Director, Human Resources

Description & Requirements

Director, Human Resources

Do you love animals and the people who love them? Are you passionate about joining an organization with a clear and inspired purpose?  Make your love of pets into the career of a lifetime.

You are passionate about creating an environment where our team members can thrive and be their best self? NVA Canada is looking for a self-driven, trusted and outgoing Human Resource Director to understand the business, form strong relationships, distill information quickly, provide sound advice and strong solutions in support of our culture, values and business growth.

Reporting to the Canadian CEO, our successful Director of HR, will lead a team and provide support across a variety of areas, in support of our animal hospitals and Support Centre team. You have both excellent communication and interpersonal skills as well as strategic thinking and organizational skills.  The essence of the role is to understand the business beyond the People/HR function to ensure we have fulfilled employees, superior operations and remain a community where we grow together. You are multi-faceted with a great mix of creativity and critical thinking skills, which enables you to succeed in a highly collaborative and fast-paced work environment.  

Some of What You’ll Do:

• Act as a strategic business partner to divisional and practice leaders by understanding their unique hospital objectives, providing proactive counsel, recommendations and support to meet their needs.
• Oversee and develop a strong HR team, providing ongoing coaching, guidance and support to develop and enable an engaged team.
• Partner with leaders across the community to champion NVA Canada culture and values as an enabler of team engagement and organizational differentiation.
• Build strong relationships with leadership teams, understand Support Centre and hospital expectations and site-specific challenges and provide advice and solutions to meet business needs, while ensuring legal compliance.
• Oversee and provide day-to-day human resource guidance and advice related to employee relations, performance management, terminations, employee development and employment laws.
• In partnership with the US HR & Development teams, oversee the Canadian participation and execution of performance, goal setting and engagement processes and programs.
• In partnership with the US HR Technology team and Canadian colleagues, participate as a co-Sponsor for NVA Canada in the Global Ceridian Dayforce implementation, facilitating the transition of all hospitals to our new technology through 2024.
• Identifying staffing and recruiting needs; develop and execute best practices for hiring and attracting talent, including establishing the appropriate search approach.
• Oversee the administration and evolution of NVA Canada’s total reward programs, including, but not limited to, health benefits, Group RRSP, wellness etc.
• Partner with the US Development team to bring relevant technical and non-technical and leadership programs to the Canadian hospital community, based on business needs.
• Oversee the development of fit for purpose onboarding and offboarding processes and tools.
• In collaboration with Operations and hospital leadership, lead the development and implementation of site-specific employee policies and procedures to ensure compliance with labor laws, provincial and federal regulations, and sound business practices.
• Oversee and/or facilitate (or lead the activities of) all investigations into discrimination, harassment, wage/hour, or other labor law complaints, ensuring proper documentation, interviewing procedures, and follow up activities are taken.
• Other duties as appropriate.

What makes someone a good fit?

• You’ve built strong relationships & teams, have gotten to know them, understand how to create an environment where they thrive & do their best work, including direct responsibility for employee relations, policy and procedure development and administration, and workers compensation.
• Your track record of experience in consumer-facing, high-growth, progressive environments with multiple sites. As the vast majority of NVA Canada’s employees work outside its Support Centre location, it will be important to have a demonstrated track record of success supporting a dispersed workforce of 2,500 people in a multi-site (i.e. 200 units) organization.
• Bachelor’s degree in HR, business or related field
• HR certification (i.e., CHRP, CHRL) is an asset.
• Strong working knowledge of provincial and federal employment law.
• Energetic and focused personality with a demonstrated ability to take initiative, successfully handle and prioritize multiple competing assignments and effectively manage deadlines.
• Professional, articulate and able to use good independent judgment and discretion.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills required. Ability to successfully interact at all levels of the organization, including with clients, while functioning as a team player required.
• Must demonstrate excellent writing skills and ability to articulate policies and procedures in a clear, concise manner.

Critical Competencies for Success in the Role:

• Think “how” instead of, “no.”  Always look for creative solutions that achieve NVA Canada’s goals and mitigates risk.
• A servant culture leadership approach
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain strong relationships across diverse populations and stakeholders
• Ability to travel (in the future up to 20%)
• Ability to work independently, a self-starter with a “roll up your sleeves” approach to work
• Dig, dig and then dig some more: find the root cause of the issue and help the leader resolve it.  This may involve some radical candor, transparency and difficult conversations – all for the betterment of the business and our employees.
• Collaborate and leverage all of the capabilities we have on our team to create new learning opportunities, creative initiatives and sustainable programs that empower leaders and employees to make the most of their careers.
• Always focus on the heart of our success – our people.  Help leaders create policies that are realistic yet compassionate and encourage desirable outcomes.
• Embrace new ideas and always assume positive intent – we are here to support each other to be the very best we can be.
• Be purpose driven – fully embrace our sites’ missions and seek to truly understand what drives their employees to come to work every day. 
• The power to influence – it will be important to think systematically and holistically, considering historical perspectives, relationships capabilities and culture to help formulate your best guidance.
• Agility: ability to work in a dynamic environment and remain effective through ambiguity and change
• Strategy and Problem Solving: ability to grasp the “big picture” and translate it to practical solutions; ability to identify root causes and solve problems holistically
• Credibility and Trust: detail oriented; ability to manage confidential, sensitive information with discretion
• Business Acumen: demonstrate ability to learn organizations and systems quickly; solid understanding of business issues and challenges

Who we are:

National Veterinary Associates (“NVA”) is the largest private owner of freestanding veterinary hospitals, pet resorts and specialty pet hospitals in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Each general practice hospital, specialty hospital and pet resort operates under their own brand. With recent rapid growth locally, NVA Canada is looking for dynamic people with the ability and knowledge to manage the operation today and tomorrow, while also looking to scale support for a much larger and complex growing organization.

A cornerstone of the NVA culture is a servant leadership approach to our business, our hospitals, our pet resorts and our teams. We find people who exemplify the same servant leadership approach are best suited for NVA. We are a support centre and community that cares for the care giver and dedicated to the love of animals and the people who love them.