The Company:
Merit is a fast growing, pioneering financial services firm that invests heavily in the growth and development of team members. Merit seeks to establish, educate, and help individuals reach their financial goals as they transition into and experience retirement. With an unswerving commitment to excellence and reliability, Merit provides objective financial advice and believes in establishing long-lasting relationships. By offering an array of services, clients can receive tailored solutions that promote growth and help them achieve financial goals.
Merit believes in addressing the retirement challenges in America by helping clients reach financial freedom and confidence to the working population and retirees alike. This focus on comprehensive financial wellness enables us to deliver the ultimate client experience.
Headquartered in Alpharetta, GA, with 39 locations across the country, Merit balances tactical advice with innovative strategy. Our 250 hardworking employees are leaders rooted in humility and we are poised to grow. Merit is a multi-generational firm with a foundation built around servant leadership and total team leadership. We have been recognized as a “Best Places to Work” by InvestmentNews and have made the fastest growing companies list in both INC 5000 and Georgia’s Fastest 40. As we expand and work to bring our relationship-driven approach to the financial industry, we are looking for the right individuals to join our team.
The position:
The HR Generalist, HRIS & Operations serves as a key member of the Human Resources team, responsible for managing and optimizing the firm's Human Resources Information System (HRIS) while supporting day-to-day HR operations across the employee lifecycle. This role combines HR technology expertise with broad HR generalist responsibilities, ensuring accurate employee data, efficient HR processes, compliance with employment regulations, and a seamless employee experience.
In a highly regulated financial services environment, this position plays a critical role in supporting the HR team including but not limited to workforce planning, compensation administration, compliance reporting, onboarding, and process improvement initiatives. The ideal candidate is highly analytical, detail-oriented, and capable of balancing strategic HR technology initiatives with hands-on operational support.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
HRIS Administration & Workforce Analytics
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Serve as the primary administrator for the firm's HRIS platform and related HR technologies.
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Manage system configuration, workflows, user security, business rules, and system enhancements.
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Ensure data integrity and hygiene across HR, including but not limited to payroll, benefits, recruiting, and performance management systems.
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Develop and maintain recurring and ad hoc workforce reports, dashboards, and analytics.
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Support organizational planning, headcount reporting, turnover analysis, and human capital metrics.
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Lead HRIS testing, upgrades, implementations, and vendor relationship management.
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Identify opportunities to automate manual HR processes and leverage AI and other tools to improve documentation, communications and other operational efficiencies.
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Evaluate emerging technologies to identify practical opportunities to improve Human Resources processes and procedures, and to build documentation, self-service resources, automations, and knowledge tools that increase the effectiveness of the Human Resources team, managers and the general employee population.
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Support the implementation and administration of AI-enabled HRIS tools and capabilities, ensuring alignment with company policies, data governance standards, compliance requirements, and appropriate human oversight of AI-driven processes.
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Maintain employee data security and confidentiality in accordance with company policies and data privacy requirements.
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Ability to train team members and colleagues in use of HRIS platform.
HR Operations & Employee Lifecycle Management
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Administer employee onboarding, job changes, promotions, transfers, and offboarding activities.
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Support recruiting efforts through applicant tracking system administration and process coordination.
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Ensure employee records are complete, accurate, and maintained in compliance with regulatory requirements.
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Assist leaders and employees with HR policies, procedures, and general employment questions with ability to prioritize inquiries and make assignments to appropriate personnel.
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Support performance management, talent development, and succession planning initiatives.
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Coordinate employee engagement programs and HR communications.
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Provide support to employees and managers throughout the employee lifecycle.
Compensation, Benefits & Payroll Support
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Assist with compensation administration, salary benchmarking, job evaluations, and annual compensation planning cycles.
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Support incentive compensation and bonus administration processes.
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Responsible for payroll which may include partnering with Finance and Payroll Provider to ensure accurate employee data and payroll processing.
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Manage payroll-related inquiries and ensure timely resolution of employee concerns.
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Coordinate benefits administration activities, including enrollments, life events, and annual open enrollment.
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Prepare reports and analyses related to compensation, benefits utilization, and workforce trends.
Compliance & Regulatory Reporting
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Ensure compliance with federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations.
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Prepare and support required filings and reporting, including EEO-1, ACA, Form 5500 data requests, and other workforce compliance reporting.
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Support internal audits, external audits, and regulatory examinations as necessary.
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Maintain HR policies, procedures, and documentation to align with legal and industry requirements.
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Monitor evolving employment regulations and recommend process updates to maintain compliance.
HR Support
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Support merger and acquisition activities.
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Assist with referral tracking for recruitment and incentive program fulfillment
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Support other HR functions, projects and initiatives, as needed and assigned.
- Please note the job responsibilities may vary, grow and change.
Salary + Benefits:
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Competitive, based on experience
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Medical Insurance
- Dental/Vision Insurance
- Life & Personal Accident Insurance
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Short-term Disability Insurance
- Long-term Disability Insurance
- Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Health Savings Account (HSA) or Dependent Care FSA
- 401(k) Plan with company matching
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Paid Time Off (PTO) and paid holidays
Best Places To Work for Financial Advisors 2018-2024: Best Places to Work for Financial Advisors 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 – Recognized firms were required to be a registered investment advisor (RIA) that has been in business at least one year and having a minimum of 15 full-time/part-time employees. The assessment consisted of a questionnaire on benefits and policies completed by human resources staff along with an engagement & satisfaction survey completed by a minimum of 40% of staff. 50 firms were selected for this award from an undisclosed list of submissions. There was no charge to be included in this award listing.
Georgia Fast 40 2019 and 2022: The Georgia Fast 40 for 2019 and 2022 was awarded by the Atlanta Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. To be eligible companies must be for profit and headquartered in Georgia and the most recent year-end revenues ranging from $15 million to $500 million and have three years of verifiable revenue and employment growth.
Inc 5000 2019, 2020 & 2021: The Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index, which consists of more than 5000 companies, represents virtually all of the capitalization of the entire U.S. stock market
Compensation: Merit Financial Advisors offers competitive compensation based on experience, qualifications, location, and market data. Where required by applicable law, salary ranges will be provided during the hiring process.
Requirements:
Required
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Bachelor's degree in human resources, Business Administration, Information Systems, or related field.
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3-5 years of progressive HR experience, including significant HRIS administration responsibilities.
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Strong understanding of the employee lifecycle, HR compliance, compensation administration, and workforce reporting.
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Advanced proficiency in HR systems and reporting tools, including configuring workflows, automations, forms, approvals and other HR technology solutions.
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Strong Excel and data analysis skills.
Preferred
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3+ years of HRIS administration experience with Workday, including Workday implementations and integrations.
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PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, or HRIP certification.
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Experience supporting HR operations in a professional services, wealth management, banking, insurance, broker-dealer, RIA, or financial services environment.
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Experience supporting multi-state workforces.
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Experience with M&A integration activities, HR system conversions, or organizational growth initiatives.
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An ability to build trusted relationships across the organization while contributing ideas that improve our employee experience.
