Chief People & Culture Officer

Building on deep history, scale, momentum, and community credibility, the YMCA of Greater Boston is seeking to take the next leap in how we support, develop, and recognize our people. The greatest asset in our multi-dimensional services to people of all ages throughout the region. We are looking for a Chief People & Culture Officer (CPCO) who will be a visible member of the executive leadership team. The CPCO will be a key strategist and communicator in shaping innovative People & Culture strategies, structure, and systems that impact the experiences and development of team members ranging from teens in their first job to employees developing a career path at the Y.

The CPCO will lead a centralized human resources team of twelve striving to ensure YGB is a world class organization where people are invited to contribute, collaborate, communicate, and are proximate and responsive. To do this, the CPCO and the team must work cross functionally with talented and passionate colleagues across our centers, programs, as well as the entire dynamic Y family in the region and colleagues at Ys across the nation.

This is an outstanding opportunity for a seasoned, strategic, and relationship-oriented continuous learner and leader with deep experience in talent management, employee engagement and culture development.

The CPCO will be responsible for ensuring that YGB's efforts to maximize the talents and contributions of an engaged staff result in effective recruiting, onboarding, supportive development and performance, and career pathways. The CPCO will help lead the effort to foster an inclusive, dynamic culture built on learning, coaching, and continuous improvement. They will develop a strategy to foster and sustain conditions for a flourishing work environment, engaging employees at all levels of the organization in a culture that prioritizes staff in support of the overall business plan and strategic direction of the organization. We seek to build a holistic approach-from hiring to staff development and retention-that allows each staff member to contribute uniquely and fully to our mission.

They will lead at the intersection of organizational strategy, staff development, systems implementation, internal communication, and coaching. They will build coherence across an organization with great depth and breadth of location and areas of expertise and service delivery as we strive for an integrated approach across people, processes, and work. They will help drive empowerment, shared ownership and accountability through continuous internal education, communication, and systems enhancement. By collaborating to develop forward-leaning and responsive policies and practices across YGB's areas of operation, the CPCO will ensure YGB is delivering high quality, customer-centric human resource services that ensure a rewarding employee experience.

They will oversee all human resources areas, including talent recruitment, compensation benchmarking and analysis, benefits administration, employee engagement and relations, compliance, and workforce planning, coaching, and development. They will assess organizational strengths and challenges and leverage insights that amplify productivity and efficiency, ensure equity, and support organizational learning and development.

Reporting to the CEO and as a member of the Executive Team, the CPCO partners with the Executive and Leadership Teams to ensure the approach to People and Culture are executed through progressive policies and practice and fully aligned with the overall organizational strategy and values.

The CPCO must possess high emotional intelligence, a desire to listen, a willingness to innovate, and the skill to develop and communicate aligned, equitable policies and approach. This is an outstanding opportunity for a skilled, forward-leaning leader who seeks to make YGB’s approach to People and Culture a differentiator and competitive advantage.

The ideal CPCO candidate will bring a compelling blend of as many of the following achievements:

• Delivering strategic staff and culture plans for a large multi-site (500+ staff)

• Building and reinforcing a strong, cohesive and inclusive culture across a multi-site multi-program environment

• Supporting organizational transformation in ways that encourage staff growth, development and retention.

• Using data - both quantitative and qualitative - to shape, and measure the success of, People and Culture efforts.

KEY FOCUS AREAS

PEOPLE STRATEGY

• Continue to increase the Y's influence, brand, reputation, visibility, and reach through innovative human resource and culture systems and practices.

• Translate organizational strategy and needs into policies and programs in all talent-related areas, including recruitment, onboarding, talent development and management, succession planning, employee relations, compensation and benefits, compliance and workplace culture.

• Design and implement employee engagement strategies and initiatives to strengthen unified culture, promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, and reward values alignment and performance.

• Identify and respond to talent gaps, in partnership with managers, to build bench strength for future organizational growth and development.

• Leverage workforce analytics and various business metrics to support business decisions and to track progress against performance expectations.

• Utilize a data-driven approach to identify trends and recommend proactive solutions to ensure solid talent management decision-making that incorporates an equity lens and supports a culture for employees to thrive.

• Provide leadership for strategic human resource planning, allocation, and structure, organizational goal setting, including key performance indicators

CULTURE OF INCLUSION & BELONGING

• In partnership with leadership and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, consisting of the Employee Resource Groups, provide vision, leadership, coordination, and strategic oversight ensuring that diversity, equity, and inclusion are primary in organizational decision making, practices, and culture, fostering belonging.

• Lead internal work on diversity, equity and inclusion and implement systems and ongoing training designed to encourage necessary conversations.

• Apply a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens to job design, recruiting, staffing and transition processes to ensure YGB has the competitive advantage of reaching talent in all places and garnering the broadest perspectives possible.

• Nurture a collaborative, unified, positive, equitable, and inclusive culture; model teamwork, effective decision-making, and candor in interactions; ensure a positive and empowering performance culture that also supports staff in their careers and lives.

• Create systems and processes across the network to share best practices, provide counsel, and support the ongoing development of strong talent leaders to better understand performance, opportunities, and challenges.

ORGANIZATIONAL & DEPARTMENTAL LEADERSHIP

• Oversee the organization's total compensation policies and practices, including external benchmarking and calibration.

• Attract, motivate, develop, and retain a diverse, passionate, responsive, and effective HR team that seeks to empower and improve the work of their colleagues.

• Develop and manage annual budgets for the department.

• Oversee full life cycle of employee engagement, including hiring and onboarding, performance assessment, succession planning and offboarding.

• Design and lead the performance review process to drive a culture of feedback and continuous learning; ensuring equitable and meaningful performance review cycles are in place to provide feedback on performance and development.

• Design and oversee an approach to professional learning, including leadership and management practices that align with the organization's goals and priorities.

• Oversee employee survey practices, analyze results for effective integration into the organizational process, and partner with organizational leaders to implement changes as needed.

• Ensure compliance with relevant employment laws and regulations.

GROWTH & CHANGE

• Through a systems view of organizations, manage challenges as opportunities for learning and growth and retain diverse, passionate, and effective team.

• Continue to grow and cultivate excellence in leadership and management, organizational performance, and collaboration through development and oversight system of training, coaching and support across people leaders.

• Oversee performance management as well as investments in staff skill and career development; ensure highly effective capabilities for performance feedback and a culture of continuous learning and growth.

• Inspire staff, volunteers, and community partners to attract and retain talent to strengthen YGB's mission fulfillment, sustainability, and growth.

COMMUNICATIONS & ENGAGEMENT

• Partner with Marketing, Communications, and the leadership team to develop and support an effective internal communications strategy and mechanisms to ensure that employees remain informed, aligned and engaged with developmental opportunities, policies, key organizational changes, and opportunities to recognize and support colleagues.

• Ensure transparency, consistency, and effective communication of people-related policies and practices.

• Ensure effective employee relations, including communication between management and employees and issue resolution.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

The salary range for this position is $225K - $240K, including comprehensive and competitive benefits. This position is exempt and full-time.

The YMCA of Greater Boston seeks diversity among our employees to obtain a broad range of life experiences and perspectives about all aspects of our work. These diverse perspectives provide vital insight and help us make the best possible decisions for the YMCA, its employees, and its members. A valuable result of equal employment opportunity is a diverse workforce, which brings the best talent from all areas to help us serve and strengthen communities.