Senior Specialist, Leaves & Wellness

at  Great Canadian

POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Manager, Benefits, Wellness and Retirement, the Senior Specialist, Leaves and Wellness, supports and works collaboratively with the Manager and in partnership with regional site Human Resources leads in the development, alignment, implementation, maintenance, monitoring, and continuous improvement of the Company’s leave management practices, workplace accommodations, and wellness programs. This includes the administration and day-to-day management of non-occupational claims across Canada.
The Senior Specialist, Leaves and Wellness will provide necessary direction and guidance to internal operations leads, managers, supervisors, and Human Resources; as well as work strategically with external third-party short-term and long-term disability vendors to reduce total non-occupational related leaves and costs associated with absenteeism and disability case management. This role will also support safe return to work and accommodation planning. This position will adhere and ensure compliance with internal collective bargaining agreements and applicable provincial Employment Standards. Generate company-wide absenteeism statistics, absence management processes, oversight of effective systems and resources, and development of education and wellness promotion programs.
The Senior Specialist, Leaves and Wellness will ensure adherence to the Company’s policies and procedures, motivate others, leads by example and supports Great Canadian’s learning environment while establishing a safe and welcoming work environment for all team members.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Develops, implements, and monitors leaves, absence case management and safe return to work accommodations programs and policies for non-occupational claims under the direction of the Manager, Benefits, Wellness and Retirement with a high degree of confidentiality on company cases. Builds effective partnerships with regional human resources leads and their client groups including developing a strong understanding of site demographics and working conditions.
• Assess eligibility and management of claims for both unionized and non-unionized team members. Partner with internal stakeholders to determine wellness impacts for the duration of the team members leave.
• Develops and maintains an integrated wellness strategy for the company, with the goal of reducing Team Member absenteeism.
• Act as a subject matter expert, provide advice to internal stakeholders regarding both policy and practices to ensure adherence of same.
• Applies due diligence when providing recommendations for return-to-work planning by ensuring safe, suitable, and productive work and environment is identified and offered to team members returning from leave.
• Implement solutions for continuous improvement to remain current with changing regulatory requirements, collective bargaining agreements as well as industry practices.
• Maintain accurate records and full cycle tracking of leaves and provide timely analytical reporting and metrics to identify trends and direction to reduce costs, frequency, and severity of claims.
• Build a strong rapport and strategic relationship with third-party service provider and participate in meetings, project implementations and training as required.
• Support the review and negotiation of contracts, scope of work and service level guarantees for third-party service providers.
• Ensures compliance with licensing laws, health and safety and other statutory regulations.
• Manages other initiatives as required by the Total Rewards & HR Shared Services department.

EDUCATION AND QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

• Post-secondary education in Business, Human Resources, or a related discipline
• Prior experience supporting in house case adjudication required
• Prior experience in a union setting is required
• Minimum of five (5) years of direct related experience in Human Resources, specifically case management, leaves, and accommodations, return to work initiatives and wellness promotion for medium to large sized unionized organizations.
• Well versed and highly knowledgeable in leave management practices, case management regulations and procedures, Human Rights Legislations, Freedom of Information and Privacy Legislation, and application of collective agreements.
• Possesses knowledge and understanding of STD and LTD management principles and best practices.
• Demonstrated experience assessing and managing multiple non-occupational claims and working on concurrent projects.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills including verbal, written and presentation skills.
• Proven problem solving, decision making, consulting skills and ability to facilitate the resolution of issues.
• Ability to adapt to changing and setting work priorities, work under pressure and meet deadlines in a fast-paced, diverse, complex environment.
• Models a commitment to service and being a strategic business partner within a complex organization.
• Ability to use related equipment; including HR information system, Microsoft Suite, and related tools.

Please refer the Job description for details