Total Rewards Specialist

Total Rewards Specialist

The City of Asheville is seeking qualified applicants for the position of Total Rewards Specialist. The Total Rewards Specialist supports administration and maintenance of the City's compensation, benefits (including retirement plans), and other policies and programs, ensuring that the administration of vendors and other internal partners are in alignment with vendor contracts, City policies and guidelines, as well as in compliance with legal and fiscal regulations / requirements.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities :

The following duties are normal for this position. The omission of specific statements of the duties does not exclude them from the classification if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment for this classification. Other duties may be required and assigned.

• Analyzes and evaluates proposed and edited job descriptions for inclusion in the organization's compensation program.
• Grades jobs for compensation.
• Administers the City's Compensation policy to recommend salaries as consulted by recruiting partners.
• Consults with departmental leaders to authorize and shape new cash compensation programs, such as supplements, premiums or career ladders.
• Collaborates with departmental leadership and total rewards vendors to implement benefits programs.
• Researches new and updated benefits program offerings.
• Participates in the proposal and contracting process for new and renewed vendor relationships.
• Monitors contracts for renewal and other milestones to ensure timely management of contracting processes.
• Ensures program documentation is current and accurate, liaising with vendors and other internal colleagues to coordinate updates as necessary to contracts, policies, and plan documents.
• Designs, analyzes and delivers reports on compensation and benefits data to support ongoing needs.
• Conducts regular audits of total rewards data in Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) to ensure participation is in alignment with eligibility criteria and other design parameters.
• Gathers and delivers compensation data to external partners in support of market reviews, salary surveys and regulatory reporting requirements.
• Configures deductions into the HRIS to support adoption of new benefits or vendors and to support open enrollment.
• Collaborates with internal and external partners to ensure HRIS configuration allows for accurate and compliant benefits and compensation processing.
• Identifies issues that are impacting the effectiveness, efficiency, or accuracy of compensation and benefits processes and administration.
• Collaborates with the Finance team to configure the organization's total rewards systems for accurate payroll and accounting.
• Researches and addresses complex issues arising from total rewards programs and implements solutions as needed and authorized.
• Requests non-routine data and reports from vendor partners to support ongoing or emergent needs.
• Escalates employee requests and issues to vendor partners for resolution.
• Leads routine and recurring project-based assignments, such as the organization's annual benefits enrollment and large scale compensation adjustments.
• Collaborates on large-scale initiatives representing the Total Rewards function.
• Administers the city's Leave programs, including but not limited to sick time, vacation and protected forms of leave such as FMLA.
• Serves as a subject matter expert for the broader HR team to address significant issues and investigations or to administer complex combinations of leave programs.
• Provides functional direction to HR colleagues to ensure the accurate application of provisions related to employee entitlements throughout the employment life cycle.
• Designs and implements benefits handbooks, website and other benefits administration documentation in collaboration with internal and external partners.
• Maintains current and accurate program information on the City's total rewards website.
• Designs and delivers presentations regarding benefits programs to new and existing employees.

Education and Experience Required :

Preferred :

Performance Aptitudes :

For benefits-eligible positions, explore our full benefits at AshevilleBenefits.com.

About us : The City of Asheville is dedicated to providing quality service for the residents and visitors of our beautiful city, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. Asheville, NC is a thriving mountain city that has a culture enriched by its diversity. The City's policy is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment. Applicants will be assured of fair treatment in all aspects of recruitment and selection without regard to a person's age, race, color, national origin, religion, sex, genetic information, or disability, except where certain physical and mental requirements are Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications (BFOQ). The City of Asheville is proud to be a second chance employer. The City of Asheville is an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the City will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and encourages both prospective and current employees to discuss potential accommodations with the employer.