Associate Director Employee Relations

At Fresenius Medical Care, we are the global leader in kidney care, committed to improving the lives of patients with chronic kidney disease. Our mission is to deliver high-quality, innovative products, services, and care across the entire healthcare journey. Guided by our vision—“Creating a future worth living. For patients. Worldwide. Every day.”—we work with purpose and compassion, supported by a global team of over 125,000 employees.
 

Our values guide how we work:

• We Care for our patients, each other, and our communities

• We Connect across teams and borders to deliver excellence together

• We Commit to doing things the right way— growing with purpose and leading kidney care with integrity and innovation

The Associate Director of Employee Relations – Germany and Northern Europe

is responsible for leading a team of Employee Relations Advisors, providing senior‑level direction, guidance, and oversight. The role is responsible for ensuring the team’s adherence to Compliance, Legal, Human Rights, and Labor Union requirements as well as collaborative interaction with all stakeholders, meeting deliverables and all associated key performance indicator (KPI) metrics, and continuous quality improvement. This is a senior and highly autonomous role, accountable for decision‑making in complex, sensitive, and high‑risk ER matters.

This position is performed in highly complex and socially conflictive work environments, Its geographic scope includes Germany and other countries in the EMEA Region, requiring advanced knowledge of German and European labor regulations and proven experience managing Employee Relations across multiple countries.

Your responsibilities:
 

Under the direction of the Director of Employee Relations (ER), the Associate Director of ER, serves in a senior leadership capacity, is responsible to ensure fair and consistent application of HR policies and employee programs in accordance with Company core values and mission, Human Rights, current and forthcoming employment regulations, Workplace Rights and Labor and Employment Principles, Global Social and Labor Standards Policy, Diversity & Inclusion, the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, the Suppliers Code of Conduct, and all works council and union requirements. The role responsibilities will be executed primarily in Germany and across additional European and international locations, requiring substantial experience operating in multi-country Employee Relations environments, requiring advanced knowledge of German and European labor law and extensive experience leading Employee Relations across multiple countries. This includes but is not limited to:

• Developing the strategies and plans necessary to transform the in-country ER services catalogue to one unified group to allow for the consistent and efficient application of HR policies and employee programs in accordance with Company and HR organizational strategy and objectives.  
• Planning, directing, and supervising all activities relating to assigned in-country ER teams in multiple sites, geographies, and business lines. Activities include:
  • Investigation of complaints alleging discrimination, harassment, unfair working conditions, violations of compliance, legal, and ethics policies or regulations, and issues relating to works council/union contracts.
  • Leaves of Absence, work restrictions, contract management, performance management, disciplinary and termination consults, and separation criteria. 
     
• Ensures the ER teams are applying HR policies and employee programs fairly and consistently in accordance with Company core values and mission, Human Rights, Workplace Rights and Labor and Employment Principles, Global Social and Labor Standards Policy, Diversity & Inclusion, the Code of Ethics and Business Conduct, the Suppliers Code of Conduct, and all works council and union requirements.
• Responsible for quality assurance of investigation outcomes for consistency, thoroughness, objectivity, and appropriate remedies. Partakes in or directs the appeals process.
• Maintains and expands knowledge and understanding of existing and proposed country regulations affecting human resource management. Communicates identified trends that could affect organizational objectives and/or operational resources.
• Responsible for the team’s interaction, engagement, and requirements with local works council/unions and may partake in or advise on negotiations as needed. including complex collective bargaining processes and direct involvement with European Works Councils (EWC) at senior level.
• Works in strong partnership with HRCP, Labor Relations, Compliance, Legal, and Human Rights teams to provide support, connection, and collaboration on all employment related cases and reporting requirements. 
• Provides recommendations to business leaders, employees and other HR professionals on complex performance management and policy matters.
• May personally conduct high-level investigations and/or executive escalations as needed.
• Partakes in or directs the appeals process.
• Responsible for team management including performance, hiring, retention, staffing levels, performance appraisals, coaching and development opportunities.
• Provides analysis of ER trends to identify opportunities with recommended remedies.
• Responsible for team management including performance, hiring, retention, staffing levels, performance appraisals, coaching and development opportunities.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned
• Operates with a high degree of autonomy, receiving minimal direction on day-to-day work, and independently managing multiple and conflicting priorities at a senior leadership level.

Your Profile:
 

1) Required training and education:

• Bachelor’s Degree; Advanced Degree desirable in Employment Law, Human Resources, Organizational Development, Business Administration or similar business degrees; or an equivalent combination of education and experience
   

2) Required professional experience:

• Has 10+ years of professional experience directly in the Employee Relations function of Human Resources with 7+ years of managerial experience.
• Management of direct reports (minimum 5 years)
• Multi-country experience is needed and working in highly complex, socially conflictive country/s.
• Advanced knowledge of German employment law and European labor regulations, and experience managing Employee Relations or Labor Relations matters in more than one country.
• Experience with works councils, unions, EWC, complex negotiations, and managing collective bargaining agreements and co‑determination processes across different legal frameworks is required.
   

3) Required personal competencies:

• Work independently and manage multiple and competing priorities in more than 1 country, while operating with a high degree of autonomy and senior‑level accountability.
• Has strong business acumen in addition to Human Resources skills.
• Exercises solid judgment in decision making on complex, high‑impact, and sensitive ER matters across countries.
• Resilient and can navigate challenging and difficult situations with the ability to hold crucial conversations at senior level.
• Able to collaborate and communicate at all levels in the organization in a clear and articulate manner, both verbal and written, with the ability to influence senior leadership across countries.
• Acts as a change agent to the team and with business leaders, driving transformation and shaping the ER strategy across multiple countries.
   

4) Other specialized knowledge, expertise and skills:
 

a) Functional knowledge

• Advanced knowledge of German labor law and regulations; well‑rounded understanding of all core Human Resources disciplines; and strong expertise in Works Councils, European Works Councils (EWC), unions, and complex collective negotiations in international environments.
   

b) IT skills

• Workday, Microsoft Office suite, and case management system.
   

c)  Languages

• Level 3 or higher in English and German in both verbal and written form
   

5 ) Special personal requirements:

• Able to travel up to 50% wherever direct reports are located and/or attend meetings where such meetings are held.

Our Offer for you:

There is a lot you can discover at Fresenius Medical Care, regardless in which field you are an expert and how much experience you have - all dedicated to your professional journey.

• Whether in front of or behind the scenes - you are helping to make ever better medicine available to more and more people around the world

• Individual opportunities for self-determined career planning and professional development

• A corporate culture in which there is enough room for innovative thinking - to find the best solution together, not the quickest one

• A large number of committed people with a wide range of skills, talents and experience

• The benefits of a successful global corporation with the collegial culture of a medium-sized company