HR Administrator and Payroll Specialist

Department

AHD Staff: Div Admin HR Human Resources

About the Department

The Division of the Arts and Humanities comprises 19-degree programs across 16 departments and committees, with approximately 650 students from around the world enrolled in our PhD, MFA, and MA programs. The students and academics in our departments dedicate themselves to the thoughtful consideration of humanities' place in the world. This dedication is displayed through our interdisciplinary centers and programs. The Division of the Arts and Humanities thrives thanks to its engaging and dynamic staff members, who provide essential infrastructure to support faculty and students while driving institutional success. The Office of HR and People Operations for the Division manages employment related matters for staff, temporary employees, and students.

Job Summary

The HR Administrator and Payroll Specialist is responsible for managing student hiring and payroll activities for the Division of Arts and Humanities. This includes executing all hiring and off-boarding processes, ensuring accurate payroll and timekeeping, and providing specialized support for compensation and labor relations efforts. The HR Administrator coordinates with department administrators, faculty, and other internal teams to ensure student hiring needs are fulfilled and that compliance with divisional hiring practices, University policies, and federal/state laws are followed. The HR Administrator maintains data, prepares reports, and provides training on best practices related to student hiring and payroll/timekeeping processes. Additionally, they collaborate with the divisional HR team to triage questions and requests.

Hybrid schedule available. Interested applicants, please upload all required materials (resume and cover letter) to be considered.

Responsibilities

• Manages complete student hiring processes from hire request through full employee lifecycle. Communicates directly with student employees and executes all related hiring, onboarding including in-person I9 verification, and job updates tasks in Workday.
• Maintains student employment request form, associated tracking database, and all related internal tools.
• Applies substantive understanding of all operational factors impacting student employment such as Workday processes, existing norms, and areas for improvement, to optimize compliance, efficiency, and service to departments.
• Drafts templates and routine hiring documents. Maintains appropriate HR data and records.
• Conducts quarterly student hiring audits. Analyzes data and runs adhoc reports with minimal guidance.
• Gains a deep understanding of student employee/labor relations efforts.
• Partners with Dean of Students, Academic Affairs, and UChicagoGrad on a wide array of student employment situations. Helps ensure compliance with the graduate student collective bargaining agreement.
• Serves as student payroll specialist, identifying and resolving all student compensation and payroll discrepancies, costing allocation updates, one-time payments, period activity pay, etc.
• Collaborates with Finance and Grant Services team and Budget/Data Analyst regarding student funding and accounts.
• Serves as student Workday timekeeping specialist, assisting with coding hours, troubleshooting issues, processing backpay requests, and auditing student submissions and supervisor approvals as requested.
• Develops tutorials and provides training to division community on payroll and timekeeping processes and best practices.
• Develops relationships with colleagues, attends trainings, participates in central initiatives, etc. to stay informed of division, University, state, and federal payroll and timekeeping laws, policies, and procedures.
• Prepares best practice documents and establishes standard operating procedures relating to student employment; assists in developing division-wide student employment resources and guides.
• Manages Arts and Humanities HR support email inbox and handles all payroll and timekeeping requests. Appropriately triages emails to members of the HR team. Resolves routine and complex inquiries. Uses strong judgement to elevates issues as needed.
• Pursues professional development opportunities. Implements what is learned to enhance role.
• Solves a range of straightforward problems using standard procedures.
• Provides professional support to a unit's employee/labor relations efforts, including handling grievances, disciplinary warnings, and employee complaints.
• Assists in the development and administration of the HR budget for the department, monitors for variances, and manages employment expenses within established guidelines.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications