HR Advisor

northwesternmutual; Milwaukee (WI); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwestern Mutual is seeking an HR Advisor to provide coaching support to leaders on employee relations issues, interpret policies, and advise both leaders and employees on performance, attendance, and misconduct. You will handle routine cases with guidance, while contributing to broader HR solutions and initiatives.

The role emphasizes building trust-based relationships, fostering psychological safety, and delivering empathetic, timely HR support across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business or related field or equivalent HR experience.
• Typically 3 years HR experience, with 1–2 years in HR Center of Excellence, HR Solutions, or Business HR.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills across all levels.
• Ability to communicate concisely, with empathy and active listening.
• Critical thinking to problem solve and propose innovative solutions.
• Proven ability to deliver empathetic, timely HR support while maintaining professionalism.
• Calm under pressure with a strong customer-service focus.
• Ability to prioritize work with varied urgency and adapt to changing caseload.

Responsibilities

• Provide employee relations coaching to leaders and employees.
• Coach managers to create a psychologically safe space for employees to share experiences.
• Counsel employees and leaders to help with conflict resolution.
• Partner with leaders to build trust-based teams and align communication.
• Deliver feedback that is holistic, balanced, and future-focused.
• Support performance management, health services, union/collective bargaining matters, and other complex HR issues.
• Assist with knowledge management and strategy for HR Solutions and related programs.
• Act as escalation point for HR Contact Center cases and mentor aspiring HR Advisors.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Concise communication

Critical thinking

Customer service

Resilience

Prioritization

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in business or related field

Job description

About the Job:

The HR Advisor provides coaching support to leaders on how to address and manage employee issues (e.g., policy violation, low performance, discipline, job abandonment, conflict mediation) as well as provide general policy interpretation and consultation to leaders and employees (e.g., performance, attendance, misconduct). The HR Advisor typically advises front-line leaders for more routine cases with limited complexity. Finally, HR Advisor also provides employee support for dealing with workplace tension, conflict, or general manager/team/employee concerns.

What You’ll Do:

Employee Relations:

Provide employee relations general counsel and service to leaders (primary client) and employees; provide complex policy interpretation and strategic consultation to leaders and employees.

Coach & guide managers on how to create a confidential and psychologically safe space for employees to share personal experiences, fostering trust and open communication.

Counsel employees and leaders to help with conflict resolution to better manage potential issues in the workplace. Topics could include components related to Performance Management, Health Services, Union/Collective Bargaining Agreement, and other complex employee matters.

Partner with leaders to build strong employee relationships and cultivate a positive, trust-based team culture. This can include attending meetings to facilitate effective communication, ensure alignment, promote transparency, and support successful resolution of concerns.

Coach managers to capture and deliver feedback that is holistic, balanced, and future-focused.

Equip leaders with effective strategies for goal setting, continuous conversations, and employee development, highlighting their intersection with employee relations, coaching, counseling, and discipline.

Follow up with relevant stakeholders (e.g., leaders, employees, Employee Relations, and/or Business HR) to keep a check on the resolution as applicable for effective case management.

Assists in the assembly of HR Solutions insights based on employee relations cases and trends; prepares actionable insights for Business HR (BHR) and HR SET teams as applicable for strategic application.

In partnership with Sr. HR Advisors and HR Advisory leadership, analyzes themes from cases and make recommendations for changes in Company policies, practices, training, programs and/or procedures.

General HR Solutions / Case Management

Serve as a general escalation point for HR Contact Center cases; may act as a mentor for aspiring HR Advisors as part of pipeline development.

May be identified as a topic subject matter expert and project lead in support of general HR Solutions transformation portfolio.

May be assigned to maintain components of Knowledge Management in terms of content creation / refreshing to maintain accuracy for consistent application for employees & managers.

Assist with building the future-state model by contributing to the creation of strategy, operating model, SLAs, and processes in partnership with the HR Solutions Team.

Improve the consistency of the customer experience and empower leaders / employees via improved self-service, training/resources, process improvement, etc.

Build strong relationships with HR SET partners, working cross-functionally and collaboratively to solve problems and identify areas for improvement.

May act as key liaison for a function(s) Business HR team, to include presenting insights, facilitating proactive 1v1s in hot spots, etc. The HR Advisor may be strategically paired with a Senior HR Advisor to enhance support for large functions and provide mentorship, enabling independent management of smaller functions.

What Experience You’ll Bring:

• Bachelor's degree in business or related field, or equivalent work experience in employee relations, business HR (generalist/consultant) or related HR field.
• Typically, 3 years of previous HR experience, with at least 1-2 years within an HR Center of Excellence, HR Solutions, or within Business HR preferred.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• Performs work with thoroughness and adherence to compliance and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Ability to communicate (written/verbal) in a concise manner, adjusting style to match the audience; exhibits self‑awareness, empathy, and active listening skills.
• Ability to think critically to problem solve, anticipate challenges, and propose innovative solutions.
• Proven ability to deliver superior user-experience with timely, accurate, and empathetic support to employees and leaders, ensuring professionalism and fostering a positive and productive workplace.
• Must be able to remain calm under pressure in situations with conflict & high stress; approachable with a strong customer service focused (strong EQ).
• Experience in assessing and prioritizing work with varied levels of urgency. Adapts to changing case load and projects