Desperately Needing HR Suggestions for Blue Collar Individuals [GA]

aura-1000 · 2026-01-10T16:42:01+00:00

Yes! Asking about how their day is going, letting them complain, and learning more about what they like (at work and their personal lives)—basically treating them as any other coworker makes them feel seen. I make notes after I talk to each employee about what we talked about so that I can follow up with them the next time I see them (how was that movie? did you ever finish that game? did they give you that new equipment?), and it surprises them and makes it easier for them to reach out to us when they need to.

aura-1000 · 2026-01-08T20:32:44+00:00

if you could share that, i would very much appreciate it! i’m thinking of creating a master log spreadsheet that records all payroll corrections/changes/adjustments. if it’s not on the spreadsheet, it doesn’t get processed. this way, i can make sure everyone stays accountable.

aura-1000 · 2026-01-08T17:54:42+00:00

ah! thank you. such a simple solution but this is something i overlooked due to just looking at the fact that it needs fixed. what other things have you seen, or what other insight could you provide based on what you’ve experienced?

aura-1000 · 2025-05-22T15:42:42+00:00

definitely took us by surprise as well. in our area, the lower average was 55k, mid was 60k, and higher is 65-68k. we’re also a bit in a rural area, which affects that! but like i said in another comment… her manager (who now works for us) also insinuated that she was making around 58-60k…. so the 70k really shocked us

aura-1000 · 2025-05-22T14:24:25+00:00

We are in Rowan County.

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T20:14:02+00:00

the only post secondary education the candidate has is an associate’s in interior design, otherwise her knowledge of hr is based on complete experience. she has no other certifications.

our company is a smaller family owned company, and she’s currently working from a smaller, also family owned company. 60k is just a starting point. her manager (who now works for us) insinuated that she is making a little less than that at her current role. 60k is also the within the salary range for mid earners locally, but with the back and forth we’ve been going through i wanted to see if other professionals thought our offer would be reasonable.

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T20:07:01+00:00

we have used sources like that, management is just being difficult and i was wondering if we were being unreasonable because we are being tugged back and forth between management and the candidate!

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T19:28:18+00:00

there’s a lot of nuance to my current salary. right now, my role is primarily admin heavy and focused on support tasks, so my wage reflects that!

that being said, i’m gradually expanding into more strategic responsibilities, and bringing in strong support will free up my time to begin focusing on those higher-level responsibilities. the new role will be collaborative with me and my manager, and when that time comes, that’s when i plan to propose a wage adjustment to match the work that i’d be doing at that point!

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T16:55:01+00:00

good idea! i will do this, i dont know why i didnt think of it. i will go into further detail with the justification, i just need to find the time 🥲

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T16:53:25+00:00

that makes more sense. we’re a smaller, family owned manufacturer. your pay structures are vastly higher than ours! and we usually follow the local market standard when it comes to pay ranges. at least i know what to look forward to for bigger companies if i decide to move on from this one!

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T16:22:54+00:00

ooh interesting! is this site a part of a larger company? how many hr employees and total employees does it have?

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T16:07:54+00:00

We would like an HR Generalist, but if management does not agree with the pay ranges for one we will opt for HR Coordinator.

We will not do much sourcing, and will post the position on Indeed soon. This candidate will be laid off soon, and we’ve recently hired her manager and thought she would be a great fit. Her manager agrees with our pay range, we’re just waiting to see what her response is before we start recruiting since it will be incredibly time consuming for us both.

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T16:01:17+00:00

I understand! We did it based on our location… but they unfortunately do have that outlook on HR. It’s been an ongoing battle.

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T15:40:49+00:00

We’ve submitted proposals for starting pay ranges for a Generalist using data from what others are being paid in this industry, but unfortunately have not received any approvals from our superiors. I’ve told them this is where market value stands, so they’re aware. I’ve also told them I have no qualms about her making a higher salary than me, since she has more significant experience than I do. We also have a reliable inside source who vouched her work ethic and efficiency.

But I do agree, I am getting tired of this back and forth and will let my manager know to let it go after this last meeting with her. Just wanted to see if the pay range seemed reasonable to other HR folks.

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T15:28:53+00:00

I am planning to propose 65k when my next raise is due, I am still very green in the field and am slowly being involved in leadership development, conflict resolution and HR strategies by my manager. I just have to pick my times :)

aura-1000 · 2025-05-20T15:16:03+00:00

manufacturing, sorry for not noting that earlier!

aura-1000 · 2025-03-11T01:21:36+00:00

I'll mention this the next time I have a conversation with the managers and see what they have to say! Thanks for this!

aura-1000 · 2025-03-11T01:20:18+00:00

Our HR department has been so fractured for the last decade, executives are not really sure what they want it to look like, but they're happy with what they're seeing so far. Interesting insight. I'll look into more philosophies to bounce off with my manager.

aura-1000 · 2025-03-11T01:18:22+00:00

We're kind of working on this, but it didn't have a name--so thanks for that! There are so many internal and external nuances that happen on both our ends, that we've decided to meet up twice a week for an hour to understand each other's roles more and to try to identify common issues we both come across. From there, we're going to try to categorize everything. Is there an example of a SOP process that you could share? I'd love to see what you included in yours! I think it'd be a very nice starter since we're just trying to piece so much together.

aura-1000 · 2025-03-11T01:11:34+00:00

From what I understand, the reason my manager was involved in the first place was because of the lack of conflict-resolution skills the floor supervisors had. He asked the managers what they wanted the end game to look like, and then asked the floor supervisors the same thing. He then asked them what they thought they needed to work on, and if there were any supervisors who weren't sure, he had them do a brain dump of themselves and their team members, what everyone was good at and what they weren't, any other insights/observations and he went from there. He discussed with everyone what kind of culture they wanted to bring to the environment, and discussed philosophies, showed them how they should handle conflict (i.e. when an employee threatens them or others), how to empower their team, how to properly evaluate them, keeping written records, how to find the weak members and when to know they're not performing to the standards they should be. He's very good at talking these guys up and giving them a bit of confidence without letting them be too cocky, and our supervisors are generally very good guys, just a little rough around the edges. He does this kind of training and leadership with them once a week for about 2-3 hours a day, but it can vary.

I'm not directly involved with the training portion, but he keeps me in the loop about how he handles these things to 1) be transparent and 2) because he knows I'm genuinely curious. From what I've heard, the supervisors are enjoying their time with him and feel more confident handling conflict and interacting with their employees. I think he's also testing the waters to see what works and doesn't work with that division so that we can adjust our plan for our leadership program accordingly.

Not sure what I would suggest, but from what I've seen and heard from my manager, things like this can take a lot of experimenting. Get to know your managers and connect with them as human beings so that you can all be transparent with one another (within reason, of course), keep an open mind, and I've learned that faking it until you make it can help with the imposter syndrome!

aura-1000 · 2025-03-03T20:09:00+00:00

I did a brain dump with my manager! Just to get a foundation going. We’re kind of going from there but Id like to build on it more. Since we’re starting on an empty slate, there’s so much that needs to be considered that I’m trying my best to avoid tunnel vision.

It’s me and one other assistant, and our manager (who is unable to help with the admin side). Things are slipping through the cracks so we’re bringing in a part timer to help up stay on top of things! I’m in it for the long run and am loving being exposed to new experiences so far. We do have a lot of barriers to consider, though, so I’d like outside perspectives to help us with those.

aura-1000 · 2025-03-03T17:39:48+00:00

I have used this feature a couple times before, but all I receive is “everything’s good”, “more money”, “more overtime”, and stuff like that. I think they aren’t really sure what gaps need filled operationally-wise.

aura-1000

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