Director of People and Culture

Organization:

Ballard Food Bank’s mission is to bring food and hope to our neighbors because there can be enough for everyone. To achieve our mission, we provide access to nutritious foods through our grocery model food bank and Community Resource Hub, which encompasses financial resources, referral, and mail services that support self-sufficiency. We also advocate for food equity and justice. Our new home, which opened in October 2021, serves as a Hub for Hope as it brings together food, services, and community partners in a one-stop shop. The Ballard Food Bank actively strives to be an anti-racist organization and promotes the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion in its work.

Position Summary:

The Director of People & Culture is an influential member of the leadership team and plays a pivotal role in shaping our culture, attracting top talent, and ensuring the well-being and development of our staff. This position is part-time 25 hours/week.

The Director will be an operational and strategic partner for managers and staff. Based on their knowledge of and partnership with all BFB team members, the Director will recommend and implement initiatives, provide day-to-day leadership for the HR function, and serve as a key resource to all management and staff on a wide range of employment-related activities. The ideal candidate will have extensive human resources management experience, preferably in social service nonprofit organizations.

Areas of responsibility include workforce planning, cultural stewardship, performance management, employment activities, employee compensation and benefits, employee relations, employee engagement and recognition, organizational development, professional and leadership training and development, policies and procedures, and employment-related risk management.

The Director will also be a leader for the organization’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) by modeling and providing leadership in racial equity, diversity, and inclusion principles, and strive for equitable experiences at all levels of the organization.

Responsibilities:

• Ensuring a strong organizational culture and excellent workplace environment by:
  • Participating in team and group meetings such as leadership team meetings, staff meetings, training sessions, etc.
  • Overseeing the performance evaluation process, tools, and documentation.
  • Ensuring all staff are supported and developed in their BFB careers and job paths.
  • Being the go-to person for all employees about compensation, benefits, and other facets of their employment; providing a direct, timely, accessible, visible, and highly responsive resource for all employment matters.
  • Training and guiding all staff on updates in human resource programs, policies, and procedures.
  • Owning all “people issues” with awareness, compassion, counseling, and mediation/de-escalation abilities.
  • Leading both strategically and operationally, always with an eye on organizational values, to ensure the best workplace possible for all staff and volunteers.
• Building our team through recruiting, hiring, and onboarding by:
  • Working with hiring managers to identify staffing needs and recommend solutions; right time, right position, right person must be the constant standard.
  • Training, guiding, and supporting the involvement of hiring managers in the recruitment and onboarding process to ensure a stellar new employee and candidate experience.
  • Maintaining procedures and utilizing best practices for sourcing, selecting, and interviewing candidates.
  • Ensuring recruitment records are maintained for all open and recently filled positions.
  • Coordinating and facilitating job openings, job descriptions, interview teams, and interview processes.
  • Working with managers on maintaining best practices regarding interviewing, new employee onboarding, and orientation.
• Keeping us efficient, organized, consistent, and administratively strong by:
  • Maintaining personnel files and necessary forms; overseeing completeness regarding regulatory requirements.
  • Maintaining company organization charts, employee directory, job descriptions, and other tools used for communicating to and guiding all staff members.
  • Ensuring compliance with all existing employment related regulatory bodies and labor requirements (e.g., EEO, ADA, WA PFML, DOL, OSHA, etc.).
  • Managing necessary accommodations and/or leaves of absences, and educating staff and managers on processes and steps needed throughout such necessities.
  • Training and guiding the team on processes and policies to ensure consistency and equity on employment related policies and matters.
  • Partnering on employee benefit programs (enrollments, vendors, education, etc.), as well as payroll related issues, administration, new hire set-up, etc.
  • Working closely with the Leadership Team on all things people related, and always with an eye on CQI.

Skills/Qualifications:

• BA/BS is required, master’s degree in human resources or similar field preferred.
• Certification(s) in Human Resources preferred.
• A general understanding of all HR disciplines is required and expertise in several of them is highly preferred. These disciplines include Benefits, Compensation, Employee Relations, Staffing, DEIB, and Training & Development.
• Five years of experience in a human resources position is required; preferably in a social services, not-for-profit organization as a sole HR leader.
• Experience working with a diverse, passionate staff is preferable.
• Experience working with a high volume of volunteers is preferable.
• Also required are:
  • A keen sense of DEIB awareness, needs, practices, etc. Fairness and equity are the bedrock of who we are.
  • Excellent communication and presentation skills.
  • Administrative, organization, multi-tasking, and planning skills, i.e., you can keep the organization’s HR function running smoothly and efficiently.
  • A CQI mindset; always looking at how to do things better.
  • Technology curiousness and adeptness.
  • A team-centric work style: i.e., you like to help, you know what you should be doing so others do not, and you thrive on helping others to be better at their jobs.
  • An objective, unbiased, and calm demeanor with others, and a sense of humor.

Physical demands and work environment:

Ballard Food Bank strongly encourages vaccination against COVID-19 to keep our community safe.

While performing the duties of this job you will:

• Be required to be onsite at Ballard Food Bank several days per week, including Wednesday for staff meetings, but may work remotely for part of the work week.
• Engage in regular communication with internal and external individuals and groups—written and verbally, sometimes in person and sometimes virtually.
• Routinely sit/stand at a laptop/computer; keyboarding.

The physical demands and work environment described are representative of those for an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.