Human Resources Manager
New1. Compliance, Governance and Employee Relations Risk
• Ensure HR practices comply with applicable Korean employment requirements, including the Labour Standards Act, Minimum Wage Act, Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act, Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, Fixed-Term and Part-Time Employees Act, Temporary Agency Workers Act, and other relevant employment regulations.
• Support the maintenance, review, and implementation of Korea’s Rules of Employment / 취업규칙, including updates and filing requirements where applicable for workplaces with 10 or more employees.
• Advise managers on proper handling of performance issues, disciplinary matters, grievance cases, workplace bullying/harassment concerns, employee complaints, and termination-related matters.
• Ensure employee relations matters are managed with proper documentation, fair process, and timely escalation to Regional HR and/or external labour counsel where required.
• Coordinate with external labour attorneys or advisors on sensitive employment matters, Ministry of Employment and Labour matters, mediation, employee complaints, and statutory compliance questions.
• Support compliance with Korean requirements on working hours, overtime, rest days, annual leave, maternity/paternity/childcare leave, sick leave practices, public holidays, and other statutory employment terms.
• Ensure proper handling and documentation of employment contracts, contract amendments, title changes, salary changes, promotion letters, disciplinary records, warning letters, and termination/resignation documentation.
• Maintain awareness of union/employee representation risks and support management in understanding escalation protocols where employee complaints or collective concerns arise.
2. Workforce Planning, Talent Acquisition and Onboarding
• Partner with the MD, GM, functional leads, and Regional HR to forecast workforce requirements based on business growth, operational volume, customer requirements, and station structure.
• Support manpower planning for new business ramp-ups, including AWS-related hiring needs, site operations roles, warehouse/inventory roles, quality assurance, training, customer service, and HR support roles.
• Lead or coordinate end-to-end recruitment activities, including job requisitions, job postings, agency coordination, candidate screening, interview scheduling, interview support, offer preparation, and onboarding.
• Manage relationships with local recruitment agencies and ensure recruitment agreements are reviewed and aligned with company requirements before engagement.
• Support hiring managers with structured interview questions, candidate evaluation criteria, behavioural assessment options, and selection documentation.
• Ensure hiring practices are fair, non-discriminatory, merit-based, and aligned with Korean employment standards and Crane’s internal hiring principles.
• Coordinate new hire onboarding, including pre-employment documentation, laptop/system access, UKG onboarding, induction schedule, policy briefing, OJT coordination, and probation review timelines.
• Work with managers to ensure new hires receive adequate training runway before taking on full responsibilities independently.
3. HR Operations, Payroll Coordination and Documentation
• Manage and maintain accurate employee records, including employment contracts, personal data, salary letters, promotion/title change records, probation documentation, performance records, leave records, OT records, and exit documents.
• Ensure HR files are complete, properly stored, access-controlled, and managed in line with personal data protection requirements.
• Coordinate with Finance / Payroll on monthly HR payroll inputs, including new hires, exits, salary changes, allowances, overtime, unpaid leave, deductions, and final pay.
• Maintain payroll input controls, supporting documents, and approval records to reduce payroll errors and improve governance.
• Track probation periods and remind managers to complete probation reviews before the end of probation.
• Prepare and issue relevant employment letters, including confirmation letters, probation extension letters, salary adjustment letters, promotion letters, transfer letters, and resignation acceptance letters where applicable.
• Maintain leave records, OT records, time-off records, and support future implementation of e-leave or HR process digitalisation where practical.
• Support exit processes, including resignation documentation, exit clearance, return of company property, final pay coordination, leave balance review, access removal, and exit interview coordination.
4. Performance Management, Development and Succession Planning
• Support the implementation of Crane’s performance management process locally, including goal setting, performance reviews, probation reviews, regular manager feedback, and documentation of performance concerns.
• Coach managers on performance conversations, behavioural feedback, employee counselling, difficult conversations, and documentation standards.
• Support managers in adopting regular one-to-one feedback conversations to avoid performance surprises at year-end.
• Partner with the MD, GM, functional leads, and Regional HR on succession planning for critical roles.
• Support development planning for potential successors and high-potential employees, including training plans, exposure opportunities, coaching needs, and readiness assessments.
• Support local career progression frameworks where appropriate, ensuring progression is based on business need, role scope, capability, performance, leadership behaviour, and readiness, rather than tenure alone.
• Coordinate training and development initiatives, including finance awareness training for CS teams, leadership training, manager capability building, interview training, and HR process education.
5. Total Rewards, Benefits and Market Competitiveness
• Support annual salary review, promotion review, and increment planning in line with local practice, business needs, market conditions, internal equity, and regional guidance.
• Conduct or support market benchmarking for key roles where needed, including customer service, operations, warehouse, quality assurance, HR, and finance roles.
• Advise managers on compensation positioning, promotion increment guidance, internal equity, and market competitiveness.
• Support benefit administration and employee communication, including insurance, leave benefits, statutory benefits, and company benefit programmes.
• Coordinate with Finance, Regional HR, and benefit providers to ensure accurate and timely employee benefit administration.
• Support employee communication on rewards and benefits matters in a clear and locally appropriate manner.
6. Business Partnering and Change Management
• Act as the local HR point of contact for the MD, GM, functional leads, employees, Regional HR, and Corporate HR.
• Translate business priorities into practical people plans, including hiring, structure review, succession planning, training, employee engagement, and retention actions.
• Localise regional/global HR practices for Korea while ensuring alignment with company standards and local employment requirements.
• Support organisational changes, structure reviews, new business ramp-ups, title changes, promotion processes, and communication planning.
• Provide HR support for manager capability building, particularly in performance management, employee communication, coaching, and sensitive employee matters.
• Support employee engagement activities and communication initiatives that are practical for a small but growing station.
• Act as a bridge between local employees and regional/corporate HR, ensuring that local concerns are understood and regional HR initiatives are implemented effectively.
The physical demands described here are representative of those that an employee must meet to perform the essential functions of this job successfully. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
• Ability to communicate effectively in person, by phone, and in virtual meetings.
• Frequent use of computer, keyboard, mouse, phone, and other office equipment.
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a workstation, with occasional standing and walking for meetings, employee engagement, and office/station activities.
• Ability to review documents, employee records, reports, and computer screens for extended periods.
• Occasional travel may be required for meetings, training, recruitment, or employee engagement activities.
OTHER SKILLS/ABILITIES
1. Regulatory and Technical HR Expertise
• Strong working knowledge of Korean employment law and HR practices, including labour standards, working hours, overtime, leave, employee records, termination process, workplace complaints, and employee relations.
• Practical experience managing HR operations in Korea, preferably in a multinational, logistics, freight forwarding, warehouse, or operational environment.
• Hands-on experience with recruitment, onboarding, probation management, payroll inputs, leave / OT tracking, employee files, and HR documentation.
• Experience working with external labour attorneys, recruitment agencies, benefit providers, and payroll/finance teams.
• Familiarity with HRIS platforms such as UKG Pro, One View, or similar systems.
• Strong MS Office skills, particularly Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
2. Communication and Interpersonal Skills
• Professional fluency in Korean and strong business English, both written and spoken.
• Ability to communicate HR matters clearly and appropriately to employees, managers, and regional stakeholders.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to advise senior leaders while maintaining confidentiality and HR governance.
• Ability to handle sensitive employee matters calmly, professionally, and with sound judgment.
• Strong coaching skills, especially in helping managers handle difficult conversations and performance matters.
• Ability to balance local business needs with regional/corporate HR standards.
3. Project Management and Analytical Skills
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple HR priorities and follow through on action items.
• Ability to prepare HR reports, headcount updates, recruitment trackers, salary review summaries, and employee-related documentation.
• Data-driven mindset, with the ability to identify trends in headcount, turnover, overtime, leave, recruitment, and employee concerns.
• Ability to support process improvement initiatives such as e-leave implementation, HR documentation standardisation, interview toolkit rollout, and probation review tracking.
• Practical, hands-on, and comfortable working in a lean station environment.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, Labour Relations, or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of progressive HR experience in South Korea, preferably in a multinational, logistics, freight forwarding, warehouse, aviation, transportation, or operational environment.
• Solid knowledge of Korean employment practices and experience handling HR operations, recruitment, employee relations, performance management, onboarding, payroll coordination, and HR documentation.
• Experience supporting managers on employee relations, performance documentation, disciplinary matters, and sensitive employee conversations.
• Experience managing or supporting recruitment for operational, warehouse, customer service, finance, or supervisory roles.
• Strong Korean language capability and business-level English communication.
• Experience with HRIS, payroll coordination, and HR reporting.
• • Experience working in a matrix structure with local business reporting and regional HR functional reporting is preferred.
CERTIFICATIONS AND LICENSES
• Certified Labour Consultant / Korean labour-related certification, if applicable.
• HR professional certifications such as SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, HRCI, CIPD, or equivalent.
• Experience working with Korean labour attorneys or external HR/labour advisory firms.
• Prior experience in logistics, freight forwarding, warehouse operations, or APAC regional HR projects.
Disclaimer:
The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this position. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed.