A) JOB SUMMARY
Reporting to the Director, Financial Reporting and Budgets, the Associate Director, Employee Services provides leadership to the Payroll and Benefits Coordinators, and HR Generalist to manage the integrated delivery of payroll and benefits, including initial processing of employee appointments and related transactions. This position works collaboratively to develop, review, and maintain systems, processes, and procedures to ensure timely, accurate, and relevant information is accessible and provided to the College community and external stakeholders. This position also acts as a link between the College and external agencies, departments, and individuals to manage information, implement new systems, and resolve issues and problems that affect the Employee Services teams. In all aspects of this position, the Associate Director Employee Services maintains a high standard of confidentiality and discretion.
C) ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS
Employee Services
- Develops, reviews, and monitors the effective and efficient functioning of the systems and processes supporting the employee life cycle.
- Manages and provides guidance to the HR Generalist to ensure that the HR Operations team processes are being performed in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
- Initiates, plans, develops and executes Employee Services projects.
- Attends the HR Payroll User Group consortium meetings to ensure continuous improvement of the HR operational processes through review and optimization of the HR module of the ERP system (Colleague).
- Collaborates with other leaders in the BC Post-Secondary Sector to share leading practices in Employee Services.
- Develops/recommends training opportunities for teams.
- Manages the annual HRDB report and submission to PSEA.
- Develops, reviews, and monitors the effective and efficient functioning of payroll and benefits processes to ensure timely and accurate production of one monthly and two bi-weekly payroll runs on a college-wide annual salary and benefits budget in excess of 120 million dollars.
- Reviews, verifies and authorizes payroll and benefit related payments/invoices, fund transfers/cheque requests regarding wage garnishments, RRSP contributions, Phased Retirement savings plans, and maternity/parental or other leave payments.
- Maintains currency with Payroll related legislation, processes, leading practice, process improvements, etc. by participating in HR/Payroll user groups and through continuous professional development opportunities for self, the HR Generalist, the Coordinator, Payroll Operations, and the Employee Services team members.
- Manages the monthly reconciliation of payroll and benefit G/L accounts in collaboration with the Director, Financial Reporting and Budgets and Manager, Financial Operations, including identifying and resolving variances.
- Manages payroll and benefit department budget, including monitoring staff overtime and/or casual/term assistance required for heavy work periods. Reports any variances to the Director.
- Develops and maintains effective processes to ensure payments to benefits providers, such as Manulife, Pension Corporation and WorkSafe BC, are accurate and on time.
- Approves payroll and benefit payment vouchers for bi-weekly payroll runs, invoices and staff reimbursements and carries out other day-to-day budget related activities.
- Approves purchases related to the payroll and benefits teams’ operating budget (eg. supplies, advertising, training, etc.)
- Reviews and corresponds with the Canada Revenue Agency on remittance reviews (PIER reporting) and annual T4 submissions.
- Key contact between Finance and the College’s benefits consultants and carriers; seeks clarification as required regarding the specific intent and/or application of benefits contract clauses. Works closely with Labour Relations Specialist to ensure up to date information on employee benefit entitlements.
- Resolves difficult employee benefits issues – refused claims, special needs or other extraordinary approves – and works collaboratively with the College’s Employee Health Advisors and the Coordinator, Payroll Operations to resolve.
- Manages and provides guidance to the Coordinator, Payroll Operations to ensure that Payroll/Benefits Assistants are processing benefits enrollments in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
- Implements and maintains streamlined benefits processes, including the implementation of technology to enhance benefits management. Monitors the use of on-line enrollment and benefit payment systems for accuracy and efficiency.
- Monitors the effective and efficient functioning of the administrative and/or operational support processes between Finance and the Human Resources Department to ensure employee appointments, departures, leaves, promotions, etc., are processed, and entitlements determined, in a timely and accurate manner.
Human Resource Information System (Colleague)
- Administers and oversees the maintenance of the Human Resources Information System (HRIS), including the development and provision of ad hoc reports, changes to the system, and processes for the entry, maintenance, and reporting of information.
- The Associate Director leads the collaborative development of processes, controls, and procedures that may be initiated in schools and departments, as well as their own department.
- As an administrator and trainer for the HRIS, this position ensures that processes and procedures are created, documented, and maintained to ensure the integrity and usefulness of the HRIS and that individual users have access to the knowledge and resources required to use the system.
- Directs and manages the training of the Employee Services teams in producing routine reports and queries.
- Acts as an internal system analyst for the HRIS by overseeing the introduction of significant Colleague system upgrades, changes, and additional features. Liaises with internal and external systems support. Leads the planning processes, document processes and troubleshoots implementation problems.
- Liaises and coordinates with the College Systems Development team, HR team, and other College or external technical resources to analyze and identify issues and priorities for system upgrades and new system components, which ensure the College system meets Finance and HR operational requirements.
- Participates in Colleague user groups to stay current regarding upcoming software changes and to share system knowledge with other Colleges to enable Employee Services to produce necessary data/reports to satisfy government requirements (such as Statistics Canada, HRDB and CRA reports).
Research and Reporting
- Manages and reviews the data collection and analysis activities of the Coordinator, Payroll Operations, Coordinator, Benefits Administration, and HR Generalist. Creates and reviews from this data summary reports used in College-wide planning and during collective bargaining or at the request of PSEA/PSEC.
- Ensures clear and consistent communication with the Human Resources department and other clients to ensure that data and information shared are accurate and timely.
- Leads research in support of collective bargaining, including collection and presentation of historical and other data and costing for proposals.
- Makes recommendations to the Director, Financial Reporting and Budgets based on research results and Colleague reports regarding departmental and College-wide employee trends, vacation and sick leave usage, overtime accruals, disability claims, etc.
- Maintains a high standard of confidentiality and discretion in handling sensitive information during collective bargaining or workforce reduction strategies to ensure bargaining unit employees are not subject to a conflict of interest.
D) OTHER FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Acts as the key contact for Pension Corporation, benefits consultant, benefits carrier, Employment Insurance, Canada Savings Bond provider (Bank of Canada), and others as needed.
- Participates on College, Employee Services related committees, both within and external to the College.
- Arranges for regular Pension Corporation information sessions for employees.
- Connects with school and department administrative staff on training needs, documentation and continuous process development for payroll, benefits and the HR Information System; develops and provides education sessions where required.
- Performs other related duties as assigned.