People Strategy, Equity, and Culture

People Director

  • Job Title: People Director
  • Salary Grade: O
  • FLSA Status: Exempt
  • Supervisor: AVP of People Strategy, Equity, and Culture

JOB SUMMARY

The People Director leads and provides strategic oversight for PCC’s core employee relations functions, managing the People team to support and advise managers and employees across the college. This role focuses on fostering effective people practices, resolving complex workplace issues, improving performance, and addressing emerging workforce challenges. Reporting to the AVP of People Strategy, Equity, and Culture, the People Director plays a critical role in cultivating a positive, inclusive, and equitable work environment, ensuring the team’s efforts align with the college’s strategic goals.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

  • Manages the People team, fostering their development, performance, engagement, and alignment with organizational goals, while providing guidance and support to management on a full range of employee relations matters, including informal concerns, performance management, disciplinary issues, employee assistance referrals, and reduction in force actions.
  • Advises managers and employees on sensitive employee relations matters, such as performance issues, disciplinary actions, and workplace concerns. Partners with the Labor Director on formal grievance responses, contract interpretations, and arbitration planning.
  • Oversees compliance with employee civil rights laws and policies, developing processes for investigations and resolutions while implementing preventive, corrective, and restorative measures.
  • Sets the strategic direction for People Partners to deliver swift, culturally responsive, equity-minded, and confidential support to employees and managers on workplace concerns.
  • Leads the development of proactive strategies to address emerging workplace challenges by providing coaching, facilitating workgroups, leading restorative practices, and implementing training to improve performance and culture.
  • Collaborates with PCC leadership to ensure the performance management framework is aligned with job descriptions and organizational objectives. This includes linking individual performance to values, competencies, and outcomes that promote a productive, inclusive, and safe work environment.
  • Identifies and develops strategies to further diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of the employee experience, culture, and performance.
  • Develops and recommends to the AVP of People Strategy, Equity, and Culture (PSEC) policies and procedures concerning employee relations and personnel practices.
  • Partners with leaders across the People Strategy, Equity, & Culture (PSEC) division and organization to advance PCC’s People, Equity, and Culture strategies, ensuring alignment with belonging and wellbeing goals and priorities.
  • Maintains up-to-date knowledge of employee and labor relations trends, legal decisions, and statutory changes, researching and recommending policies and procedures to promote a productive and safe work environment for PCC’s diverse workforce.
  • Serves as Deputy Title IX Coordinator, supporting compliance and facilitating investigations in collaboration with the Title IX Coordinator.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Human Resources, Organizational Development, or a related discipline. Relevant experience may substitute for the degree requirement on a year-for-year basis.
  • Five years of progressively responsible professional experience in employee relations, labor relations, or a related discipline, including two years of supervisory experience.
  • Experience must include responsibility for civil rights compliance.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

  • Excellent organizational, coaching, and leadership skills, including ability to lead and support diverse teams.
  • Experience creating and improving structures, processes, and systems that enable diverse organizations to grow and succeed.
  • Emotionally intelligent and culturally aware communication skills, especially in the following settings: addressing conflict, sensitive employee relations situations, implementing organizational change, influencing decisions, and building trust with the workforce.
  • Experience identifying opportunities and taking action to build inclusion and equity into people strategy, culture, and processes.
  • Effective conflict resolution skills and the ability to navigate sensitive, emotional, or difficult situations with empathy.
  • Ability to effectively work in teams; communicate and collaborate across multiple groups with competing priorities; and manage across a matrixed, complex organization with multiple stakeholders.
  • Experience leading diverse work teams, developing an organizational strategy for program excellence, and engaging partners to achieve results.
  • Ability to develop and maintain an equitable and inclusive workplace through interactions, decisions, and recommendations.
  • Knowledge of collective bargaining agreements and impact on employee relations, conflict resolution, and culture processes.
  • Excellent influencing and negotiation skills with the ability to build consensus with peers in the context of driving and fostering change.

 

Revised: 11/2024

Portland Community College is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or any other protected class.