About:

We are seeking an experienced and culturally savvy HR manager for our client that is active in the agriculture sector in Malawi. The HR Manager is responsible for not only the wellbeing of the company and its employees but also the wellbeing and effective engagement of local communities. You will work and support and add value to the senior team to ensure the way we manage our people management supports the sustainable delivery of the company’s objectives. This will be supported by the setting of an HR strategy with operational responsibilities including overseeing the performance management, recruitment, training and development and disciplinary procedures in the company. The HR Manager will ensure the company has robust, well communicated and understood policies in place. The HR Manager will work with and supervise a direct team, reporting into the Managing Director of the company.

Duties and Responsibilities:

HR Operations:
- Develop an HR strategy and structure to ensure the company can meet its long-term sustainable goals through effective people management and within a company culture conducive to this.
- Oversee the day-to-day HR operations, including employee and community relations, payroll, benefits administration, and recruitment.

HR Policies and Procedures:
- Review and update Conditions of Service and Code of Conduct.
- Ensure all HR policies required from a regulatory and strategic perspective are in place and fit for purpose within the business.
- Create and submit for approval new policies, where considered necessary,
- Review and update existing HR policies and procedures to ensure compliance with labour laws and industry standards and build relationships with relevant Government officials.

Organisational Structure and Development:
- Review the organizational structure of the company with to ensure it is aligned to the delivery of the companies strategy with a view to making suggestions on any changes that may improve performance and accountability.
- Review, update and rewrite job descriptions to ensure that they take a uniform approach, are up to date and is relevant for each role and department.
- Support MD and key management team in setting up development initiatives, including performance management, succession planning, and employee training programs.
- Develop and monitor overall HR strategies, systems, tactics and procedures across the organization.
- Assist to develop, implement and manage a performance appraisal system that drives high performance.
- Support the company in fostering a culture of Management the central HR staff and provide support and training for farm-based HR staff.

Recruitment:
- Review recruitment processes to ensure that it is ethical, impartial and complies with the employment opportunity policies of the company.
- Manage the recruitment and selection process.

Salary Band and Scale Review:
- Benchmark of salaries and grades against for similar skill levels in Macadamia, Tea and other industries.
- Recommendations for updates to current salary bands and scales to ensure that they are in line with market.
- Benchmark of industry versus company tasks for different activities.

Employee Engagement:
- Nurture a positive environment where employees can raise genuine concerns and make suggestions where processes can be improved.
- Work with senior management team to assist them in carrying out effective management of their people and teams. This will assist in working on employee relations by improving employee awareness of their rights and also their contractual obligations.
- Support managers to train their teams and employees on how to complete tasks and the impacts of not doing so. The managers will train and instruct the employees but as HR Manager you will support the development of the managers to be able to provide this awareness and training.
- Provide refresher training to employees on their contractual obligations and responsibilities.

Community Relations and Social matters:
- Oversee the company’s community relationships and support the farms in meetings and other community engagements.
- Assist in handing community grievances.
- Act as the point of contact for all external facing administrative matters (this excludes engaging with media, politics, etc)

Grievances:
- Review grievance procedure and effectiveness of implementation and level of awareness.
- Suggest ways to improve grievance handling and train staff and workers on the grievance process.
- Of particular importance will be the need to train employees on the need to follow their reporting lines.

Reporting:
- Report to MD on monthly basis including KPIs and other metrics to provide decision support to the management team.
- Weekly and month meetings to provide progress update to the MD.

Required qualifications and experience:

- A suitable high-level qualification in the field of Human Resources.
- Proven experience in dealing with community matters and an understanding of the leadership structures in rural village environments.
- Demonstrable experience with Human Resources in an agricultural environment.
- Experience in handling complex disciplinary matters that may have gone to court to be resolved.
- A good understanding of Health and Safety matters.
- Experience and ability creating a performance management system to track and communicate performance of supervisors, junior managers and senior managers.
- Ability to understand different roles within the farms and the company at large, and draft job descriptions to confirm supervisor, administration staff and other employees’ roles.

Your profile:

- You have excellent communication abilities and cultural awareness.
- You have the ability to build trust and effectively manage interpersonal relationships at all levels of the company.
- You have a strong understanding of various strategies that can help build employee productivity and well-being.

Are you interested in becoming the HR Manager for our client in Malawi? Apply now at the top or bottom of our page.