative and challenge assumptions
• Confidence to ask thought-provoking questions and give hiqh-quality feedback to anyone (at any level) with integrity
• Ability to translate complex or charged solutions into simple options and make others feel heard

Physical Requirements

• Climbing stairs, balancing, stooping, kneeling, crouching, reaching, lifting and grasping
• Walking and moving about to accomplish tasks, particularly for long distances or moving from one work site to another
• Able to lift 50lbs occasionally, 10lbs frequently and a negligible amount constantly.
• Repetitive motion

PAWS Chicago Values-in-Action

• Respect: for each and every life.
• Community: of people and organizations committed to helping homeless pets.
• Innovation: to constantly improve best practices and seek out new ideas and strategies to save more lives. To be a Learning Center that evolves and grows.
• Pro-activity: to solve difficult problems and to be prepared to offer emergency and crisis support.
• Transparency: that informs the public about the fate of homeless animals.
• Education: that raises awareness about the realities that homeless animals face in the community and across the nations, providing a forum for people to get involved in effecting change. Promotes and support reasonable pet ownership.
• Sustainability: through financial management practices that maximize the impact and reach of our resources and endure that PAWS Chicago will always be a resource for homeless animals.
• Compassion: towards all people and animals.

PAWS Chicago