Department Staff HR Specialist

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

3d•$59,736 - $63,336•Hybrid

About The Position

The department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has an outstanding opportunity for a Department Staff Human Resources (HR) Specialist. Working as part of a departmental HR staff team, this position will provide professional level service to employees, managers, academic personnel, and other staff in support of advancing the department’s staff personnel program. This position will exercise discretion and independent judgment through reviewing and processing personnel change requests and providing guidance on departmental and university staff policies and procedures. As a key policy advisor and business process expert, this role will significantly influence operational integrity and workforce management of the department’s staff personnel program.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, communications, or related field OR four years of related work experience.
Demonstrated ability to exercise discretion and independent judgment in resolving complex HR issues.
Knowledge of federal and state employment laws.
Demonstrated ability in working with a customer service mindset, while maintaining a positive attitude and providing high quality service.
Ability to handle confidential information with tact, discretion, and diplomacy, and to maintain strict confidentiality, while working to take appropriate action.
Professional level competency with general MS Office applications (i.e. Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams) and ability to learn new software applications as necessary.
Ability to manage a high volume of work, meeting time sensitive deadlines, while ensuring work is accurate and complete.

Nice To Haves

Experience in higher education or academic health system HR operations.
Familiarity with Workday HCM or similar HRIS systems.

Responsibilities

Independently assess a wide range of HR operational requests, ensuring each action complies with various levels of policies, labor contracts, and applicable employment laws.
Support the entire employee life cycle including new appointments, reclassifications, and personnel changes for staff and student employees.
Execute various staff HR actions (i.e. hires, personnel changes, separations, etc.) within the Workday system, adhering to timelines set by payroll, central campus, SoM, and the department to ensure timely completion of actions.
Advise employees, managers, academic personnel, and other staff on university and departmental policies and procedures.
Independently manage and prioritize assigned personnel requests via department’s internal ticketing system.
Work in unison with department HR team to review, assign, and resolve requests that come into the department’s HR shared in box.
Engage in continuous process improvement reviews to identify and implement strategies to increase efficiency and develop resources.
Identify ticketing tool process improvement areas and work collaboratively with Department IT and PsycSource development team to develop technological tools to provide optimal solutions related to HR processes.
Independently identify best staff HR operating practices and determine how to efficiently implement them on a department level.
Develop process guides and tools to document and support key functions and activities.
Develop, implement, and/or modify department tracking mechanisms to monitor and report on the status of HR and payroll processes.
Prepare reports on HR or payroll related requests as needed.
Cover vacations and absences for other HR staff.
Perform other duties and ad hoc projects, as assigned.