HR & Payroll Specialist

The HR & Payroll Specialist is responsible for managing all aspects of the agency’s payroll process with accuracy, timeliness, and confidentiality. This position ensures compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and internal policies related to payroll, wage, and hour standards. This role involves coordinating payroll activities, maintaining employee records, and providing ongoing support to the HR team. This role will maintain payroll systems, and ensure timely processing of payroll, taxes, and other employee benefits.

This position would be a Hybrid role, Monday through Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm.

Essential Job Functions

• Manages Payroll Systems: Administer payroll databases such as Paychex, Paychex Benefits, and Dropbox Sign to ensure accurate employee information, including wages, tax codes, time worked, PTO balances, and other compensation-related details.
• Employee Data Maintenance: Maintain detailed payroll records (e.g., wages, tax withholdings, time-off balances, overtime hours, deductions, etc.) for employees, ensuring all updates and changes are accurately reflected.
• Payroll Processing: Coordinate and execute the bi-weekly payroll cycle, and other payroll runs that may be needed (Longevity Bonuses), ensuring timely payments and compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
• Policy and Compliance Support: Ensure payroll practices adhere to company policies, labor laws, and government regulations. Stay updated on changes to payroll legislation and apply them appropriately.
• Employee Support: Serve as the point of contact for employees regarding payroll-related questions, including timecards, deductions, PTO balances, benefits deductions, etc.
• Onboarding for Payroll: Assist in the onboarding process by collecting payroll-related paperwork from new hires, such as W-4 forms, direct deposit information, and benefits enrollment.
• Terminations: Process all the needed forms and paperwork for employee terminations
• Audit and Reconcile Payroll Records: Regularly audit payroll records to identify and resolve discrepancies. Reconcile payroll data with financial systems to ensure accuracy.

· Assist with audits, budgeting, and financial reporting related to payroll and employee compensation.

• Documentation and Reporting: Maintain accurate and up-to-date employee records in both physical and electronic formats, ensuring compliance with internal documentation standards and external regulations.
• Ensure Timely Submission: Collect and review employee timecards, ensuring timely submission for payroll processing. Support annual tasks like open enrollment, signoffs, and training to ensure payroll accuracy.

· Coordinate and process garnishments, benefits, and other deductions as necessary.

· Coordinate and process all change forms

· Assist with employee leaves, and understand employee leave process and the impact to payroll

· Communicate clearly with supervisor on tasks, projects, questions, concerns

· Other duties as assigned

Secondary Job Functions

· Participate in Agency Meetings: Attend and contribute to agency meetings, providing payroll-related data when necessary and engage in discussions related to process improvement.

· Team Collaboration: Work with teams to address payroll-related challenges and continuously improve the payroll process, ensuring confidentiality and integrity in all discussions.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies to perform the essential functions of this position.

· Payroll Processing Expertise: Strong understanding of payroll systems and procedures, including time tracking, deductions, overtime laws, and payroll taxes.

· Confidentiality: Ability to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of payroll information, files, and records.

· Compliance Knowledge: Solid understanding of employment and labor laws related to payroll, tax regulations, and wage & hour laws.

· Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively address payroll concerns and convey complex payroll data in simple terms.

· Detail-Oriented: Ability to meticulously manage and review payroll data to ensure accuracy.

· Organizational Skills: Strong organizational skills, with the ability to prioritize multiple tasks and meet strict deadlines.

· Technical Competency: Proficiency in payroll software (e.g., Paychex) and Microsoft Office applications, especially Excel for reporting and reconciliation.

· Mathematical ability—the individual identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner and gathers and analyzes information.

· Interpersonal Skills—the individual maintains confidentiality, remains open to others’ ideas and exhibits willingness to try new things.

· Excellent verbal and written communication—the individual speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations, demonstrates group presentation skills and conducts meetings. Edits work for spelling and grammar, presents numerical data effectively and is able to read and interpret written information.

· Planning/organizing—the individual prioritizes and plans work activities, uses time efficiently and develops realistic action plans.

· Quality control—the individual demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness and monitors own work to ensure quality and perform it in an ethical manner.

· Computer/Technical competency—the individual has moderate to advanced computer skills which includes MS Office software applications (Word, Excel etc.) and familiarity with HRIS databases and social media.

· Dependability—the individual is consistently at work and on time, follows instructions, responds to management direction and solicits feedback to improve performance.

· Safety and security—the individual actively promotes and personally observes safety and security procedures and uses equipment and materials properly.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

· Language Skills: Read, write and interpret documents such as curriculum guides, budgets, manuals, etc.

· Mathematical Skills: Must add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions and decimals; must apply ratio, percent, and probability and estimation concepts. Possess an understanding of, and the ability to interpret for others, statistical information.

· Cognitive Ability: Apply common sense understanding to conflict management; employ logical sequencing, troubleshooting, problem solving and decision-making skills to correctly assess situations both socially and professionally.

· Physical: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, to stand, to walk, to go up and down stairs, to operate foot and hand controls, to use a telephone, computer keyboard and to write. Occasionally the employee must lift and/or move up to twenty (20) or more pounds. This position requires accurate perceiving of sound, near and far vision, depth perception, handling and working with educational materials and objects, and providing oral information

Qualifications

Minimum of an associate degree in accounting, finance, human resources or closely related field with at least 2 years applicable experience specifically in Payroll and Human Resources. This position requires a background check, a valid Driver’s license and personal transportation for occasional travel to other locations.

This job description is intended to provide a description of essential job functions that are used in order to assess employee performance. It is not an all inclusive statement of job responsibilities.

Pay: $19.00 - $24.00 per hour

Expected hours: 40.0 per week

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person