Senior Employee Relations Partner
Community Health Choice, Inc. (Community) is a non-profit managed care organization (MCO), licensed by the Texas Department of Insurance. Through its network of more than 10,000 providers and 94 hospitals, Community serves over 400,000 Members with the following programs:
• Medicaid State of Texas Access Reform (STAR) program for low-income children and pregnant women
• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for the children of low-income parents, which includes CHIP Perinatal benefits for unborn children of pregnant women who do not qualify for Medicaid STAR
• Health Insurance Marketplace Plans that offer individual health coverage that includes preventive care, emergency services, prescription drugs, and hospitalization available to all, regardless of pre-existing conditions.
• Community Health Choice (HMO D-SNP), a Medicare Advantage Dual Special Needs plan for people with both Medicare and Medicaid that combines Medicare Part A and Part B benefits, Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, and Medicaid benefits with additional health benefits like dental, vision, transportation, and more.
Improving Members' experiences is at the heart of every Community position. We strive every day to make sure that our Members have access to the high-quality health care they need and deserve.
Community is accredited by URAC for its health plan operations. We offer care management programs for asthma, diabetes, and high-risk pregnancy. An affiliate of the Harris Health System (Harris Health), Community is financially self-sufficient and receives no financial support from Harris Health or from Harris County taxpayers.
JOB SUMMARY
The Sr. Employee Relations Partner serves as a trusted senior advisor and strategic partner to leadership and employees on matters related to workplace culture, performance, compliance, and risk mitigation. The Sr. Employee Relations Partner provides advanced employee relations consultation and collaborates cross-functionally with Legal, Compliance and Human Resources Centers of Excellence (COE) including Human Resources Business Partners (HRBP), Talent Acquisition (TA), Total Rewards, and Employee Learning & Experience to promote an equitable, compliant, and high-performing work environment.
The Sr. Employee Relations Parter independently conduct complex, high-risk investigations, provides strategic consultation to senior leadership, influences organizational culture through Employee Relations insights, and mentors Employee Relations team members. This role handles the most legally sensitive cases, including director-level and above issues and discrimination, harassment, retaliation, workplace misconduct investigations.
JOB SPECIFICATIONS AND CORE COMPETENCIES
Complex, High-Risk Investigations & Legal Defensibility
Independently lead complex investigations involving allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, hostile work environment, leadership misconduct, ethics violations, and policy breaches.
Serve as Employee Relations primary investigator for senior leadership and escalate executive leadership concerns to upper leadership.
Write comprehensive, legally defensible investigative reports.
Partner with Compliance and Legal on legally significant cases; to ensure Employee Relations practices are aligned with federal, state, and local employment laws (Title VII, ADA, FMLA, ADEA, etc.). Assist with initiatives to strengthen compliance readiness and audit preparedness.
Assess patterns of behavior and identify systemic risk areas needing organizational intervention.
Strategic Consultation
Serve as a subject matter expert for senior leaders on performance, culture, behavior, conflict resolution, and corrective action strategy.
Identify organizational risks and recommend preventative measures.
Provide strategic input into organizational culture, psychological safety, team climate, and leadership accountability trends.
Coach and train leaders through complex and high-risk Employee Relations matters.
Influence leaders to adopt best practices in communication, documentation and decision-making.
Mentoring, Quality Assurance & Capability Building
Review investigative work of Employee Relations team members to ensure quality, neutrality, completeness, and compliance.
Coach and train Employee Relations team members on investigation techniques, case guidance, report writing, documentation standards and communication strategies to develop team capability.
Serve as an escalation point for Employee Relations team members seeking technical or legal guidance.
Conduct training and onboarding of new Employee Relations staff.
Support quality assurance standards for Employee Relations.
Participate in Human Resources annual policy review.
Organizational Impact & Culture Reinforcement
Promote a culture of professionalism, accountability, equity, and psychological safety.
Drive consistency and alignment across departments to ensure equitable treatment and fair application of policy.
Coach and train leaders on performance management, difficult conversations, and building high-performing teams.
Responsible for educating new leaders during New Leadership Orientation and serve as the back-up for educating new hires during New Employment Orientation on employee relations matter.
Partner with Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) and Employee Learning & Experience to assist leaders on retention of top talent, skill readiness, and succession planning priorities.
Partner with Human Resources Business Partner (HRBP) to collaborate with Human Resources Centers of Excellence (COE) to align retention, development, and performance processes with business needs.
Provide progressive recommendations to reduce employee relations escalations and strengthen leader capability enterprise-wide
Data, Trend Analysis & Reporting
Analyze complex data sets to identify Employee Relations trends, root causes, and emerging risks across business units.
Assist with presenting findings and recommendations to Human Resources leadership and senior leadership.
Assist with tracking Employee Relations KPIs: investigation timeliness, corrective action patterns, turnover drivers, repeat case trends and leadership escalations.
Other Duties as Assigned
Support cross-functional projects, department initiatives, and Human Resources led organizational priorities.
Actively contributes to achievement of departmental goals, including specific departmental process improvement plans.
Reports to Position Title: Manager, Employee Relations
QUALIFICATIONS:
Education/Specialized Training/Licensure: Bachelor's degree in human resources, Public Administration, Psychology or a related field required.
Master's degree in human resources, Business, or Organizational Development or related field preferred.
Certification: SHRMP-CP or SCP or HRCI-PHR or SPHR preferred.
Work Experience (Years and Area): 6 years in Employee Relations role or equivalent required.
Equivalent HR roles Include, Investigator, HR Generalist, HR Specialist, HR Business Partner or People Partner roles that involve advising leaders and supporting employee relations or workforce matters required.
Experience with direct responsibility in handling complex, high-risk investigations, performance management, and compliance advisory. Ability to make recommendations to effectively resolve problems or issues by using sound judgment that is consistent with Community's culture, standards, and practices required.
Experience delivering training to leaders on Employee Relations principles, policies, and best practices required.
Software Proficiencies: High proficiency with HR Information systems and Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and HRIS software required.
Advanced MS Office Skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) preferred.
Other Required:
Strategic Influence & Leadership Impact
Confidently consults with Directors, VPs and Executive leaders
Makes sound recommendation in high-pressure and ambiguous situations
Strong emotional intelligence and diplomacy
Advanced Investigative Expertise
Mastery of witness interviewing techniques
Ability to analyze conflicting evidence
Skilled in legal-style documentation
Expert in neutrality, due process, and fairness
Complex consultation skills and the ability to seek out information and work effectively with all levels of employees within the organization.
Complex knowledge and exposure of employee relations, internal investigations, conflict resolution, grievance handling, and related matters.
Expert-level knowledge and exposure of: Title VII, ADAA, FMLA, ADEA, federal, state and local laws, statutes, which govern employment policies and practices.
Ability to manage a high volume of Employee Relations cases.
Ability to build strong working relationships across all levels of the organization.
Excellent planning, organization and time management skills, attention to detail, ability to handle multiple tasks, and work in a fast-paced, time-sensitive environment
Demonstrated knowledge of employment law. Applies legal reasoning without overstepping into attorney functions.&nb