Director of People and Culture

REPORTS TO: Assistant VP for People, Culture, & Careers

LOCATION: On-Site, Grand Rapids, MI

Salary: $60,000.00-$65,000.00

Cornerstone University is seeking a full-time Director of People and Culture to provide leadership support and experience in the Offices of People and Culture (OPC) and Career & Life Calling (C&LC). The ideal candidate provides professional leadership to the university employees and their managers in employee relations, performance management, talent acquisition, and organizational development and oversees multiple other functional areas of HR and/or Career Services. The Director may specialize in one or more disciplines including: employee relations, compensation, benefits, learning, organizational change, communication, and career coaching & development. Preference will be given to candidates with extensive experience in employee relations. Primary and peripheral responsibilities will be finalized based upon the candidate’s talents and strengths. This position is responsible for providing Cornerstone with the best talent available while building a culture of results-based performance and continuous development where employees grow and maximize their potential for excellence. The core of Cornerstone University is defined and driven by its Christ-centered mission and Biblical confession.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Director of People and Culture supports OPC/C&LC leadership to proactively manage the faith-based, accountable, innovative culture of the university and the day-to-day office operations. Actual responsibilities may vary based on employee strengths and experience but will likely include most of these representative tasks.

• Support university supervisors and employees by providing education, advice, counseling, and analysis.
  • Provide coaching to the university community regarding employee relations issues, personnel policies, procedures, and systems.
  • Recommend updates to the Employee Handbook to OPC leadership if needed.
• Investigate and respond to employee relations issues in accordance with University policies and objectives.
• Compensation & Benefits. Serve in a lead role for employee compensation and benefit administration, providing oversight for much of the day-to-day processing, and actively participating in other elements of the programs.
  • Actively contribute to, coordinate and/or conduct benefit open enrollment and compensation events.
  • Collect benchmarking data for the programs, providing annual reports and ideas for discussion with OPC leadership.
• Payroll administration. Keep current on payroll and compensation laws, regulations, and best practices for each state where the university is hiring.
  • Oversee payroll system and processes, recommending updates to processes or policy as needed.
  • Manage Unemployment Insurance coverage and processing
  • Contribute to the preparation and verification of employee tax forms such as the W2 and 1095.
  • Provide guidance and assistance to university leaders on sensitive and complex employee relations issues, including employee downsizing or department restructure as needed;
• Provide leadership for the student-facing Career & Life Calling (C&LC) function at the university, supporting Career Coaches, and actively partnering with employers, academic leadership, and students to fully implement and promote the Cornerstone Advantage.
• Performance management. Manage the maintenance and execution of the performance management system, including job descriptions and position classifications.
• Recruitment and development of employees.
  • Serve as a member of the recruiting team, partnering with hiring managers to develop effective sourcing and recruitment strategies.
  • Research and propose employee training and development programs.
• Process improvement and project management. Become knowledgeable with the various systems and tools in use at the university, seeking ways to leverage technology including Artificial Intelligence (AI) for data integrity, improved customer service, communication, and efficiencies for team members.
• Keep abreast of laws and regulations regarding employee and payroll policies including ERISA, ACA, FMLA, Title IX, Title VII, and others.
• All Cornerstone University and WCSG employees will regularly interact with students in a variety of projects, activities, and settings. As such all employees are expected to serve as Christian leaders and mentors by effectively living a gospel-centered lifestyle, ministering and discipling through a biblical worldview.
• Other duties may be assigned.

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS and ABILITIES:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, management, human resources, or a related field.
• Minimum of four years of Human Resources and/or Career Coaching experience.
• Minimum of 1 year of supervisory and/or project management experience.
• Minimum of 2 years of performance management coaching and/or participation in conduct investigations and resolution.
• Human Resources professional certification preferred.
• Proven experience with computers and applied software such as the Microsoft Office Suite and various HRIS applications
• Thorough understanding of recruiting methods and best practices, as well as applicable policies and federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.
• Excellent communication, coaching, interpersonal, presentation and analytical skills
• Ability to work effectively with managers, faculty, staff, students and stakeholders
• Ability to appropriately handle confidential and sensitive information

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS:

These core commitments convey who we are, what we believe and how we live and work together in community.

• A personal relationship with Jesus Christ and an active Christian commitment.

• A theology that supports the values and mission of Cornerstone University core commitments evidenced by an ability to affirm and sign the university’s doctrinal statement, “The Cornerstone Confession.”
• Four other foundational pillars, along with the university’s mission and confession, form Cornerstone’s Core Commitments.
  • The Cornerstone Christian World View
  • The Cornerstone Academic Vision
  • The Cornerstone Beautiful Christian Community
  • The Marriage and Human Sexuality Position Statement

Employees are expected to faithfully attend an evangelical and biblical church whose core beliefs and practices are consistent with Cornerstone’s confession and core commitments.