IHR Employee Relations Specialist At Médecins Sans Frontières

Organization

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international humanitarian organization that delivers impartial medical care to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health care in over 70 countries.

We welcome candidates who bring a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to join us in working toward MSF’s common mission.

Department

The Field Human Resources Department (Field HR) is responsible for recruitment, selection, placement, and retainment of qualified and well-suited field staff to meet the changing needs of MSF field operations.

Project

The IHR Employee Relations Specialist manages all aspects of payroll, benefits, and working conditions for US field staff. They research, plan, and administer policies in close collaboration with the Head of Employment Equity & Accountability and Director of Domestic HR (DHR); the members of the Domestic and Field Human Resources New York (DAF-NY) committee; colleagues in the Field Human Resources Department; and the payroll unit of the Finance department. They collaborate with colleagues from the Finance department, Domestic HR, the International Office (IO) and the Operational Centers (OCs) of MSF, to establish, maintain and review cross-administration procedures to ensure that information is shared and verified among all parties, and that all records are kept in accordance with human resources, financial, and legal best practices. In addition, they act as a power-user, administrator, and vendor contact for HR Management software tools.

The IHR Employee Relations Specialist acts as the point person for international benefits administration for the Field HR department, Operational Centers as well as individual US employed field staff. They supervise one IHR Employee Relations Associate and one IHR Employee Relations Assistant and ensure an appropriate workflow so that the Associate and Assistant are able to provide support for the US employed field staff as a whole.

Tasks

  1. Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

HR Planning & Policy Development (30%)

Collaborates with the Head of Employment Equity & Accountability on the creation and implementation of an Annual Plan for HR goals and objectives.

Participates actively in the design and development of policies and coordination of human resources activities such as employment, compensation, employee relations, benefits, and training and employee services as a member of DAF-NY.

Research policies and HR trends and participates in drafting policies for field staff; actively seeks new and cultivates existing relationships with external contacts on HR trends and issues.

Implements new policies and procedures.

Performs ongoing review of benefits and develops proposals for improvements to existing benefits.

Participates in vendor and contract reviews and negotiation and communicates directly with vendor contacts on the development of US field staff benefit policies.

Identifies and maintains knowledge of legal requirements and government reporting regulations affecting human resources functions, and ensures policies, procedures, and reporting are in compliance.

Maintains an up-to-date International Employee Handbook that is compliant with all relevant legal requirements and is in line with changes in benefits decided by the Human Resources Policy Group (HRPG) and DAF-NY.

Serves as a interlocuter with MSF’s immigration lawyer as needed for field staff.

Management (15%)

Hires, manages and evaluates IHR Employee Relations Associate, IHR Employee Relations Assistant, volunteers, work-study students and/or interns for administrative tasks within the Field HR Department.

Delegates tasks, consults with and guides staff to achieve goals. Provides ongoing feedback in a context of mutual respect.

Sets clear attainable objectives for staff, evaluates employee job performance accordingly, in accordance with established MSF procedures, and collaborates with staff to establish appropriate development paths.

Payroll & Benefits Administration and Onboarding (35%)

Works with the Head of Employment Equity & Accountability to develop, review and maintain appropriate content for briefing packages for field staff.

Serves as liaison with OCs and IO for scaling questions.

Ensures that letter agreements are prepared, and new-hire packages are emailed to potential field staff in a timely manner.

Develops, reviews, and maintains comprehensive new hire and termination check lists for field staff, that include all stages of payroll and benefits administration.

Works with all appropriate staff to ensure that new hire and termination check lists are executed in a timely manner, and that all documentation is filed appropriately in both electronic and paper formats.

Updates and maintains employee files and records in accordance with HR best practices and legal requirements.

Ensures the proper maintenance of demographic data, EEO records, and other pertinent HR records.

Meets with all new field staff individually or schedules individual phone briefings to review the basic MSF-USA benefits package, payroll administration, the Employee Handbook, in particular the Mandatory Reporting policy and answer any further questions regarding the contents of briefing packages.

Meets individually or schedules individual phone debriefings with all terminating field staff to explain termination and/or continuation of benefits, and all the steps of the termination checklist. Ensures that departing staff complete all relevant paperwork.

Administers benefits programs under the control of MSF-USA such as life, health, dental, disability and Workers Compensation insurances, retirement plan, and employee assistance as follows:

  • Keeps records of benefits plans participation.
  • Responds to inquiries from international staff regarding benefits policies, procedures, and programs and acts as an ongoing resource
  • Investigates accidents and illness in the field and prepares reports for insurance carrier.
  • Acts as primary point of contact for all payroll and benefits related inquiries of international staff and facilitates new enrollments, changes, and terminations.
  • Liaises with benefits vendors to research features and/or resolve problems for employees.
  • Supervises mailings regarding changes to benefits (especially the 401(k) Plan) to all plan participants.
  • Participates in the creation and analysis of benefits satisfaction surveys, as needed.
  • Reviews new benefits invoices for accuracy before submitting to Finance.

Coordinates with counterparts in Operational Centers to ensure the timely and accurate preparation of payroll and benefits information for all field staff on a monthly basis so that Finance can process and execute payroll, reconcile benefits statements and account for all expenses promptly and accurately.

Communicates directly with cross-administrators and HR pool managers on employment dates for all field staff.

Periodically reviews onboarding and payroll practices of international staff and recommends changes or improvements as appropriate.

Training and Interdepartmental Coordination 10%

Collaborates with Domestic Human Resources as needed regarding benefits and payroll and acts as the HR liaison between finance and individual field staff on issues concerning the International Remuneration Plan (IRP) payroll.

Coordinates with the necessary parties in Finance to ensure the timely and accurate preparation of payroll for all field staff on a monthly basis.

Manages the payroll information system with the finance unit for the field staff.

Manages the creation of HR communication tools (flyers, brochures, invitations, etc.) and HR forms for international staff.

Cross-trains and backs-up all compensation and benefits related responsibilities of the HR Manager with HR Associate.

Presents international payroll, benefits and policies to incoming field staff during the Information Days training.

Acts as a liaison to Domestic HR, particularly on legal issues pertaining to HR and benefits administration for field staff.

Attends regularly scheduled Field HR team meetings to brainstorm solutions to problems, share resources and best practices and coordinate activities.

Supports the Psychosocial Care Unit (PSCU) on benefits options and benefits policies for the field staff and helps with development and implementation of mental health benefits for field staff.

Department Workflow and HR Management Software Administration (10%)

Workflow:

  • Works with counterpart in Field HR to identify and propose solutions to the Head of Employment Equity & Accountability to address routine workflow problems, and reporting encountered by other staff.
  • Responsible for centralizing, updating and documenting specific administrative procedures for the HR department itself and for collaborating on international cross-administration workflows.
  • Represents MSF-USA on international cross-administration Working Groups.

HR Information System Software Administration:

  • Monitors, corrects, and improves systems to track field staff assignment data, demographic data, and HR data so that the entire onboarding and exit process is captured accurately and in a timely manner using current HR Information Systems.
  • Acts as “super user” on the current HRIS to guide other staff and train new staff on its functions.
  • Works with HRIS vendor to ensure that all configured workflows, including ongoing changes are appropriately documented.
  • Files and maintains employment records for future reference and updates the HRIS with all relevant information to keep data current.
  • Works on reporting the necessary data from the HRIS system for use in Field HR department to accurately develop solutions to field staff issues as well as to confirm accurate electronic data systems.
  • Stays abreast of data privacy and record-keeping requirements and maintains such practices. Manages filing systems and archives, making improvements and ensuring privacy of personnel records.

Other tasks as assigned.

  1. Supervisory Responsibilities:

Hires and supervises one Associate and one Assistant plus one or more office volunteers, interns and/or Work Study students who work on specific clerical, administrative or research projects in support of the department. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws.

  1. Fiscal Responsibility

Coordinates all compensation information and record-keeping for intersectional hiring of US Field staff. Works closely with Finance to ensure that they have the proper documentation for all benefits and payroll transactions. Confirms field salaries and proposes the necessary automatic salary increases to the Field HR Officers. Acts as a liaison between field staff and the Field HR Officers on any salary administration. Coordinates with cross-administrators on any outstanding finances of field staff from field assignments. Makes training decisions and purchases training classes/courses for the HR Assistant.

  1. Extent of Public Contact

Regularly presents MSF policies to incoming and departing staff. Coordinates with counterparts in the 5 MSF Operational Centers (OCs) and the International Office (IO) to ensure smooth administration of payroll and benefits for seconded US staff. Coordinates with higher level managers at operational centers to ensure smooth administration of payroll and benefits for seconded US staff as needed. Communicates with external Human Resources employees at other NGOS to capture Global HR Trends.

  1. Physical Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately. Must be able to proofread own work accurately so that only minor corrections are needed on an infrequent basis.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

  1. Working Conditions, Travel and Environment

The duties of the job require regular attendance 5 days/week for a minimum of 35 hours. Must be available to work before 9:00 am, after 5:00 pm or on weekends, as required. Travel to conferences may be required.

Qualifications

Required

  • (Prefer) 5 years relevant work experience, 2 of which must be in a human resources management capacity, plus a bachelor’s degree in HR or related field, or equivalent combination of training and experience.
  • Excellent interpersonal and communications skills, including ability to effectively present information to job applicants, vendors, and other employees of the organization.
  • Demonstrated ability to coordinate work with a wide variety of participants.
  • Facility with numbers.
  • Keen attention to detail with ability to track multiple projects at one time.
  • Ability to work with minimal supervision.
  • Ability to prioritize ongoing vs. immediate needs appropriately.
  • Strong general computer literacy, including word processing and reporting capabilities using database software and Excel; additionally, the ability to search the internet for research purposes and to learn new Windows-based programs
  • Ability to write business correspondence, and internal memos.
  • Strong motivation for working in a non-profit environment.

Preferred

  • Experience working with MSF or for another non-profit or NGO.
  • Second language is a plus.

Expected to work in a hybrid remote work environment with the ability to come into the NYC office a minimum of 2 times a week.

Please note that relocation assistance and visa sponsorship will be offered for this position.

No phone calls and emails please. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Application Deadline: May 23, 2022

MSF-USA/Doctors Without Borders is an Equal Opportunity Employer. No employee, or applicant for employment, shall be discriminated against in any term or condition of employment because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, or sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by law. We are constantly striving to make our organization anti-racist. Diversity, equity and inclusion are core values. As an employee, you become part of that mission. We expect this same commitment from our staff.

Type

HQ

How to apply

https://jobs.doctorswithoutborders.org/job/New-York-City-Payroll-&-Benefits-Manager-NY-10006/874370200/

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