Employee Relations Director

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Minnesota; Eagan (MN); Hybrid; USD 136,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401k

PTO & VPTO

Job summary

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota seeks a Director of Employee Relations to lead the ER and LOA teams, manage complex investigations, and ensure legally defensible outcomes. You will partner with Legal, Compliance, and HRBPs to translate strategy into disciplined, day-to-day decisions.

The hybrid role combines strategic governance with hands-on case work, driving enterprise risk mitigation and policy updates in Minnesota.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; in lieu of degree, two years of relevant experience may be accepted.
• Master's degree preferred to deepen leadership and strategic impact.
• PHR/SPHR certification is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day leadership for employee relations and LOA functions, handling complex, high-risk matters and setting quality expectations.
• Direct investigations and employment actions, including intake, triage, and assignment across misconduct, performance, ADA/LOA, and policy violations.
• Define escalation thresholds and ensure consistent, defensible application of policy and judgment across the enterprise.
• Lead high-risk investigations and produce high-quality, legally sound written outcomes.
• Oversee ER governance, case management, and audit readiness; monitor performance indicators and reduce risk.
• Translate ER data into policy updates, training priorities, and leadership guidance; partner with Legal and Compliance.
• Advise HRBPs and leaders on high-impact decisions to balance risk, speed, and consistency.
• Lead talent development and process improvements to enhance efficiency and prevent recurrence.

Skills

Employee relations

Management

Investigations

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

Job description

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota

At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, we are committed to paving the way for everyone to achieve their healthiest life. We are looking for dedicated and motivated individuals who share our vision of transforming healthcare. As a Blue Cross associate, you are joining a culture that is built on values of succeeding together, finding a better way, and doing the right thing. If you are ready to make a difference, join us.

The Impact You Will Have

The Director Employee Relations (ER) is a hands‑on, working leader responsible for both personally managing complex employee relations matters and leading a team of Employee Relations and Leave of Absence (LOA) professionals. This role provides enterprise operational, governance, and risk leadership for ER execution, translating ER strategy into disciplined day‑to‑day decision‑making and applying advanced judgment, critical thinking, and risk assessment to high‑stakes cases, investigations, and employment actions. The Director Employee Relations independently leads the most complex and sensitive ER and LOA matters while also setting standards, guiding team capacity, and ensuring consistent, defensible outcomes across the ER and LOA functions. Serving as a primary escalation point for HRBPs and leaders, this role balances speed, consistency, legal defensibility, and reputational considerations, delivering clear, well‑reasoned recommendations to employment counsel and senior HR leadership. Collaboration is central to the role. The Director works closely with Legal, HR Business Partners, Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, People Analytics, Organizational Development, Compliance, and Enterprise Learning. In addition to team leadership and direct case execution, the role owns ER and LOA governance and infrastructure, manages compliance hotline issues, identifies patterns and systemic risk, strengthens leader capability, and leads updates to HR‑related policies and practices to improve upstream prevention, decision quality, and enterprise stability.

What You’ll Do

• Provides day‑to‑day leadership for the Employee Relations and LOA functions while personally handling complex, high‑risk ER matters, setting priorities, capacity plans, quality expectations, and holding accountability for consistent enterprise practice.
• Owns and executes enterprise ER work, including direct management of sensitive investigations and employment actions, as well as intake, triage, prioritization, assignment, and execution across misconduct, performance issues, ADA/LOA intersections, and policy violations.
• Defines and enforces escalation thresholds, decision‑rights, and role clarity between HRBPs and Employee Relations, ensuring disciplined, consistent, and defensible application of policy and judgment.
• Leads and oversees complex, high‑risk investigations (e.g., protected class, retaliation, senior leader, systemic issues), applying critical thinking to assess facts, credibility, impact, and risk, and producing high‑quality, legally sound written outcomes.

How You’ll Do It

• Owns ER governance, including investigation frameworks, associate handbook, documentation standards, case management processes, government reporting, response timelines, decision consistency, and audit readiness.
• Applies analytical and strategic thinking to monitor ER performance and enterprise risk indicators—including case volume, cycle time, repeat patterns, and risk hotspots—and uses insights to reduce recurrence and strengthen prevention.
• Translates ER case data and investigation trends into actionable enterprise insights that inform policy updates, leader capability gaps, training priorities, and emerging people risks; partners with HR, Legal, and Compliance on upstream mitigation strategies.
• Serves as a senior escalation and advisory partner to HRBPs and leaders on high‑impact employment decisions—including corrective action, PIPs, terminations, and RIF planning—strengthening leader decision‑making while preventing risk drift, inconsistency, or unnecessary enterprise exposure.
• Acts as a key advisor during high‑visibility or enterprise‑impacting ER matters, considering legal, regulatory, cultural, and reputational risk in recommendations and outcomes.
• Provides strong people leadership by hiring, developing, and retaining talent; setting clear expectations; coaching employees through ongoing performance management; delivering timely, constructive feedback; and modeling organizational values and behaviors.
• Leads process improvement by identifying, streamlining, and implementing more efficient and effective ways of working.
• Performs additional responsibilities consistent with the scope and level of the role, as assigned.

Required Skills & Experience

• 7+ years of progressive employee relations experience with 3+ years of management experience.
• Bachelor’s degree; in lieu of a degree, an additional two years of relevant experience beyond the qualifications listed above may be accepted.

Preferred Skills & Experience

• Masters degree in related field
• Ability to communicate strategic direction across departments, actively listen to address organizational challenges, and align leaders and stakeholders through clear and actionable guidance.
• Ability to analyze cross-functional impacts, set clear priorities, and guide leaders to resolve high-impact challenges and improve outcomes.
• Ability to effectively organize work, balance cross-functional priorities, and manage team capacity across initiatives to support business objectives.
• Workday experience.
• Experience in handling employee relations issues and conducting investigations.
• Ability to demonstrate sound decision‑making and conflict resolution.
• Ability to build strong working relationships and provide consultative support and guidance to leaders and enterprise stakeholders.
• Knowledge of and ability to comply with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws, regulations, and compliance requirements.
• Ability to handle sensitive employee and candidate information confidentially and comply with applicable privacy, confidentiality, and data protection requirements.

Licensure/Certifications

Nice to have:

• Professional in Human Resources (PHR) - HR Certification Institute (HRCI)
• Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) - HR Certification Institute (HRCI)

Role Designation

Hybrid

Anchored in Connection

Our hybrid approach is designed to balance flexibility with meaningful in‑person connection and collaboration. We come together in the office two days each week – most teams designate at least one anchor day to ensure team interaction. These in‑person moments foster relationships, creativity, and alignment. The rest of the week you are empowered to work remote.

Compensation and Benefits:

Pay Range: $135,500.00 - $182,900.00 - $230,300.00 Annual

Pay is based on several factors which vary based on position, including skills, ability, and knowledge the selected individual is bringing to the specific job.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package which may include:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Life insurance
• 401k
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Volunteer Paid Time Off (VPTO)
• And more

To discover more about what we have to offer, please review our benefits page.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, we are committed to paving the way for everyone to achieve their healthiest life. Blue Cross of Minnesota is an Equal Opportunity Employer and maintains an affirmative action plan, as required by Minnesota law applicable to state contractors. All qualified applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to, and will not be discriminated against based on any legally protected characteristic.

Individuals with a disability who need a reasonable accommodation in order to apply, please contact us at: [e-mail].

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Blue Plus are nonprofit independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Physical Requirements