Employee Relations Partner

Location: Salem Hospital, 720 Winter Street SE, Salem, Oregon 97301
Department: Human Resources/Employee Relations
Position Type: Full Time, 40 hours/week, Exempt, On-Site
Schedule: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday - Friday, early/late flexing to round with multiple shifts

Your role with us

Join a highly engaged and mission-driven Employee Relations team that thrives on collaboration, adaptability, and human connection. As an Employee Relations Partner (ERP), you will serve as a strategic resource to frontline leaders across assigned service lines, helping to foster a respectful and professional workplace culture.

Embedded in the departments you support, you will build strong relationships with supervisors, managers, and staff. Your work will include coaching leaders through employee relations concerns, conducting investigations, facilitating conflict resolution, and supporting organizational readiness for labor relations activity. You will lead a variety of training sessions, delivering human resources content to leaders and the frontline, while contributing to lean problem solving and organizational process improvement work.

Salem Health's ERP Team is expanding from five to eight members, and each partner manages their own service lines independently while remaining closely connected to the broader ERP, Human Resources Business Partner, and HR teams. This role requires emotional intelligence, empathy, and the ability to pivot quickly in a dynamic environment.

This is your opportunity to join a respected, innovative human resources department at a mission-driven organization that truly values your experience and expertise. If you’re ready to deliver Care with Respect to Salem Health's team of employees, we’d love to meet you.

What makes you stand out

• Experience with labor relations, grievance resolution, and coaching managers on labor-related issues.
• Strong working understanding of federal, state, and local employment laws, with the ability to independently remain up to date with the ever-changing employment law landscape.
• Passion for people and connection; a natural desire and ability to connect with others through excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• High emotional intelligence; an ability to meet people where they are, adjusting to various communication and work styles in the moment.
• Demonstrated experience with conflict resolution and an ability to deliver difficult messages clearly and with compassion.
• Experience in and comfort with public speaking, to lead and deliver training sessions in a manner that engages and educates.
• Ability to adapt quickly to changing priorities and manage independent workflows.
• Willingness to work across multiple worksites and occasionally outside standard hours.

What you'll do

• Monitor employee experience across assigned departments, proactively identifying labor relations trends, dissatisfaction, and facilitating appropriate interventions.
• Serve as a strategic partner to frontline leaders, providing expert guidance on employee relations matters including coaching, corrective action, conflict resolution, and policy interpretation.
• Deliver training sessions on professionalism, harassment, discrimination, and conflict management to ensure compliance with employment laws and foster leadership development.
• Lead and support investigations into employee complaints or misconduct, ensuring thorough documentation, and resolution aligned with organizational policies.
• Assist leaders with navigating complex personnel actions such as redeployments, reductions in force, and performance management.
• Participate in department meetings and staff rounding with your assigned customer groups to maintain visibility and build trust with employees and leaders.
• Provide timely and accurate responses to legal inquiries and external information requests.
• Ensure compliance with Federal, State, and Local employment laws, rules, and regulations.
• Maintain high-quality documentation and case records for employee relations matters.
• Build strong relationships across departments and HR functions to promote a collaborative and consistent approach to employee relations.
• Support change management efforts and help departments adapt to evolving organizational needs.
• Represent HR in leadership meetings and serve as a resource for interpreting and applying HR policies and procedures.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree highly preferred.
• With a bachelor's degree, two years of experience providing employee relations support/consultation to frontline leaders and exempt/non-exempt employees required.
• In lieu of a bachelor's degree, six years of experience providing employee relations support/consultation to frontline leaders and exempt/non-exempt employees required.

Additional information

• Experience in a hospital/health care setting preferred.

Total rewards package

Salem Health's comprehensive benefits package prioritizes your mental and physical health, financial stability, family obligations, and professional growth.

Why Salem Health?

Salem Health is a Top Workplace in Oregon, known for fostering a supportive culture where your contributions truly matter. As an award-winning, independent health care system, we serve our region through Salem Hospital, multiple community clinics and West Valley Hospital, ensuring broad access to high-quality care.

We believe in empowering our teams. Through Lean principles, staff help drive innovation and solve real problems. We also invest in your growth with professional development, tuition assistance, and clear career pathways. At Salem Health, you’ll find more than a job, you’ll find purpose, connection, and room to thrive.