HR Generalist

Summary

Join Newsela's People team as an HR Generalist! This role focuses on HR operations, supporting employees through onboarding, compliance, and more. You will collaborate with various teams, ensuring employees feel supported and empowered. Responsibilities include managing employee lifecycle processes, maintaining accurate records, driving engagement initiatives, and partnering on HR systems and operations. You will also contribute to policy compliance, internal communications, and data integrity. The ideal candidate has 2+ years of HR Generalist experience, strong communication skills, and familiarity with HR tools. Tech industry experience is preferred.

Requirements

• 2+ years working in a HR Generalist capacity or a similar role
• Solid grasp of core HR processes and compliance basics
• You have a proven ability to manage sensitive and confidential matters with discretion and professionalism
• You have exceptional interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills
• You have a bias to act and drive toward completion
• You are familiar with HR tools and systems (e.g., UKG, Greenhouse)
• You’re passionate about building inclusive, equitable workplace cultures
• You’re proficient with the Google Suite

Responsibilities

• Oversee onboarding and offboarding processes to ensure a seamless employee experience
• Assist in maintaining accurate and up-to-date employee records within Google Drive and our HRIS (UKG)
• Help drive initiatives to improve employee engagement, recognition, and retention
• Collaborate with Talent Acquisition & Talent Management to support candidate scheduling, workforce planning, performance review cycles, employee surveying and exit interviews
• Partner with the Director of People Operations and HRBPs to assist in the management of HR systems, ticketing processes, and ensure data integrity across platforms (e.g., HRIS, ATS, Jira, payroll)
• Monitor HR metrics, identifying trends and opportunities for improvement
• Partner with the Payroll & Benefits Manager to support accurate payroll and benefits processing; act as a backup for payroll coordination when needed
• Collaborate on the maintenance of our Employee Handbook and other policies and documentation
• Help HRBPs and People Ops document HR policies, procedures and best practices
• Assist in researching federal, state, and local labor & employment laws and internal policies to ensure compliance
• Coordinate the Leave of Absence process in partnership with the Payroll & Benefits Manager and external vendors (Sparrow)
• Coordinate and facilitate company-wide all-hands including content planning, building collateral (slides) and presenting
• Serve as a key player in managing HR-related communications, helping craft and distribute company-wide updates, policy changes, and employee initiatives in a clear, consistent voice
• Act as the central point of contact for responding to inbound employee inquiries on people topics and coordinate employee engagement initiatives and internal communications
• Gather feedback and insights from employees post-communications or events to continuously improve messaging and format

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with the following tools: UKG, Greenhouse, Rippling, Deel
• Comfort with Excel
• Experience managing short-term projects with limited oversight
• Experience assisting with corporate audits

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical benefits with employer contribution to premiums and to HSA accounts
• Additional benefits such as pet insurance, free access to the Calm app, and more to help you stay healthy: mind, body, and soul
• We are a fully remote company
• We provide a monthly tech stipend to support your WFH needs!
• Inclusive benefits to support you and your family, including parental leave, fertility support, adoption, and more!
• Invest in your future with our 401(k) plan, which includes a employer match to help you build long-term financial security
• Flexible PTO plus 10 company holidays plus winter break (Dec 24th - Jan 1st), and Sabbatical Leave offered at tenure
• Newsela offers an annual learning and development allowance to employees to attend external training sessions, classes, workshops, conferences, and educational materials to foster professional growth within their current role and career aspirations at Newsela