SUMMARY: The HR/Payroll Specialist manages the day-to-day administration of payroll processing, benefit bill reconciliation, and employee record maintenance. This role serves as a primary point of contact for employee inquiries regarding pay and benefits, ensuring data integrity, compliance with federal and state laws, and seamless HR operations.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS :- Employee Record Management
- Administer onboarding and offboarding processes, including creating HRIS profiles, new hire processing, issuing access codes, and recording employment changes and terminations.
- Maintain and update employee records in the HRIS, including leave status, benefit enrollments, tax withholdings, direct deposits, and wage deductions.
- Organize and maintain digital and physical personnel files in compliance with federal and state regulations.
- Determine benefit eligibility and proactively notify employees and managers regarding health plan enrollment and leave policies.
- Fulfill authorized information requests from internal/external auditors and verified third parties.
- Conduct periodic audits of HRIS data and maintain the company contact directory.
- Payroll Processing
- Review, audit, and reconcile timesheets, wage computations, tax entries, and labor distributions to ensure total payroll accuracy.
- Process bi-weekly payroll and distribute employee paychecks and earnings statements. Manage and reconcile payroll adjustments, retro-pay, reimbursements, and permanent or temporary deductions.
- Provide timely, accurate answers to employee inquiries regarding payroll, benefits, deductions, and leave balances.
- Benefit Bill Reconciliation
- Reconcile monthly benefit invoices (medical, dental, vision, life, disability) against HRIS deductions to ensure exact financial alignment.
- Audit enrollment changes to verify that new hires, terminations, and qualifying life events match carrier billing.
- Investigate and resolve billing variances directly with insurance carriers, HRBP and/or internal accounting teams to manage adjustments.
- Track and resolve all benefit-related billing discrepancies within monthly deadlines.
- Other Duties
- Inventory Management: Coordinate the ordering, tracking, and distribution of company uniforms, employee name tags, and training cohort supplies to ensure seamless onboarding and brand consistency.
- Quarterly Compliance Reporting: Compile payroll and personnel data to prepare and submit the quarterly Multiple Worksite Report (MWR) in compliance with state and federal department of labor regulations.
- Annual Federal Reporting: Partner with the HR Administrator to gather, validate, and submit the annual EEO-1/EEOC report to ensure full regulatory compliance.
- Assist the HR department with implementing various company-wide initiatives, programs, and procedures.
- Clearly communicate company personnel policies, benefits, and procedures to current employees and job applicants.
- Stay informed on changing state wage-and-hour laws, employment laws, and compliance updates.
- Participate in administrative staff meetings and professional development seminars. Perform other related operational duties as assigned.
COMPETENCIES:- Human Resources Capacity: Solid understanding of core HR and compliance principles.
- Customer/Client Focus: Strong service-oriented approach to handling employee inquiries.
- Ethical Conduct: Uncompromising commitment to maintaining strict confidentiality and data security.
- Personal Effectiveness: Excellent organizational, time-management, and prioritization skills.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY:- This position has no direct supervisory responsibilities but provides guidance, support, and cross-training to peers within the department.
WORK ENVIRONMENT:- This role operates in a professional office environment using standard equipment (computers, phones, copiers).
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:- Largely a sedentary role, but requires the physical ability to stand, bend, stool-step, and lift up to 20 lbs when managing physical files.
SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE & ABILITIES:- HR & Finance Knowledge: Practical knowledge of compensation, benefits administration, payroll processing, and clerical systems.
- Communication: Exceptional active listening, verbal, and written communication skills.
- Critical Thinking: Strong mathematical capability with the ability to apply general rules to solve logic, data, or calculation errors.
- Technical Proficiency:
- Advanced proficiency with a major HRIS/Payroll platform required; hands-on experience with ADP is highly preferred but not required.
- Strong command of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Google Workspace.
- Familiarity with-or willingness to learn-AI applications (e.g., Gemini, NotebookLM) and automated screening/sourcing tools.
EXPECTED HOURS OF WORK:- Some flexibility in hours is allowed, but the employee must be available during office hours from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Must work 40 hours each week.
TRAVEL:- Occasional local, neighbor island and U.S. mainland travel to various store locations may be required.
- Less than 10 days per year.
QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:- Education: Bachelor's degree in Human Resource Management, Business Administration, Accounting, or a related field.
- Experience: 2-4 years of experience in human resources, payroll, or accounting; or an equivalent combined mix of education and experience.