Director of Employee Relations

About Covenant House New York

Join a Legacy of Hope and Empowerment at Covenant House New York!

For over 50 years, Covenant House New York (CHNY) has been at the forefront of transforming lives by providing comprehensive shelter, housing, and wrap-around support services for vulnerable homeless, runaway, and exploited youth. As the largest provider of these essential services in New York City, CHNY impacts the lives of over 1,500 young people aged 16-24 every year.

At CHNY, our doors are open to all young people in need, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression. Our dedicated team offers various services, including shelter, housing, education, employment, health, mental health support, youth development, and anti-human trafficking initiatives. We operate with harm reduction and trauma-informed principles to ensure the best care for our youth.

But our mission goes beyond immediate support. We are passionate advocates for systemic change, influencing public policy, and raising awareness of the critical issues surrounding youth homelessness. Our ultimate goal is to provide a safe refuge and empower young people to build a brighter future founded on compassion, unconditional love, and absolute respect.

Join us in making a difference in the lives of countless young people. Join a team that inspires long-term transformation and hope.

About the role

The Director of Employee Relations leads the day-to-day employee relations function and promotes a fair, respectful, consistent, and accountable workplace across Covenant House New York. Reporting to the Senior Vice President of People & Culture, the Director serves as a trusted advisor to leaders and managers on complex employee relations matters, workplace investigations, performance management, policy interpretation, and conflict resolution.

The Director works closely with organizational leadership and the People & Culture team to identify and address workplace concerns early, strengthen management practices, mitigate organizational risk, and ensure that employee relations matters are handled consistently, thoroughly, and in accordance with organizational policies and applicable employment and labor laws. The Director also partners closely with the Compliance Team on workplace investigations and internal and external audits requiring People & Culture participation.

The Director exercises sound judgment in managing employee relations matters and ensures that significant, sensitive, high-risk, or precedent-setting matters are appropriately escalated to the Senior Vice President of People & Culture.

What you'll do

Employee Relations

• Serve as the primary day-to-day People & Culture resource for employee relations matters across the organization.
• Provide guidance to managers and leaders regarding employee concerns, workplace conflict, performance issues, attendance concerns, and policy application.
• Assess employee relations concerns and recommend appropriate courses of action based on organizational policy, past practice, applicable law, and the circumstances of each matter.
• Coach managers on effective employee communication, documentation, conflict resolution, performance management, and difficult workplace conversations.
• Prepare employee relations reports and analyze trends to support organizational decision-making.

Workplace Investigations

• Conduct prompt, thorough, objective, and well-documented workplace investigations involving allegations of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, policy violations, workplace conflict, and other employee concerns.
• Develop investigation plans, conduct interviews, review relevant records and evidence, assess credibility, and prepare written investigation findings and reports.
• Partner with the Compliance Team on workplace investigations involving compliance-related concerns or matters requiring coordination between People & Culture and Compliance.
• Maintain confidential investigation records and partner with the Senior Vice President of People & Culture and legal counsel, as appropriate, on complex, sensitive, high-risk, or precedent-setting matters.

Performance Management and Workplace Support

• Lead the organization's annual Performance Review process, including timelines, communications, support, and completion tracking.
• Advise managers on performance improvement, coaching, documentation, and appropriate responses to performance or workplace concerns.
• Review performance-related documentation and help…