People & Culture Manager at Ikigai

Who We Are Looking For

The Ikigai People & Culture Manager is the glue and lifeblood of our team’s culture and people operations. Since your earliest memories, you take the greatest joy in understanding people and supporting them to thrive in their personal & professional lives. You naturally embody and emulate Ikigai’s core values and culture, and you’re deeply enthusiastic about creating an organization that pulses with positivity and productivity. You easily operate at a senior management level, able to seamlessly move between creating detailed plans and leading strategic thought partnership around complex people & culture-related matters. You have years of proven experience building organizations from the inside, and shaping human-centered cultures. You care deeply about individuals, as much as you care deeply about working with a passionate team whose mission is supporting the creation of a happier and healthier global workforce.

The People & Culture Manager reports to the COO, and works closely with the CEO and other People & Culture specialists. This role is a mix of growing and developing the Ikigai team through recruitment and learning & development initiatives, being responsible for everything People Operations administration-related, providing thought partnership & the passion to effectively implement initiatives to intentionally shape a human-centered culture, and working closely with the management team to create a work environment where our team thrives. You'd be a fit for our People & Culture team if you are:

• A passionate team player who emulates Ikigai’s core values and strives to achieve our mission.
• A people-person through and through, who thrives in supporting others to thrive professionally and personally.
• An excellent listener with the ability to build rapport with anyone and create strong relationships where people turn to you as a trusted confidant.
• Organized, detail-oriented planner and doer who knows how to build and lead a team that understands and effectively contributes through doing the same.

Please note that if you previously applied for the Senior People Operations Associate role, you do not need to submit another application; qualified candidates will be considered for the People & Culture Manager opportunity.

Role & Responsibilities

Culture & Team Wellness

• Emulate and integrate Ikigai’s culture and values into everything you do
• Provide creative and passionate thought partnership to the co-founders to shape a truly human-centred culture; integrate Ikigai’s culture into all the ways we build and nurture our team, community, and ways of doing business
• Lead the design, development and implementation of team wellness initiatives along the 8 Dimensions of Wellness
• Lead the design, development and implementation of culture initiatives across the organization including creating a shared language around Ikigai’s culture, articulating how we uphold our culture across training topics, and designing a thoughtful employee experience that embodies our culture from recruitment to performance management
• Lead employee recognition and rewards initiatives including:
  • Implement employee recognition programs to acknowledge and reward employee contributions and achievements
  • Develop incentive programs, employee awards, and appreciation events to foster a culture of recognition and appreciation
  • Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of recognition programs and make adjustments as needed
• Lead compensation, rewards and benefits initiatives including:
  • Administer employee compensation and benefits programs, including salary administration, bonuses, incentives, and employee benefits packages
  • Conduct salary surveys and market analysis to ensure competitive compensation practices
  • Manage benefits enrollment, changes, and terminations, and serve as a liaison with benefit providers
  • Implement employee recognition programs to acknowledge and reward employee contributions and achievements
  • Develop incentive programs, employee awards, and appreciation events to foster a culture of recognition and appreciation.
• Continuously assess and refine cultural initiatives based on feedback, data, and best practices to ensure ongoing improvement and relevance
• Be a trusted confidant to all Ikigai team members when they come to you with questions, concerns, and personal & professional matters (such as interpersonal conflict in the workplace, family matters, etc.)
• Understand how to appropriately answer, handle, redirect and/or escalate issues; be able to train and coach other team members on the same, as appropriate based on their level and role
• Lead diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace culture, including recruitment, retention, and promotion strategies
• Serve as a brand ambassador internally and externally, promoting the organization's culture and values to employees, customers, and stakeholders

Recruitment

• Lead recruitment across the organization including developing and continuously improving the processes, training, and systems to support hiring people who are an outstanding culture and technical fit
• Identify and leverage effective marketing channels to attract the right candidates; tailor external communications based on the role and level
• Ensure the recruitment process runs smoothly from end-to-end and that every candidate has an excellent experience that is reflective of the Ikigai brand, culture and values
• Take full responsibility for running the recruitment process for every role, including being directly involved in the process as appropriate & relevant based on level, role and team capacity; make effective, evidence-based recommendations on candidates
• Develop and continuously improve assessment processes, criteria and materials to support consistent and fair evaluation of candidates; develop and implement trainings for other team members participating in recruitment to ensure alignment on the process and evaluation of candidates regardless of level and role

Training & Development

• Lead training and development initiatives across the company including conducting learning needs assessments, defining training needs, identifying resources, creating customized materials, coordinating roll out of training based on team’s capacity and urgency of need, tracking and reporting progress, and continuously improving and aligning with the company and team’s evolving needs and opportunities
• Ensure smooth administration of onboarding tasks such as policy briefing, laptop procurement, email set up, buddy matching, etc. using onboarding checklist for all departments
• Develop training materials including PowerPoint decks and Word documents to support the training & development of team members across the organization; continuously improve learning materials used across the organization based on feedback from trainers, learners and managers
• Leverage technology (e.g. LMS, learning platform) and integrate with Ikigai systems to create a simple, seamless process for planning and implementing all trainings for all team members

Performance Management

• Continuously improve the performance review process and tools based on best practices, Ikigai’s internal policies, and evolving thinking & research in the People & Culture space, while balancing the team’s capacity and the value of simplicity & efficiency
• Lead performance review process across the organization including designing performance review templates based on team/individual KPIs and role-specific responsibilities; oversee peer review survey implementation and effective incorporation of results into review process

People Operations Administration & Systems

• Lead documentation and implementation of People and Culture-related policies, and ensure adherence and alignment across the organization
• Ensure HR compliance across the organization including:
  • Making sure every position has an updated job description, each staff has a valid contract and staff records are fully updated with mandatory legal documentation at all times across the organization
  • Ensuring compliance with all statutory and legal requirements when administering the payroll
• Work closely with the Finance team to drive effective management and administration and of the payroll process ensuring accuracy, efficiency and privacy in the data provided and used to run monthly payroll
• Work closely with senior management to lead the implementation of new HRMIS to integrate People Operations-related functions and systems including (but not limited to):
  • Overseeing effective leave planning and management
  • Conducting staff surveys and other modes of feedback collection such as eNPS and peer reviews
  • Coordinating feedback collection and performance reviews through HRMIS
  • Integrating onboarding and training & development planning, implementation, and tracking with HRMIS and other relevant platforms
• Ensure thorough preparation for all People & Culture-related meetings including setting the agenda, appropriately sharing updates ahead of time / during meetings on progress of current work and projects, conducting data analysis, and preparing insights, ideas & recommendations

Disciplinary and Legal Compliance

• Stay up-to-date on local employment laws and regulations to ensure compliance in all People & Culture practices.
• Lead and work closely with senior management on disciplinary matters including advising on best practice and legal compliance, ensuring proper documentation, working closely with managers to design & implement PIPs
• Coordinate the resolution of employee grievances in accordance with the company’s grievance handling policies and procedures to minimize distractions in the workplace and enhance productivity
• Represent and coordinate all litigation matters in close collaboration with co-founders arising from employees; maintain updated records for every such matter; update management on progress of cases; put in place measures to reduce or eliminate litigations

Strategy

• Lead annual strategic planning and budgeting for People & Culture (P&C) initiatives in close collaboration with the COO including setting P&C team KPIs & strategic projects, developing P&C budget, leading P&C-related strategic planning sessions such as workforce planning, etc.
• Present and manage P&C budget to demonstrate quantifiable impact of spending to align with company’s strategic priorities and objectives; tracks, reports and refines P&C-related spending to continuously improve efficiency of resource allocation
• Lead design and implementation of company-wide remuneration strategy to ensure Ikigai is attracting, fairly rewarding, and retaining top talent to catalyze the organization’s growth and expansion strategy and plans
• Conducti research and presenting synthesized findings & recommendations on all People & Culture related matters, as requested; provide evidence-supported guidance and advice on HR-related matters including staying abreast of changes in HR policies and labor regulations in Kenya
• Be a thought leader in the People & Culture space including participating in external events (e.g. serving as a panelist at a Talent-related event) and representing and upholding Ikigai’s culture and brand externally

Essential Skills and Competencies

• Passion for and understanding of Ikigai’s mission and values
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, especially when handling sensitive matters
• Highly detail-oriented with strong organizational & planning skills
• Outstanding problem-solving skills including being solution-driven in your approach to overcoming challenges
• Exceptional interpersonal skills and able to naturally create rapport that builds trust with anyone
• Excellent proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) or willingness to quickly learn on the job; able to create polished PowerPoint presentations at senior management level
• Demonstrates integrity, dependability, responsibility, accountability, self-awareness, work ethic, empathy, and professionalism
• Demonstrates strategic thinking, conflict resolution, and leadership skills

At Ikigai, we are just as interested in how someone fits with our culture, as their ability to get the job done. For anyone joining the People team, we are also interested in whether:

• You show up to work as your true and authentic self. Whether that is having a talent for Lingala dancing, baking, reading, or sleeping in & watching Netflix.
• You enjoy teamwork and collaboration. When you are stuck you ask for help and are a candid communicator.
• You take pride in being detail-oriented and are highly organized. You have excellent work planning & time management skills, and can effectively prioritize both urgent & important tasks when everything is happening at once.
• You hold yourself to the highest standards of personal and professional integrity. You maintain confidentiality when appropriate and you know when & how to professionally pull in support when faced with a challenging people-related situation.

Education and Experience

• 10+ years of experience in HR and people operations in Kenya
• 5+ years internal, full-time experience (not as a part-time consultant) building an organization(s) with a strong people-focused culture where team wellness is a priority
• Bachelor’s Degree in Human Resource Management or related field from a recognized university
• Current membership of Institute of Human Resource Management (Kenya) or equivalent professional membership in HR
• Current HR Practitioner of Kenya certified by the Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM)
• Demonstrated thought leadership in the People, Culture and Talent space in Kenya and/or related regional or global context(s)