Director Labor Relations

The Woodmansee Group is a Retained Executive Search Firm representing a large utility company. They are a well-established leader in the industry and are seeking a Director of Labor Relations to be located in their Columbus, OH office (hybrid).

The Employee & Labor Relations Director is responsible for development and administration of company wide employee and labor relations strategies, programs and initiatives which support and promote the company's business strategies and which contribute to the development of a culture of accountability and performance. This person will conduct research, plan, advises, and manage the preparation of the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) and the negotiation processes. This position provides expertise and guidance to operations leaders, members of the executive leadership team, and Human Resources Consultants across the organization to ensure consistent execution of business initiatives, strategies, and objectives.

Key Responsibilities:

Labor Relations Strategy:

• Assumes key leadership role in driving, shaping and developing company wide labor and labor relations philosophy, visions and goals that are aligned with corporate values and objectives.
• Partners with leaders across the organization to develop and implement labor relations strategies that are consistent with corporate initiatives and collective bargaining agreements.
• Researches and provides interpretation of complex CBA provisions, arbitration awards and agreements in order to enforce collective bargaining agreements.
• Builds and maintains an integrated labor strategy document that includes all opportunities, desired outcomes and timing.

Executive Engagement & Alignment

• Establishes and leverages an active Labor Steering Committee to ensure priorities and trade-offs are addressed.
• Works across the organization to continuously scan workforce opportunities leveraging the Labor Steering Committee to guide priorities.
• Designs and/or prepares reports and presentations to management including members of executive leadership team.

Labor Relations Execution

• Develops and maintains a constructive relationship with union leaders in order to build a foundation of trust for negotiating and resolving matters on behalf of the Company.
• Leads the company labor negotiations process to achieve desired outcomes, and effectuates bargaining strategies that enable business objectives, using a collaborative approach with company leadership to ensure consistency in strategy and execution of labor negotiations.
• Provide labor consultation to various supporting departments on matters impacting collective bargaining agreements and represented workforce.
• Negotiate grievance settlements to mitigate negative precedence setting arbitration awards and external legal costs.
• Assists in preparation of arbitration hearings and serves as company witness when requested.
• Mediates disputes between management, union leaders and employees on escalated issues.
• Manages and advises grievance/arbitration resolution with respect to all collective agreements.
• Works with the legal department to maintain compliance with the CBAs as well as all applicable employment/labor laws, union organizing activity, election campaigns, and charges before the National Labor Relations Board.

Positive Employee Relations

• Develops a positive employee relations strategy designed to assess employee risk, build leader capabilities and ensure a positive employee experience.
• Partners with leaders to conduct risk assessments and execute mitigation strategies.
• Builds and maintains an employee and labor relations scorecard to reveal trends, progress and issues.
• Leverages scorecards and other data sources to inform positive relations strategy
• Partners with talent management function to design and deliver management training interventions.
• Formulates and delivers key labor strategies and tactics, including union avoidance, and union campaign strategy and management.
• Advocates for employee’s rights when appropriate in order to maintain positive employee engagement and work environment.

Leader Development & Enablement

• Creates an environment where leaders are accountable for the development of proactive relationships with union leaders.
• As necessary, facilitates relationships with union leaders and management which support the business goals of the Company.
• Advises and coaches leaders and HR team on new labor and employee relations trends that could positively or negatively impact the Company.
• Partners with leaders to ensure leaders own union relationships.

Capability Building

• Directs, trains, develops and coaches a high functioning Labor Relations team with capability to provide broad based labor support to business partners with the execution of Company strategies.
• Provides strategic counsel to operations leaders and Human Resources Team at multiple facilities in administering 16 collective bargaining agreements and labor relation policies/practices that are in compliance with federal /state laws and Company policies/practices.
• Serves as a subject-matter expert and stays current on all new and proposed federal and state labor/employment laws.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or other related field
• 7 – 9 years of progressively increasing responsibility in collective bargaining, labor relations, employee relations, union prevention and contract administration in a large, multi-state organization
• Proven effective leadership skills, including the ability to work effectively with all levels of staff and diverse stakeholder groups
• Business-oriented professional who is customer-focused and can successfully interact with union and non-union management teams
• Ability to work effectively with all levels of the organization
• Able to balance multiple stakeholders and diverse perspectives
• Strong analytical and problem solving capability, along with the ability to communicate both orally and in writing in a clear concise, organized and persuasive manner
• Able to design and deliver presentations to executive leaders.
• Demonstrated interpersonal leadership and project management skills
• Able to work in a matrixed environment with excellent influencing skills
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task and balance numerous priorities in a fast paced, deadline-oriented environment
• Performs other job related duties as assigned
• Travel requirement: 50%