Director, Global Employee Relations

At Western Digital, our vision is to power global innovation and push the boundaries of technology to make what you thought was once impossible, possible.

At our core, Western Digital is a company of problem solvers. People achieve extraordinary things given the right technology. For decades, we’ve been doing just that—our technology helped people put a man on the moon and capture the first-ever picture of a black hole.

We offer an expansive portfolio of technologies, HDDs, and platforms for business, creative professionals, and consumers alike under our Western Digital®, WD®, WD_BLACK™, and SanDisk® Professional brands.

We are a key partner to some of the largest and highest-growth organizations in the world. From enabling systems to make cities safer and more connected, to powering the data centers behind many of the world’s biggest companies and hyperscale cloud providers, to meeting the massive and ever-growing data storage needs of the AI era, Western Digital is fueling a brighter, smarter future.

Job Description

Come join the Human Resources team as Director, Global Employee Relations. In this role, you will lead a dedicated team of ER professionals focused on enabling leaders and teams to foster a high-trust, high-performance culture across the company. This role works in partnership with our business clients, Legal, HR Business Partners, HR Leader Support and COE teams to deliver strategic ER capability and is the anchor point for Employee Relations across the globe.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the global employee relations strategy to ensure alignment with corporate goals and objectives across the Americas, APAC and EMEA regions
• Deliver an effective global ER coverage model to support cyclical volume of cases, investigations, and negotiations
• Strengthen team capability, leveraging a consistent framework and driving for quality case reviews, closure and report out
• Develop and execute on a knowledge management strategy for our global policies, including a governance process to ensure policies are current and maintained by the respective owners
• Provide regular reports and updates to senior leadership, including key issues, challenges and action plan
• Advise leadership on employee relations challenges, trends and matters affecting the workforce, ensuring compliance with local labor laws, company policies and industry standards
• Partner with the HR Leader Support team in developing and implementing tools, resources and training related to performance management for managers overseeing employees in an office environment as well as those overseeing large, hourly manufacturing populations
• Manage complex employee relations cases, including grievances, investigations, disciplinary actions and terminations
• Analyze data sets to look for and anticipate trends within employee relations with the intent to proactively develop programs and practices that mitigate issues and create the best employee experience
• Manage Union related activities in multiple Asia sites and labor relations strategies, partnering closely with legal and the business proactively and during negotiations
• Partner with the broader HR, Legal and Security teams in creating and implementing integrated solutions for employee-related issues

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in HR or a related field with 10+ years of progressive experience required, including leading Employee Relations or a related function across multiple regions; technology and manufacturing experience strongly preferred
• Ability to think strategically and manage projects with a global scope and diverse cultural considerations
• Strong knowledge of global labor laws, compliance issues, and employee relations best practices across multiple regions
• Proven track record in managing complex employee relations issues and developing effective solutions
• Experience working with unions, works councils, and employee representative bodies in a global context preferred
• Systems thinking with the ability to define connections and interdependencies
• Goal-oriented, proactive, resourceful, accountable and passionate about driving results
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with the flexibility to adapt to changing business needs

Western Digital is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law poster.

Western Digital thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

Western Digital is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at [email protected] to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

#LI-AS1

Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting.  We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York.  This range may be modified in the future.
• You will be eligible to participate in Western Digital’s Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance.  Depending on your role and your performance, you may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to Western Digital’s Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program, employee stock purchase plan, and the Western Digital Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.