Human Resources Manager (Human Resources Consultant 4)

About this opportunity:
The Washington State Historical Society is a small state agency comprised of approximately 72 employees, and is located in beautiful downtown Tacoma, WA. Reporting to the Executive Director, the HR Manager supports the agency’s mission by providing full scope of human resources consultative services to agency leaders, managers, supervisors, and employees. This role provides guidance, advice, interpretation and consultation regarding applicable human resources laws, rules, regulations, executive directives, policies and procedures, and labor agreements in all areas of the employee life cycle.

Some of what you’ll be doing includes:

• Consult and advise managers, supervisors and staff on complex employment practices and procedures. Ensure agency compliance with HR-related laws and regulations, and collective bargaining agreement.
• Provide consultation to managers in the areas of classification, compensation, recruitment and selection, equal opportunity, family medical leave, shared leave, reasonable accommodation, performance management, and discipline.
• Research and provide advice and interpretation to agency management and staff regarding Collective Bargaining Agreement, policies and procedures, and state and federal rules and laws and regulations while exercising sound judgment and offering legally defensible courses of action.
• Provide informal training, and coaching on personnel issues, performance management, and information.
• Keep current on state and federal laws, rules, state HR directives and executive orders, and changes to collective bargaining agreement; attend state HR related meetings and interpret HR directives and executive orders; collaborate with agency director on high level changes to assist in determining best course of action for implementation.
• Manage annual risk assessment review and submission. Coordinate with senior leadership on conducting annual risk assessment and ensuring ongoing monitoring of identified risks.
• Partner and collaborate with IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Sovereignty) Officer on communications, and implementation of resources, tools, and practices in effort to achieve an inclusive and diverse workplace culture.
• Represent the agency in hearings and meetings, including employee grievances, disciplinary, Personnel Resources Board and unemployment compensation.
• Maintain highly confidential personnel and medical information and stay compliant according to records retention schedule.
• Track compliance with mandatory trainings per relevant laws, executive orders, and state HR directives.
• Manage agency recruitment, training and development, recognition, and onboarding/offboarding programs.
• Facilitate, oversee and consult on all recruitment and selection processes, ensuring a fair and equitable process.
• Develop and communicate recruitment practices to managers and supervisors that incorporate diversity and inclusion best practices.
• Develop and manage a robust onboarding and offboarding program; provide tools and resources to managers for departmental onboarding and offboarding.
• Administer learning management system, assign state required training, and provide information and consultation to staff in using TLC.
• Serve as subject matter expert for the agency in the WFSE collective bargaining agreement and labor relations.
• Coordinate with agency management, union staff and OFM labor relations in mediation conferences, hearings, appeals and settlement discussions. Maintains open communications with shop stewards and WFSE representatives to ensure positive, productive relationship.
• Ensures agency policies and procedures comply with the Collective Bargaining Agreements.
• Write and send mandatory notices to WFSE; conduct informal and formal demand to bargain meetings.

• Administer Benefits 24/7 system and troubleshoot issues/coordinate with HCA (Health Care Authority). Manage and communicate information about annual open enrollment, facilitate special open enrollments, work in collaboration with HCA to troubleshoot coverage and/or system issues.
• Respond to and manage labor and industry claims, respond to claims for unemployment.
• Administer VEBA program for retirement-eligible staff.
  

Required Qualifications:

To meet qualifications for this position, applicants must have seven (7) years or more of State Government experience in a Human Resource professional full-time broad-based senior consultant HR role. 

Qualifying Experience includes:

• Advising and consulting on a variety of human resources issues, including providing interpretation of HR related rules, laws, collective bargaining agreements and policies and procedures.
• Experience may include a combination of the following: labor relations, employee relations, performance management, government agency operations support, organizational development, classification and compensation, and FMLA/reasonable accommodation.

Qualifying Education includes:

• A degree in business, human resources, social or organizational behavioral sciences or a related field may be substituted for relevant experience.

In addition to meeting with one of the above qualifications, applicants must possess the following position-required competencies:

• Knowledge of state and federal employment Laws including WACs and RCWs, and related HR policies and procedures as well as labor relations and collective bargaining agreements and grievance procedures.
• Excellent communication and conflict resolutions skills; ability to communicate complex concepts, both orally and in writing, in a manner that is understandable, persuasive and appropriate for the audience, able to demonstrate crucial conversation skills.
• Ability to interact and maintain positive professional relationships with managers, supervisors, employees, and other stakeholders such as a union. 
• Proficiency with HR information systems (HRIS) and tools such as HRMS, NEOGOV (recruiting and applicant tracking system), TLC (learning management system), and Benefits 24/7 or similar platforms.
• Manage change - and influence positive management, and workforce relationships.
• Ability to maintain confidential and sensitive information.
• Experience drafting corrective and disciplinary action letters, hearing grievances, and writing grievance responses.
• Experience advising on performance development, coaching, corrective and disciplinary actions.
• Experience developing and reviewing position descriptions in collaboration with managers and supervisors.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills to build relationships and consult effectively across diverse audiences.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and respectful workplace principles, with demonstrated application in HR practices.

Preferred/Desired Qualifications:

• Human Resources experience in the public sector.
• Current professional HR certification: PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP and/or SHRM-SCP.
• Experience navigating sensitive or high-profile personnel matters with discretion and sound judgment.

Special Requirements and Conditions of Employment

• Must pass a criminal history / background check.

How to Apply: Interested? We would love to hear from you! Click “Apply” at the top of this page to start your application. You can save the application and come back to it, if needed. Be sure to complete the application fully to include a full work history and responses to the supplemental questions. 

Please provide the following documents in order to be considered; failure to do so may result in you not being considered for the position: