Director, HR Employee Labour Relations and Workplace Investigations

Reporting to the Vice President, People, Culture and Communications, this position is a senior, multidisciplinary leadership role in the Human Resource (HR) Department, responsible for the design, direction and execution of Employee Labour Relations and Workplace Investigation strategies across Hamilton Health Sciences. The Director champions and promotes the adoption of strategies, and enterprise-wide, corporate initiatives related to ELR and WI. This role drives operational excellence by ensuring HHS’ alignment with pertinent legislation, hospital policies and procedures, collective agreements and HHS’ corporate mission, vision and values, while managing risk and financial liability for the organization.

Specific Accountabilities

·         Delivers focused strategic direction to the ELR and WI teams, leading the integration of the teams’ work with the mission, vision, values and strategic plan of HHS.

·         Utilizes leading practices, research and quality improvement methodologies in the evaluation of ELR and WI strategies, adapting planning and approach to ensure that the team is providing maximum value to HHS.

·         Applies knowledge of change management to ensure effective implementation, adoption and transition planning for projects and deliverables, in keeping with strategic and organizational change requirements.

·         Oversees the collective bargaining process for all Unions to ensure consistency and stability in delivering reasonable outcomes that are informed by the full operations of HHS and the best interests of its employees.

·         Strategically develops and implements quality improvement and leading practice initiatives that deliver enhanced value to stakeholders and HHS.

·         Determines and recommends ELR and WI practices necessary to establish a positive employer/employee relationship and promote employee engagement.

·         Tactfully communicates to various audiences, while being cognizant of their individual needs across the organization.

·         Using a high degree of professionalism, corresponds in both verbal and written form with respect to human resource subject matter/issues that are significant to the hospital, the executive leadership team, as well as HR leadership, Union leaders, and various individuals external to the Hospital.

·         Leads the design and development of education strategies and training interventions to further develop the knowledge and skills of the HHS Leadership team in to the areas of employee management, labour relations, collective agreements, employment legislation, and workplace investigations.

·         Leverages expert knowledge of labour relations, workplace investigations, collective bargaining, as well as a strong working knowledge of employment law and legal concepts, to design and develop employee and labour relations practices and strategies.

·         Designs and oversees the formal grievance process, with a focus on collaboration, respect, and accountability for all stakeholders.

·         Analyzes collective agreements and union relationships to develop recommendations and lead collective bargaining negotiations and collective agreements.

·         Leads the design and development of educational strategies and training interventions to further develop the knowledge and skills of the leadership team in reference to workplace investigations, labour relations, collective bargaining agreements and union issues.

·         Manages the design of ELR and WI team structures and resources to ensure that priorities and standards are reflected in the services delivered, and to maximize availability to internal clients and for new and demanding challenges.

·         Supports, coaches, mentors and develops a diverse team of professionals, to maximize their potential and growth as leaders at HHS.

·         Establishes specific progressive and achievable performance objectives and goals in partnership with HR leadership and ELR team.

·         Delivers timely and appropriate recognition and constructive feedback, provides proactive coaching in areas requiring development or improvement.

·         Leads annual Budget process for ELR and WI budget. Ensures that budget strategies are operational, fiscally responsible and proactively identifying hidden/underlying costs associated with budget decisions.

·         Monitors and audits legal and grievance costs, encouraging cost effective decision making by the organization, in order to maintain the prudent use of hospital resources,  while protecting the organization from legal and financial risk.

·         Monitors grievance and arbitration trends and identifies the potential monetary impact, monitoring or amending HHS labour relations policies and HR practices to mitigate financial risk.