HR Manager, Italy

Who We Are:

Since 1906, New Balance has empowered people through sport and craftsmanship to create positive change in communities around the world. We innovate fearlessly, guided by our core values and driven by the belief that conventions were meant to be challenged. We foster a culture in which every associate feels welcomed and respected, where leaders and creatives are inspired to shape the world of tomorrow by taking bold action today.

Job Mission:

The HR Manager will provide broad, operational generalist HR support to our associates and the wider business with the aim of building a highly performing and engaged organization across both corporate and retail environments.  You will ensure our managers and associates are well equipped to handle all aspects of the employee lifecycle – including but not limited to complex employee relation cases while fostering a fair and compliant work environment.

This role is based in Bolzano and is a part time role at 75% across Monday – Friday, 6 hours per day.

Major Accountabilities:

• Responsible for HR activity through the associates lifecycle in Italy retail stores and office and act as point of contact for our Country Manager in all employee relations matters, providing support for both associates and managers
• Lead and execute ongoing organizational change across the business
• Support change management initiatives
• Plan for, and execute against, regional HR strategy
• Utilize employment law knowledge to meet business needs and ensure consistent, fair and accurate application
• Provide coaching and advice on employee relations issues to managers, influencing and intervening when appropriate to ensure fairness and consistency
• Lead and manage complex employee relations cases, including investigations, dispute resolutions, disciplinaries, grievances, absence, retirement and redundancy ensuring compliance with legal and policy frameworks
• Manage the relationship with the external providers (payroll, privacy, health & safety)
• Carry out research into innovation and best practice for HR to support HR policy and procedure development
• Apply HR and business knowledge to aid decision making
• Ensure consistent application of policies and procedures across the organization
• Assess and develop programmes to enhance employee relations and associate engagement in line with regional approach
• Manage recruitment and selection end to end when required
• Ensure effective onboarding of new hires and internal promotions in line with global processes
• Provide advice to managers and associates for the annual Performance Management and Talent Management processes
• Ensure any learning and development requirements are identified and fed into the Talent function
• Build and maintain effective relationships with wider HR team, local/regional/global stakeholders and external partners
• Champion DE&I, community connection and wellbeing activities
• Role model for NB values and behaviors, ambassador for the HR function and able to bring new associates into our culture
• Undertake HR projects as needed
• Manage the relationship with the external providers (payroll, health & safety)
• Oversee payroll related tasks on a monthly and/or ad-hoc basis

Key Requirements For Success:

• Fluent in English and Italian, both written and spoken
• Extensive practical knowledge of Italian employment law; ideally, familiarity with legal frameworks in other European countries
• Proven experience in a similar role, delivering a service driven HR function
• Broad generalist HR experience across HR – strong focus on employee relations and developing policies and procedures
• Previous experience of working in a corporate and/or retail, matrixed environment is an advantage
• Accountable decision maker who is able to think outside of own remit and see the wider business impact of own decisions
• Bachelor’s degree - ideally, master’s degree in human resources/communication/business management
• Outstanding and confident communicator, collaborator and influencing skills at all levels
• Proactive self-starter with a results and deadline driven approach
• Highest levels of integrity and professional credibility
• Attention to detail
• Analytical skills
• Systems proficient, Workday/HRIS experience advantageous, MS Office essential
• Experience and/or willingness to have a broad knowledge of travel, company cars, office management

Equal Opportunity Employer:

New Balance is committed to equality of opportunity for all current and prospective associates regardless of age, disability, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership and gender reassignment.  We are an equal opportunity employer and support a culture of diversity and inclusion.

If you have not already done so, please let us know if you require any support so we can make the right adjustments and considerations should they be required.