HR Generalist

Joint Commission; Oakbrook Terrace (IL); Hybrid; USD 76,000 - 98,000; Full time

Job summary

Joint Commission is seeking an HR Generalist to join the HR Business Partner team in Oak Brook Terrace, IL. The role provides comprehensive HR support to employees and managers across assigned business areas, focusing on employee relations, performance management, and lifecycle events.

The position requires strong HR fundamentals, ownership, and business acumen, with hybrid work requiring at least two days per week in the Oakbrook Terrace corporate office.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, business, or related field or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of progressive HR experience with generalist responsibilities.
• Experience guiding managers and employees on employee relations and policy interpretation.

Responsibilities

• Provide HR guidance to managers and employees on policies, performance, and lifecycle matters.
• Coach managers on performance expectations, feedback, documentation, and corrective action.
• Manage onboarding, promotions, transfers, and separations with HR partners.
• Support talent reviews, succession planning, and development discussions.
• Monitor turnover, vacancies, and engagement trends; discuss insights with leadership.
• Use Workday to manage employee data, transactions, and HR workflows; promote self-service.
• Assist in implementing organizational changes and enterprise HR programs.

Skills

HR Generalist

Employee relations

Performance management

Workday

HR policy interpretation

Coaching managers

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in HR/Business

Tools

Workday

HRIS

Job description

The HR Generalist serves as a key member of the HR Business Partner team, providing comprehensive human resources support to employees and managers within assigned business areas. The HR Generalist manages a broad range of employee lifecycle activities, provides guidance on employee relations and performance matters, supports talent and organizational initiatives, and partners with the Director, Strategic HR Business Partner to deliver responsive and effective HR solutions.

The role requires strong HR fundamentals, sound judgment, ownership, and the ability to develop a meaningful understanding of the business areas supported. The HR Generalist independently manages matters within established scope, identifies workforce trends and emerging concerns, and engages the Director, Strategic HR Business Partner when issues require greater complexity, risk assessment, or strategic business consideration.

The position also provides an opportunity to build the business acumen, consultation, employee relations, talent management, and workforce analysis capabilities necessary for continued career progression within the HR Business Partner function. This is a hybrid position requiring a minimum of two day per week in our Oakbrook Terrace corporate office.

Key Responsibilities

HR Consultation & Manager Support

Serve as a primary HR resource for managers and employees within assigned business areas. Provide guidance regarding HR policies, practices, performance management, workplace expectations, employee concerns, and employee lifecycle matters. Develop a working knowledge of the assigned business, including its organizational structure, leadership, workforce priorities, and talent needs.

Employee Relations & Performance Management

Manage routine and moderately complex employee relations matters, including performance concerns, attendance, workplace conduct, interpersonal conflict, and policy interpretation. Coach managers on performance expectations, feedback, documentation, corrective action, and difficult employee conversations. Conduct or support fact-finding and workplace investigations within the scope of the role and appropriately escalated complex, high-risk, or sensitive matters.

Employee Lifecycle Management

Provide HR support throughout the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, promotions, transfers, internal movement, organizational changes, leaves and return-to-work activities, and separations. Coordinate with HR Centers of Excellence and other partners to ensure employees and managers receive timely and consistent support.

Talent Management & Development

Support talent reviews, succession planning, employee development, performance management, engagement initiatives, and other talent processes within assigned business areas. Work with managers to ensure appropriate follow-through on talent actions and development priorities. Participate in talent discussions to build understanding of workforce capability and organizational needs.

Workforce Information & Analysis

Monitor workforce information such as turnover, vacancies, employee relations activity, performance trends, engagement results, and other relevant indicators. Identify recurring themes or emerging concerns and discuss observations with the Director, Strategic HR Business Partner. Develop the ability to move beyond reporting information to recognizing what workforce data may indicate about the organization.

Workday & HR Process Effectiveness

Utilize Workday and other HR systems to manage and monitor employee information, transactions, workflows, and HR activities. Support managers in effectively using HR systems and self-service capabilities. Promote accurate and timely completion of HR processes and identify opportunities to improve efficiency, consistency, and the employee and manager experience.

Organizational & Change Support

Support implementation of organizational changes, workforce initiatives, new HR programs, policies, and processes. Assist managers and employees in understanding changes and help identify implementation concerns requiring additional HR support.

Compliance & Risk Management

Apply HR policies and practices consistently and maintain appropriate documentation and confidentiality. Recognize potential employment, employee relations, or organizational risk and engage the Director, Strategic HR Business Partner and appropriate HR or Legal resources when necessary.

HR Projects & Enterprise Initiatives

Participate in HR projects, cross-functional initiatives, and enterprise programs. Partner with HR Centers of Excellence and other HR colleagues to implement programs within assigned business areas and provide feedback regarding business needs and opportunities for improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in human resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Four or more years of progressively responsible human resources experience, preferably with broad generalist responsibilities.
• Demonstrated experience providing guidance to managers and employees on employee relations, performance management, policy interpretation, and employee lifecycle matters.
• Experience working with HR information systems required; Workday experience preferred.
• SHRM-CP, PHR, or comparable professional HR certification preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Capabilities

• Strong working knowledge of HR practices and employment-related principles.
• Sound judgment and ability to determine when matters should be independently resolved or escalated.
• Effective manager coaching, consultation, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong interpersonal and communication capabilities with the ability to build trusted relationships across organizational levels.
• Analytical skills and comfort working with workforce information and identifying trends.
• Strong organization, ownership, follow-through, and ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Discretion and sound judgment when handling confidential or sensitive information.
• Curiosity about how the business operates and how HR contributes to organizational effectiveness.

Career Development

The HR Generalist role builds broad HR expertise and provides exposure to increasingly complex business and workforce matters. Development toward an HR Business Partner role may include demonstrated ability to independently advise managers, manage increasingly complex employee relations matters, interpret workforce trends, contribute to talent and organizational discussions, understand business operations and priorities, and recommend HR solutions based on identified business needs.

Progression to HR Business Partner is based on demonstrated capability, business acumen, scope and complexity of experience, and organizational need rather than tenure in the HR Generalist position alone.

Joint Commission offers a comprehensive benefits package. For an overview of our benefits package, please visit our Joint Commission Career Page.

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by an employee assigned to this position. The description is not an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, knowledge, skills and abilities, and working conditions associated with this position. All requirements are subject to possible modification due to business needs and/or reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

MIN

$76,000.00

MAX

$97,500.00

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status protected by law.