A leading Central Coast company seeks extensive expertise in all administrative areas of human resources including payroll, benefits, 401K, onboarding, offboarding, among others. The Employee Administration Manager owns the administrative side of the full people function across a workforce of approximately 325 employees that spans all departments, including administration, production, delivery, maintenance and fulfillment.
It is essential that this individual embrace and fully leverage technology and Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) to drive efficiency and effectiveness of processes, along with completeness and accuracy of information.
Position based in northern Santa Barbara County. Prefer the position to be in-office full time, but are open to a hybrid arrangement.
Reporting directly to the CFO and working closely with the CEO and Employee Relations and Safety Manager, this role is the administrative center of HR for the organization — responsible for compliance, hiring administration, onboarding and offboarding, benefits and leave administration, payroll processing, HRIS optimization, and workforce planning. This role will focus on maintaining a high-functioning employee administration function capable of scaling with the company’s growth ambitions.
Key Responsibilities
Compliance & Employment Law
- Maintain current knowledge of federal and California employment law, including but not limited to AB 5, PAGA, Cal/OSHA, FLSA, FMLA/CFRA, ADA, and agricultural labor regulations (including H-2A)
- Serve as primary liaison with legal counsel for handbook updates, arbitration agreement updates, and policy reviews.
- Ensure process controls and documentation remain audit ready.
- Maintain historical records on defined cadence as advised by legal counsel.
- Monitor and implement regulatory changes affecting the agricultural workforce, including seasonal and field labor. Review, maintain, and update HR policies to ensure alignment with federal, state, and local labor laws, including industry specific regulations.
- Work with the Employee Relations & Safety Manager to ensure required job and safety training is completed timely. Track attendance and retain documentation in employee files.
- Timely submission of required regulatory reporting, e.g. ACA, Pay Data Reporting, etc.
- Lead execution of the annual 401K audit and Workers Comp Premium audit. Engage third parties to perform internal compliance audits e.g. I-9 audit, Wage & Hour, etc.
- Ensure expiration dates of employee work authorizations are tracked and department managers are given 90-day notice if work authorization is set to expire.
- Maintain digital organization of employee documents by following best practices of document retention in the Company’s Microsoft 365 environment.
Payroll & HRIS
- Drive the company’s digital transformation of HR processes and employee record retention within the Paylocity platform. As the Company’s power user of Paylocity and other HRIS systems, ensure full adoption and ongoing refinement of best practices leveraging technology to streamline and tighten process to ensure data integrity.
- Oversee two payroll cycles in Paylocity, with support from the Payroll Assistant. Ensure accurate and timely payroll processing for all hourly and salary employees across the organization, including transplanting field labor with timekeeping originating in Picktrace and DOT compliant drivers with timekeeping originating in Motive.
- Maintain Paylocity New Hire Templates, ensuring all required information is captured in Paylocity upon hiring.
- Ensure information for all employees is kept up to date in Paylocity, including but not limited to deductions, time-off balances, roles, supervisors, information needed for accurate ACA and Pay Data reporting, etc.
- Lead administration of garnishment payments and ensure all garnishments are set up via Paylocity.
- Maintain Organizational Chart. Ensure titles and reporting structure in Paylocity is current and kept up to date when changes are made.
- Develop system utilization roadmap to maximize Paylocity’s capabilities across HRIS, onboarding, performance, and reporting. Work with CFO on cost/benefit of adding modules.
- Update offboarding processes, ensuring terminations are processed efficiently and completely, including return of company property, software license and phone line cancellations, etc.
- Proactively troubleshoot issues with Paylocity and other systems, resolve issues timely and as efficiently as possible and leverage assistance from account managers as needed.
Benefits & Leave Administration
- Lead benefit management, including medical, dental, vision, basic life, 401K, and LTD, including associated administration in Paylocity, Employee Navigator, and Voya. Review associated benefit billing to ensure accuracy. Ability to work directly with brokers and benefit partners to resolve questions and issues.
- Oversee Voya and Employee Navigator integrations with Paylocity and ensure 401K contributions, benefit enrollments and terminations are handled timely. Ensure 401K loans are administered properly and loan payments suspended when employees are on leave and reactivated upon return.
- Oversee all leave of absence requests and document appropriately. Coordinate with Safety Manager regarding employees with outstanding workers’ compensation claims and work restrictions.
- Evaluate and recommend improvements to benefit offerings and PTO/holiday programs to remain competitive in the agricultural labor market.
- Utilize front-office workstation to guide/train employees to be self-sufficient to make desired changes to contact information, benefits, etc. e.g. 401K elections via Voya platform.
Talent Acquisition & Onboarding
- Lead full-cycle recruitment for exempt and non-exempt positions, partnering with hiring managers from intake through offer.
- Design and manage a scalable seasonal hiring process to support the May–October peak season (heaviest July–September), including coordination with management regarding H-2A program.
- Build and maintain onboarding programs that reflect the Company’s culture and ensure Day 1 readiness for all employee types.
Performance Management & Development
- Update and maintain job descriptions for all roles across the organization.
- Lead annual compensation benchmarking to keep pay ranges competitive in the Santa Maria agricultural market.
- Proactively collaborate with department leaders to build and execute performance review processes.
- Maintain and update the organizational chart as the company grows and evolves, ensuring changes are reflected consistently in Paylocity.
Qualifications
Required
- 5+ years of progressive HR experience, including payroll and benefits management, with direct ownership of compliance, benefits, and employee administration.
- Strong knowledge of California employment law, including agricultural labor regulations
- Experience supporting hourly and seasonal workforces in an operations or field-based environment
- Demonstrated ability to design, build and manage streamlined administrative processes, with intensive focus on controls, accuracy and efficiency.
- Proficiency with HRIS/payroll systems (Paylocity experience a plus).
- Comfortable working with large data sets and ability to ensure accuracy and completeness when creating reports.
- Excellent interpersonal and administrative skills that foster a culture of trust and reliability.
Preferred
- Bilingual English/Spanish
- Experience with H-2A visa program administration and compliance
- PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, or SHRM-SCP certification
- Prior HR experience in agriculture, food production, or a closely related industry in California.
- Experience with Paylocity, Employee Navigator, and 401K administration.
Location
- On-site preferred. Hybrid/Remote working arrangements may be considered.
Working Conditions
- Sitting for long periods of time (8 hours per day).
- Occasional lifting (up to 10 lbs.)
- Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
This is a full-time position. The base salary reasonably expect for this role is $100,000 - $120,000 per year. The actual salary for this role will be determined by a variety of factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s skills and experience. Please note that base pay is one aspect of the compensation package. The base pay range indicated here does not include any additional bonuses or benefits for which the position is eligible.
The purpose of this summary is to describe the essential job functions and the level of work performed by individuals assigned to this position. This description is not an exhaustive list of all job duties performed by this position. Management reserves the right to modify, add or remove duties from jobs and assign other duties as necessary. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $100,000.00 - $120,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Application Question(s):
- Do you have 5+ years of progressive HR experience, including payroll and benefits management, with direct ownership of compliance, benefits, and employee administration?
- Do you have a strong knowledge of California employment law, including agricultural labor regulations?
Language:
Work Location: In person
