Employee Relations Program Manager

Overview:

• Provides day-to-day oversight and coordination of key Employee Relations (ER) programs with enterprise-wide impact, including but not limited to, workplace accommodations and workforce restructures. Works with managers, employees, and ER team members to provide timely, forward-thinking, and customer-focused support that adheres to applicable regulatory requirements and established internal service level agreements. Applies insights and analytical skills to process improvement initiatives, ER projects, and other evolving related organizational matters.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage the lifecycle (i.e., intake, interactive dialogue, resolution, etc.) of workplace accommodation requests by partnering with Human Resources (HR) and non-HR stakeholders to ensure consistent enterprise-wide application and regulatory compliance.
• Exercise influence and work with others to address confidential and/or sensitive workplace accommodation requests and issues that may require tactfully navigating employee and/or manager interactions and creatively problem-solving, while ensuring all perspectives are represented.
• Manage workforce restructuring initiatives to ensure process adherence, compliance with regulatory requirements, and mitigation of organizational risk by conducting comprehensive due diligence, facilitating manager preparation calls, creating and distributing severance documents, and on-going report maintenance.
• Participate, manage, and/or provide consultation on restructuring initiatives and other corporate projects to completion, as requested by senior management.
• Participate in development of new and/or enhanced ER programs to meet business needs by leveraging data, analytical skills and detail-orientation to identify trends and make recommendations for process improvements, testing, gap detection, and on-going maintenance as applicable.
• Serve as a resource for procedural and employee matters by providing thorough and timely responses to accommodation requests and/or workforce restructure inquiries.
• Interact and engage with employees to identify, develop, and implement strategic solutions that address short- and long-term organizational needs, as well as deliver difficult messages and/or engage in difficult exchanges as needed.
• Remain current on ER developments by participating in internal and external meetings, seminars, conferences, and professional associations to communicate and/or support business needs and expand professional expertise.
• Understand and adhere to the Company’s risk and regulatory standards, policies and controls in accordance with the Company’s Risk Appetite. Identify risk-related issues needing escalation to management.
• Promote an environment that supports a culture of belonging and reflects the M&T Bank brand.
• Maintain M&T internal control standards, including timely implementation of internal and external audit points together with any issues raised by external regulators as applicable.
• Complete other related duties as assigned.

Scope of Responsibilities:

• This position provides enterprise-wide support to employees at all levels, by ensuring consistent application of workplace accommodation and workforce restructuring processes, while mitigating risk from regulatory action or civil litigation. In addition, this position is responsible for engaging in process improvement initiatives that create additional ER team capacity and more positive user experiences.

Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities:

• Not Applicable

Education and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 5 years’ human resources experience, or in lieu of a degree, a combined minimum of 9 years’ higher education and./or work experience, including a minimum of 5 years’ human resources experience
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Strong analytical skills
• Strong organizational skills
• Detail-oriented
• Experience handling multiple tasks simultaneously in a dynamic work environment with demanding time constraints

Education and Experience Preferred:

• Minimum of 8 years’ human resources experience
• Prior employee relations experience
• Prior experience handling confidential matters

Location