Regional Retail People and Culture Business Partner

Date: November 2021 

Job Title: Regional Retail People and Culture Business Partner

Focus: Our fleet of stores on the West Coast and parts of the Central US and Canada

Location: Remote but within the U.S. geographic location of the stores which you service.  Additionally, you must live within a close proximity [no more than 2 hours drive/train ride] to at least 2 of our stores.

As a Regional Retail People and Culture Business Partner, you will shape the experience and careers of 300+ employees in stores in parts of Central and Western United States and Canada.  As a key Business Partner, this position advises and supports managers on strategic issues and assists Managers with the implementation of high performing people and culture practices.  You will also work to build and sustain trust and collaboration with employees at all levels and across departments to inspire engagement and commitment to a thriving workplace.  Critical practices which this position support are: talent assessment and succession planning, compensation, career guidance and performance management, and elevating and supporting Patagonia’s Justice and Antiracism strategy.  

As a company whose Mission is to Save Our Home Planet, this work will be deeply influential in shaping the employee experience and culture.  

What You’ll Do 

Strategy and Communication

• Understand how the Retail business works and engineer solutions for success in line with business goals. 
• Provide guidance on workforce, and succession planning. 
• Develop an ongoing feedback loop (including the use of employee surveys) for employees and managers. 
• Frequently listen to employees and act on results.  

Employee Relations 

• Using strong coaching and conflict resolution skills to ensure all employee relations issues are managed objectively with confidentiality, equity, and fairness. 
• Meet regularly with employees who request guidance or coaching. 
• Serve as a balanced employee advocate. 

Training, Development and Performance Management

• Ensure clear professional development pipelines (formal and informal) such that all employees understand their path for growth and how to get to the next step.   
• Partner with Enterprise learning and development team to facilitate management, leadership, equity and inclusion, and compliance training.      

• Execute ongoing (e.g. annual, bi-annual) performance plan process that supports individual and group goal setting and individual performance tracking. 
• Ensure systems and communication that holds people accountable for performance. 
• Utilize performance management practices, as necessary, such that expectations and outcomes are clear for employees.  (coaching, counseling, career development, disciplinary actions). 
• Support a culture of ongoing and transparent feedback. 

Compensation 

• Partner with Retail leaders, Recruiters and Compensation Analysts to ensure equitable pay in hiring, annual increases, incentives, and promotions.   
• Provide transparent communication so all employees understand their compensation. 

Culture and Experience Management 

• Drive the experience for all employees and ensure behavior of leaders and colleagues fully aligns with culture. 
• Support and promote a culture in which each person can bring their whole self to work safely and as completely as possible, regardless of their identity.   
• Leverage insights from surveys to prioritize actions to improve the experience 

Justice and Antiracism 

• Ensure that managers are accountable for Patagonia’s justice and antiracism goals and expectations related to people and their teams. 
• Provide cross-cultural coaching and support for leadership and employees. 
• Competently advise managers on topics such as bias and equitable people practices.  

Policies, Procedures and Operations

• Monitor and ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations, and recommended best practices; review and modify policies and practices to maintain compliance. 
• Provides HR policy guidance and interpretation.  
• Support Workday functions for retail employees.

Who you are: 

• Strategic: able to think big picture and drive work accordingly. 
• Leader: a thought leader capable of building trusted relationships, influencing decisions and driving urgency on critical priorities. 
• Influential: able to communicate through complicated matters, build trust easily and get buy in from partners. 

• Strong Communicator: excellent communication and presentation skills. 
• Emotionally intelligent: high level of self-awareness, empathy, and interpersonal skills. 
• Inclusive: deeply experienced in collaborating with others across difference. 
• Passionate: cares deeply about people practices and saving our home planet. 
• Self-reflective: Acknowledge own experience and experiences of others. 

Required Experience:  

• 8+ years human resources experience supporting retail teams.

• Proven ability to collaborate with business leaders to develop strategic and tactical plans for organizational engineering, culture, and people development within retail environments. 

• Working knowledge of US and Canadian employment law, US state and federal rules and regulations and their applications in retail environments. 

• Experience in developing and facilitating the integration of justice and antiracism throughout organizational policies, practices, management, and culture. 
• Strong computer skills with experience in using HRIS systems, Excel, Word, Outlook, and Microsoft Office programs. 
• Demonstrated emotional intelligence, humility, cultural competence, feedback skills, and the ability to sustain trusted relationships with a wide array of people.    
• The highest ethical standards and discretion. 
• Highly skilled communicator, speaker, and facilitator with experiencing training and coaching on management skills, equity, feedback, and conflict resolution (in English). Other language fluency a plus. 
• Flexibility and experience working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment while exercising effective judgment in challenging situations and remaining calm under pressure.   
• Demonstrates initiative, is conscientious and provides complete follow-through on areas of responsibility. 

Preferred Experience:

• Working knowledge of employment law, state and federal rules and regulations and their applications in a variety of states within the regions. 

Employee Conduct 

It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive and equitable work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers, and vendors. 

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Patagonia values a welcoming, respectful, and inclusive workplace.  We provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants, period. Patagonia does not favor or discriminate against any applicant or employee based on any protected activity, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other protected classes by law. At Patagonia, we strive to have inclusive representation of our community within our organization and embrace a diverse mix of talent to contribute to our culture. As we are in business to save our home planet, we can only do this together. 

COVID-19 VACCINATIONS

Patagonia requires all employees who enter a Patagonia owned or operated facility or who physically interact with others as part of their job duties to demonstrate proof of receiving a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of their employment, subject to exemptions for sincerely held religious beliefs, or medical reasons.

Equal Employment Opportunity

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.