Human Resources Director

Job Description

Reporting to the Mayor, the Human Resources Director leads the strategic alignment and operational management of human resources across all City of Wausau divisions.  Key areas include workforce planning, compensation, benefits, employee relations, recruitment, performance management, risk management, and training.  The Director collaborates with the Mayor and City Council to address HR strategies and challenges.

HR Director Recruitment Brochure

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide leadership and stewardship by actively engaging in all HR programs and services, developing a deep understanding of City operations.
2. Advise staff and City officials on HR rules, regulations, policies, and procedures. Act as a liaison to the City Council and provide staff guidance on HR matters.
3. Promote effective relations within the organization and resolve employee relations issues.
4. Oversee recruitment, talent management, workforce planning, and succession planning to ensure effective staffing levels. Oversee job description creation and review process.
5. Develop and implement city-wide HR policies, including compensation structures, performance management, benefits, and risk management programs.
6. Research, develop, recommend, and lead contract negotiation strategies. Chair negotiation sessions.
7. Administer disciplinary policies, grievance procedures, and coach management on compliance. Process grievances and participate in grievance hearings.
8. Represent the City at unemployment and worker’s compensation hearings.
9. Provide comprehensive onboarding programs to integrate new employees effectively, using regular check-ins to address questions and promote engagement during their initial months.
10. Communicate with media, employees, and elected officials to ensure transparency and alignment with the City’s mission and values.
11. Perform various duties and special projects as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to interact effectively with City employees, elected officials, and the public.
• Ability to maintain effective and courteous working relationships with all City departments, employees, elected officials, governmental agencies, businesses, and citizens.
• Ability to provide for and encourage the creation of a positive work environment that enables others to abide by the City’s Core Values.
• Advanced level of understanding all human resources functions and ability to provide department services in absence of department staff, if needed.
• Expert level of understanding of the full range of modern principle and best practices specific to human resources management.  Ability to apply that understanding in strategic planning, complex problem solving, and diverse service delivery.
• Ability to expertly plan, organize, manage, and produce multiple projects that have the highest level of Citywide and/or community impact and may have changing priorities.
• Ability to produce timely, accurate, and easily understood reports, correspondence, and presentations to ensure proper communication with the intended audience.
• Ability to meet deadlines and prioritize issues, identifying which issues require immediate attention, and taking effective and appropriate action based on that determination.
• Analytic and decisive decision maker with the ability to prioritize and communicate to staff key objectives and tactics necessary to achieve organizational goals.
• Ability to modify existing policies, strategies and/or methods to meet unusual conditions within the context of existing management principles.
• Ability to prepare, analyze and categorize data and information, in order to determine consequences and to identify and select alternatives.
• Ability to decide the time, place and sequence of operations within an organizational framework, as well as the ability to oversee their execution.
• Ability to exercise the judgment, decisiveness and creativity required in situations involving the evaluation of information against sensory and/or judgmental criteria.
• Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach management to manage and develop high-performance teams and develop and implement program strategies.
• Unwavering commitment to the City’s Core Values, ethical decision making, and providing the highest service level to the community.