Assistant Manager - HR

Position Overview

The Assistant Manager – HR will be based at the rice manufacturing plant and act as a hands-on partner to Plant Head

– HR, with ownership of Talent Acquisition and Succession Planning for the plant's blue-collar and white-collar

workforce, alongside the full plant HR charter — Learning & Development, Environment, Health & Safety (EHS), Legal

& Statutory Compliance, Performance Management, Payroll & HR Operations, Employee Relations, and People

Belonging/Culture. The incumbent will build people processes that support plant operations, ensure a compliant and

safe workplace, and develop organizational capability across shifts and employee categories.

Talent Acquisition, Manpower Hiring & Succession Planning

Recruitment Strategy & Workforce Planning

• Own end-to-end talent acquisition for the plant, acting as the primary driver of hiring strategy, execution, and
  
  

quality of hire across blue-collar and white-collar categories.

• Define role requirements, job descriptions, and competency/skill profiles in collaboration with hiring managers
  
  

and department heads.

• Build and continuously refine the recruitment strategy — build vs. buy, lateral vs. campus, contract vs.
  
  

permanent — based on role criticality and market availability.

• Own manpower planning and budgeting in partnership with department/plant heads — headcount forecasting,
  
  

sanctioned strength vs. actual, and seasonal/peak-season hiring for plant operations.

• Forecast hiring needs against attrition trends, business growth, and seasonal/plant workforce requirements.
• Drive role-based/skill-based hiring — define competency and skill benchmarks for each role and assess
  
  

candidates against specific job requirements rather than pedigree alone.

Sourcing, Selection & Offer Management

• Build and manage multi-channel sourcing: job portals, LinkedIn and social/professional networks, recruitment
  
  

consultants/RPO partners, campus placements, employee referral programs, and walk-ins for plant/blue-collar

hiring.

• Drive sourcing and closure for blue-collar hiring through local networks, ITIs, contractors/manpower vendors,
  
  

and walk-ins, and for white-collar roles through portals, referrals, and consultants.

• Develop and maintain a talent pipeline and pool for critical, niche, and recurring roles to reduce time-to-fill.
• Negotiate and manage relationships with recruitment agencies and consultants, including empanelment, fee
  
  

structures, and SLA/performance tracking.

• Drive campus engagement and internship-to-hire programs where applicable.
• Screen, shortlist, and coordinate interview panels; conduct HR/behavioural interviews and support
  
  

technical/functional evaluation with hiring managers.

• Manage assessment tools, reference checks, and background verification processes.
• Own salary benchmarking, compensation structuring, and offer negotiation to ensure competitive, equitable
  
  

offers.

• Ensure a strong candidate experience through timely communication, structured interview processes, and
  
  

professional offer/rejection handling.

Succession Planning

• Design succession planning frameworks for critical/leadership roles at the plant; identify and develop high-
  
  

potential talent through talent reviews and 9-box assessments.

• Lead succession planning for critical blue- and white-collar plant roles — identify successors for key
  
  

operator/supervisory positions and build readiness through job rotation and cross-training.

• Maintain a live manpower and succession tracker for the plant, and report hiring/succession status to Plant Head
  
  

– HR and Head – HR.

Employer Branding, Onboarding & Recruitment Governance

• Strengthen employer branding through careers page content, social media presence, and participation in job
  
  

fairs/industry forums.

• Design and drive structured onboarding, induction, and buddy programs to ensure smooth new-hire integration
  
  

and early engagement.

• Own the joining formalities process — documentation, background checks, pre-boarding communication, and
  
  

first-90-days experience.

• Track and report recruitment metrics: time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, source effectiveness, offer-to-joining ratio, panel
  
  

effectiveness, and early attrition of new joiners.

• Manage recruitment budget, vendor invoices, and consultant payouts within approved limits.
• Maintain the applicant tracking system in HRIS and ensure a compliant, auditable recruitment process.
• Present periodic hiring dashboards and pipeline status to Head – HR; flag risks on critical/aging openings.
  
  

HR Business Partnering (Plant)

• Act as the primary HR point of contact and strategic partner to plant leadership, translating business priorities
  
  

into people plans and organizational interventions.

• Partner with department heads on organization design, role structuring, and workforce planning aligned to plant
  
  

capacity and production plans.

• Provide data-backed HR insights — headcount, attrition, cost-to-company, productivity linkages — to support
  
  

plant-level business decisions.

• Drive change management for new initiatives, restructuring, shift/process changes, and automation rollouts,
  
  

ensuring smooth people transitions.

• Build HR capability at the plant by coaching supervisors and managers on people practices, employee handling,
  
  

and HR policy application.

Learning & Development

• Conduct training needs identification across departments and shifts, in coordination with functional/plant heads.
• Design and drive the annual training calendar — functional/technical, behavioural, leadership, and
  
  

statutory/mandatory training (safety, GMP, POSH, quality, etc.).

• Own the induction and onboarding training plan for every new hire; track completion of plant-specific and role-
  
  

based training.

• Maintain training records and ensure closure of mandatory/statutory training compliance for all employee
  
  

categories.

• Own the plant training calendar end-to-end and share regular compliance and completion status with Plant Head
  
  

– HR.

Environment, Health & Safety (EHS)

• Partner with the Safety/EHS team to drive a zero-harm culture across the plant — safe work practices, PPE
  
  

compliance, and hazard reporting.

• Support incident/accident investigation, root cause analysis, and corrective/preventive action (CAPA) from an HR
  
  

and people standpoint.

• Coordinate statutory safety training, mock drills, and health check-ups (occupational health, periodic medical
  
  

examinations) for employees and contract workforce.

• Track EHS compliance status, near-miss reporting, and safety KPIs; support audits (ISO 45001, factory safety
  
  

inspections, and customer/certification audits).

• Drive employee welfare initiatives — canteen, rest rooms, drinking water, sanitation, and other statutory welfare
  
  

provisions under the Factories Act.

Legal & Statutory Compliance

• Ensure full plant-level compliance with applicable labour laws — Factories Act, PF, ESI, Bonus, Gratuity, POSH,
  
  

Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, Minimum Wages Act, and other central/state statutes.

• Maintain statutory registers, licenses, filings, returns, and renewals; liaise with the labour department, factory
  
  

inspectors, and other government authorities.

• Own POSH compliance — Internal Committee (IC) constitution, awareness training, and case handling.
• Manage contract labour/vendor compliance, including licensing, documentation, and periodic audits of
  
  

contractor workforce records.

• Handle disciplinary processes, domestic enquiries, show-cause notices, and separations in line with legal
  
  

requirements; coordinate with legal counsel on disputes and regulatory updates.

Performance Management

• Drive the end-to-end performance management cycle — goal-setting, mid-year reviews, annual appraisals, and
  
  

calibration, across staff and workmen categories.

• Partner with department heads to ensure timely, quality performance conversations and fair, consistent ratings.
• Support the linkage of performance outcomes to increments, promotions, and rewards; track completion rates
  
  

and flag gaps.

• Facilitate performance improvement plans (PIPs) for underperformers and coach managers on effective
  
  

feedback and documentation.

Payroll & HR Operations

• Own accurate and timely payroll inputs — attendance, leave, overtime, shift allowances, and statutory
  
  

deductions — in coordination with the payroll/finance team.

• Ensure timely disbursement of salary, PF, ESI, bonus, gratuity, and full & final settlements for all employee
  
  

categories.

• Maintain HRIS data — employee master data, attendance records, and leave balances.
• Manage the joining-to-exit employee lifecycle documentation, including offer letters, confirmation, transfers,
  
  

and separation formalities in HRIS.

Employee Relations

• Act as the first point of contact for employee grievances across staff, workmen, and contract workforce; ensure
  
  

fair and timely resolution.

• Build and maintain a positive relationship with workmen representatives/unions (where applicable), and support
  
  

harmonious industrial relations.

• Conduct regular floor visits, shift meetings, and one-on-ones to stay connected with ground-level sentiment and
  
  

pre-empt issues.

• Support disciplinary and conflict-resolution processes with fairness, consistency, and adherence to natural justice
  
  

principles.

People Belonging, Culture & Engagement

• Drive initiatives that build a sense of belonging and inclusion across the workforce, including workmen and
  
  

contract employees.

• Plan and execute engagement calendars — festivals, town halls, recognition programs, and employee welfare
  
  

events.

• Run engagement surveys/pulse checks, analyze feedback, and drive action plans in partnership with leadership.
• Champion the employer brand and culture at the plant, ensuring consistency with organizational values and
  
  

people philosophy.

Required Skills & Experience

• End-to-end talent acquisition — sourcing, stakeholder management, offer negotiation, and employer branding.
• Proven experience leading end-to-end manpower hiring and succession planning for both blue-collar and white-
  
  

collar workforce, including in a plant/factory setup.

• HRIS proficiency and recruitment analytics (time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, source mix).
• End-to-end HR generalist/HRBP experience, with exposure to a manufacturing or plant environment (rice/food
  
  

processing, FMCG, or agri-commodities preferred).

• Strong working knowledge of labour law and statutory compliance (Factories Act, PF, ESI, POSH, Contract Labour
  
  

Act, Minimum Wages Act, etc.).

• Hands-on experience with EHS coordination and safety compliance in a factory/plant setting.
• Proven experience managing performance management cycles and payroll/HR operations for a blue-collar and
  
  

staff workforce.

• Strong employee relations skills, including grievance handling and, where applicable, union/workmen
  
  

engagement.

• Experience designing and driving L&D programs, including statutory and safety training.
• 5–10 years of progressive HR experience in a manufacturing/plant environment, with demonstrated ownership
  
  

of end-to-end talent acquisition and direct exposure to a unionized/blue-collar, multi-shift plant workforce.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA / PGDM in Human Resources, or equivalent postgraduate degree in HR/Industrial Relations/Labour Law.
• Certification in Talent Acquisition, Labour Law, POSH, EHS/ISO 45001, or HR Analytics is an advantage.
• Hands-on recruitment expertise — capable of independently driving high-volume and niche hiring, building
  
  

sourcing pipelines, and managing stakeholders under tight timelines.

• A hands-on, ground-connected HR professional comfortable spending significant time on the shop floor and
  
  

across shifts.

• Maturity to independently handle sensitive employee, safety, and compliance matters while influencing business
  
  

leaders and partnering closely with plant leadership.

Skills: succession planning,training,environment, health, and safety (ehs),talent acquisition,hiring,labour law,compliance,payroll