Who We Are

Mercy Ships is a global faith-based charity that uses hospital ships to bring life-changing surgeries and transformational medical training to people in some of the most challenging contexts along the African coast. For over 40 years, Mercy Ships has been delivering lasting hope and healing through safe surgical care, while working alongside partners and stakeholders to strengthen local healthcare systems in more than 55 countries. Since the inception of this dream by founders Don and Deyon Stephens in 1978, Mercy Ships has served more than 2.7 million direct beneficiaries without regard for race, gender, or religion.

This is a full-time role located on site in Lindale, TX.

The Opportunity

Do you have a heart for the hurting and a desire to invest your talents and experiences into a mission with eternal significance? For every transformative surgery that takes place onboard one of our Mercy Ships, there are dozens of men and women being used of the Lord to prepare the way through their vocational gifts and talents!

The Lead People & Culture (P&C) Business Partner serves as a Business Partner and lead technical advisor to the team of P&C Business Partners (BP). The Lead Business Partner’s focus is to deliver value-added service to the organization in alignment with business objectives, P&C policies and procedures, state and federal employment regulations, and best practices.

How You’ll Contribute

• Serves as a lead technical advisor to BP and Talent Acquisition teams to deliver partnership with excellence to business leaders and their teams for the development of business strategies that boost productivity and growth.
• Innovates, researches, implements, and coordinates enhancements to policy, process, and practice of People & Culture Business Partnership within Mercy Ships.
• Manages execution, delivery, and after-action analysis of recurring organizational Workforce Planning evolutions (i.e. budget preparation, project planning, etc.), ensuring ever-deepening levels of cross-departmental collaboration.
• Creates, curates, and delivers Business Partnership and Human Resources professional development trainings to both internal and external partners.
• Builds, develops, and maintains strong collaborative, consultative, working relationships across all the BP’s designated functional areas. Establishes then expands the BP model with presence, approachability, availability, and efficiency in offering accurate, timely feedback and support.
• Partners with managers for first-level workforce demand planning and administration; cooperates with the Talent Acquisition (TA) Team for initial positional strategy meetings, as well as any posting/sourcing/hiring needs conveyed by hiring teams.
• Supports all employees to answer questions, offer guidance, and provide interpretation of the organization’s employment policies, practices, and regulations.
• Supports leaders with their day-to-day performance management (coaching, counseling, career development, etc.) to build up struggling performers, engage those who seek growth, and design internal development opportunities for high performers.
• Strives for 100% completion among leaders for all mandatory P&C processes including annual performance reviews and wage/salary reviews, acting as liaison and answering questions to meet deadlines.
• Works closely with leaders to improve the team’s work relationships, build morale, maintain retention, increase productivity, build community, and strengthen skills while living out the organizational values.
• Manages employee relations issues by providing counsel and guidance to managers on grievance, disciplinary, and performance issues and leads investigations when necessary.
• Collaborates with managers to provide a seamless onboarding experience for all new team members, including training plans, goal development, and end-of-probation reviews.
• Initiates and renews contracts for Independent Contractors in designated business units.
• Pursues continuous improvement through analysis of trends, status, and metrics in partnership with the People Systems Team to develop solutions, recommend programs, and implement policies.
• Conducts job satisfaction (“stay”) interviews, exit interviews, and any special interest surveys; report on findings/themes on a quarterly basis along with recommendations for programs to improve on lessons learned.
• Advocates for leader and employee interests.
• Serves as ambassador for all Belongingness initiatives by improving engagement and participation in the community and by advocating for the employee’s voice in all decisions/discussions.
• Maintains current, accurate, in-depth knowledge of regulatory and legal requirements related to employment and employment law, reducing risks, and ensuring compliance. Proposes “best practice” improvements in the P&C organization. Escalates known risks and areas of deficiency to P&C Directors and as needed/required.
• Champions monthly Leadership Series with P&C (and ad hoc sessions as needed). Identifies topics of interest, prepares presentations, leads sessions, facilitates discussions, and answers questions.
• Leads employee recognition efforts, including semi-annual employee service awards and the quarterly Beacon Spotlight program.
• Maintains records in an organized system ensuring retrieval for reporting or reviewing as needed. Files required reports in a timely manner.
• Other duties as assigned by Senior Manager, Business Partnership & Talent Acquisition.

   

  The Ideal Candidate

• Supportive of Mercy Ships mission and vision and committed to its core values.
• Understands and applies servant leadership, works collaboratively with integrity, and demonstrates accountability.
• Demonstrates confidentiality and discretion in interactions with all employees and in respect to organizational and HR/P&C topics.
• Excellent interpersonal skills (verbal and written) throughout all tiers and multiple locations of an organization including distributed workers.
• Flexibility to successfully work with multiple priorities.
• Experience with computer applications including HRIS.
• Ability to implement and lead P&C projects to completion.
• Demonstrated proficiency with Microsoft Office including constructing branded presentations and working in Excel.
• Possesses presentation and training skills.
• Enjoys working with people and possess strong problem-solving and conflict resolution skills creating “win-win” scenarios.
• Working knowledge of multiple human resource disciplines, including compensation practices, organizational diagnosis, employee relations, DE&I, performance management, and federal and state employment laws.
• Proven experience being the face of HR/P&C, representing policies and practices to managers and employees across the organization with a consultative approach.
• Experience working autonomously with initiative, innovation, and accuracy.

   

  Education & Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of core HR experience (performance management, compensation, employee relations, DE&I, employment law, etc.).
• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• SHRM Certified Professional or HRCI credential preferred.
• Successful completion of Mercy Ships Entry Training will be required within the first year.

This is a paid position. To explore our many Mercy Ships volunteer opportunities, please visit us at: https://www.mercyships.org/get-involved/volunteer/