Employee Relations Specialist

The Employee Relations Specialist will be a key member of the Legal Team supporting sweetgreen’s salaried and hourly team members. This role will provide thought leadership on workplace practices and policies that support our desired culture and provide key support in creating programs that ensure a respectful workplace necessary to optimize performance. Your role is critical to creating a win, together environment where our team members, our leaders and our company thrives in a respectful and productive work environment.

What You’ll Lead (Essential Functions Of The Role)

Investigation Leadership

• Lead complex investigations for our field and corporate teams on employee relations matters and potential policy violations to evaluate and effectively address issues and recommend resolutions.
• Partner with People Business Partners, Field Leadership, Legal Team and other investigative parties as required to thoroughly conduct investigations and reach the best outcomes for our organization and employees. 
• Analyze and provide reporting on themes and trends from investigations.
• Partner with our Technology teams to scope, design, and implement a case management system which improves tracking, investigating, escalation, and analyzing trends, to anticipate opportunities for further training and action.

Team Culture

• Build incredible cross-functional partnerships to support a culture that aligns with our core values.
• Act on proactive and reactive case work, support training as needed to address trends and learning gaps with the leadership team.

Compliance

• Partner with the compliance team to mitigate risk through conducting audits and leading regional initiatives.
• Support the development of company policies and training that addresses people priorities and proper reporting / escalation of potential policy violations.

Policy

• Develop, revise, and advise on implementing company policies and processes consistent with changes in laws and regulations, best practices, and company culture.
• Advise on accommodations related to disabilities, medical conditions, and religion to drive consistency across the company.
• Act as a thought leader to People Business Partners on coaching employees, disciplinary actions, and performance management to ensure consistency across the company.

Education

• Design, develop, and deliver ongoing employee-relations and policy-related training to the People Team, Legal Team, Field Leadership and other groups within the organization.

Other

• Partner with others on the People and Field Leadership teams as needed on human resources compliance and employee experience initiatives
• Provide support on RFIs and RFPs for consultants/vendors in the area of Employee Relations.
• Participate in and/or lead special projects as required.

Desired Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required, advanced degree and/or other specialized training in labor/employee relations 
• 4 - 6 years direct experience in employee relations
• 2+ years experience specifically working with an hourly workforce
• Ability to navigate complexity in a regional capacity and successfully lead change initiatives
• Prior restaurant or retail experience highly desired
• Prior experience implementing a case management system highly desired

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities:

• Bilingual (Spanish) required
• Role model for integrity and champions culture.
• Experienced in building business partnerships, investing in relationships, and quickly building trust amongst teams and leaders.
• Acts with a sense of urgency and ability to embrace and promote the company's Core Values in your compliance solutions.
• Provides clear feedback to peers, partners, and senior leadership to protect the brand.
• Ability to multi-task and manage more than one cross-functional and mission-critical project at one time.
• Sound judgment and the ability to handle highly sensitive and confidential information.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills and an ability to write clearly and succinctly.
• Effective listener and persuasive communicator who is able to influence actions and outcomes.
• Appreciates ambiguity and autonomy in an incredibly fast-paced environment.
• Proven attention to detail; extremely organized.
• Ability to travel throughout the field approximately 10-20% of the time.

What you'll get:

• Three different medical plans to suit your and your family's needs
• Dental and Vision insurance
• Flexible PTO plan
• 401k program
• Paid family leave; we believe in fully supporting new parents
• Employee HSA and FSA
• Complimentary greens
• An opportunity to make a real impact on the people around you, both by growing them and by connecting them to real food
• To live the sweetlife and celebrate your passion + purpose
• A collaborative team of people who live our core values and have your back
• A clear career path with opportunities for development, both personally and professionally
• Free sweetgreen swag

Come join the sweetlife!

About sweetgreen

sweetgreen is on a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food. We passionately believe that real food should be convenient and accessible to everyone. Every day in each sweetgreen, our 3,500 team members make food from scratch, using fresh ingredients and produce delivered that morning. And in our local communities, we’re committed to leaving people better than we found them. We’re in the business of feeding people, and we’re out to change what that means.

sweetgreen provides equal opportunities for everyone that works for us and everyone that applies to join our team, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, any service, past, present, or future, in the uniformed services of the United States (military or veteran status), or any other consideration protected by federal, state, or local law.

sweetgreen participates in the federal government's E-Verify program to determine employment eligibility. To learn more about the E-Verify program, please click here.