Human Resources Specialist - ARE Activity

BACKGROUND

The Lebanon Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE) activity, funded by USAID and implemented by Chemonics International, supports Lebanese rural and peri-urban communities to obtain technical and financial resources in order to facilitate increased productivity, sales, and exports, improved business income, while also ensuring livelihood sustainability. To support this purpose, ARE will increase jobs; improve incomes; improve female participation and employment opportunities; increase domestic and export sales; increase private sector investment; improve access to finance; link value chain actors to domestic and international markets; and improve production through improved practices, technology, increased volume, and/or decreased cost. ARE supports two key expected results:

1. Increased domestic and export sales at both firm and farm levels.
2. Livelihoods improved, especially in rural areas and for women.

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The Human Resources (HR) Specialist is a support position on the Lebanon ARE project. The main responsibilities of this position include assisting the Senior Administration and Human Resources Manager with personnel hiring, onboarding, personnel filing, and paperwork. As a member of the Operations team, the HR Specialist will report to the Senior Administration and HR Manager or HR Specialist who shall be responsible for coordinating his/her assignments and supervising his/her work.

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES

• Responsible for maintaining personnel, consultants, interns and HR recruitment files (hard and electronic copies), and trackers each employee’s files contain requisite information in accordance with Chemonics policies and in line with USAID requirement, and that all files are scanned and appropriately saved on the project’s SharePoint site.
• Ensure employees file checklists are up to date and signed.
• Update employees’ records, organizational chart, HRMIS and employees’ folders with new hire information and/or changes in employment status, legal papers, performance review, and track allowance payments.
• Maintain tracker of pool of consultants and talent inventory list.
• Assist in the review and preparation of payments to project’s consultants, monitor contracts expiry, and LOE expenditure 
•  Assist in the hiring and onboarding of ARE staff members, consultants, and interns including posting job advertisements, reviewing received resumes, shortlisting applications, and scheduling interviews . Collect supporting documents including biodata verification, reference, and other background documents, prepare offer letters, and employment agreements.
• Responsible for the collection, review, and archiving of employee’s timesheets ensuring that the required supporting documentation is attached and verified.
• Track employees leave balances and communicate them to staff and management as required
• Review requests for staff reimbursements, allowances, and prepare payroll packages for processing by the finance team
• Administer health and life insurance programs and act as a liaison between project staff and  health insurance provider
• Review and explain project benefits to staff members
• Support in coordination between employees and supervisors to prevent and resolve employee relations issues in coordination with Chemonics’ Global HR Department and Office of Business Conduct
• Support in updating the project policy manual, employment agreement templates, and other employee management templates
• Assist project in the compliance reviews with local labor laws by keeping updated on local labor laws and HR best practices
• Responsible for coordinating and ensuring all staff receive their equipment, access cards, email, ID cards, and similar tools and resources
• Lead on the expat’s residential paperwork and legal requirements
• Update emergency contact information tracker and drill tree
• Assists in the provision of rapid, efficient and effective coordination on any emergency employee situation as may arise such as Medevac Services, emergency evacuations out of Beirut, and injuries to employees during working hours
• Support in the office admin and logistics tasks when and if needed
• Performs other tasks as assigned by the Senior Administration & HR Manager, or Finance, Operations and Grants Director

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in business administration, HR, accounting, or similar;
• Minimum four years of professional experience in operations and/or business administration including HR or similar; experience working on USAID or other donor-funded project preferred
• Excellent organizational and communications skills
• Demonstrated ability to work in a professional manner with fellow staff members, visitors, partner organizations including international and local NGO’s, government authorities, and the general public
• High computer literacy, with experience in e-mail, word processing, and spreadsheet management
• Experience working with international organizations or donor-funded projects preferred
• Proficiency in English required, Arabic fluency required

LOCATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The HR Specialist will be based in the project’s main office in Beirut, Lebanon, and travel throughout the country as required.

REPORTING

The HR Specialist will report directly to the Senior Administration and HR Manager, or his/her equivalent or their deputy.