JESSICA L. HAMER
Oak Lawn,IL
Summary
Director of Human Resources with 10+ years of progressive HR experience across multi-site, regulated, retail, and corporate environments. Strengths include HRIS and payroll workflow improvement, compliance and policy administration, employee relations, talent acquisition, performance management, organizational development, and executive and field leadership partnership. PHR-certified, with a record of achieving 0 findings across 8 external audits and improving HR operational accuracy.
Overview
1
1
Certification
10
10
years of professional experience
Work History
Director of Human Resources
RESILIENCE
03.2022 - 05.2026
- Led partner- and employer-facing benefits initiatives, supporting onboarding, account transitions, migrations, and implementation-related service delivery across multi-site functions.
- Used Workday HRIS reporting and workforce data to identify process gaps, support implementation decisions, and improve the accuracy of complex people, payroll, and benefits workflows.
- Led diagnostics across payroll, leave of absence, and benefits infrastructure, redesigning workflows to improve onboarding and transition readiness while reducing system errors by 25%.
- Built governance controls and compliance frameworks across HR operations, delivering 0 findings across 8 external audits and reinforcing compensation, policy administration, and employment law rigor.
- Co-led cross-functional initiatives with Total Rewards, Talent Acquisition, Finance, and Legal to align stakeholder needs, resolve escalations, and support consistent execution of employee relations and people-related processes.
Training & Organizational Effectiveness Leader
FORD MOTOR COMPANY
02.2021 - 06.2022
- Directed organizational effectiveness and change initiatives for a 2,000-employee division, partnering across functions to implement scalable frameworks, improve stakeholder alignment, and support operational adoption.
- Designed performance management frameworks, job leveling structures, and talent planning matrices, strengthening organizational consistency and supporting implementation readiness across 15 critical leadership roles.
- Conducted root-cause organizational assessments and co-authored enterprise policies that reduced policy violations by 35%, improving compliance, consistency, and risk controls across the division.
- Managed cross-functional initiatives with zero audit issues and budget variance under 5% across a $25,000 program budget, supporting timely execution and operational follow-through.
Human Resources Manager (HRBP)
CHILDREN'S HABILITATION CENTER
01.2019 - 02.2021
- Delivered strategic HRBP support to 20+ department managers, advising on role design, talent acquisition, employee experience, and organizational change in a regulated healthcare environment.
- Re-engineered recruiting workflows and ATS configurations using data-driven talent metrics, cutting time-to-fill by 12 days across 45+ annual hires and improving process efficiency for hiring stakeholders.
- Partnered with Total Rewards stakeholders on market benchmarking and compensation alignment, contributing to a 7% increase in engagement survey scores through improved employee experience and organizational responsiveness.
Diversity & Talent Specialist
MCDONALD'S GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS
01.2018 - 01.2019
- Managed corporate talent, performance alignment, and EEO strategy for 60+ high-potential leaders within global corporate operations.
- Facilitated cross-department initiatives that improved employee trust and work-life balance scores by 10%, strengthening engagement and adoption across matrixed teams.
- Ensured corporate compliance with EEO and Affirmative Action program guidelines in coordination with executive leadership and legal counsel.
Human Resources Manager
MACY'S
01.2016 - 01.2018
- Advised 15+ store managers on labor modeling, union contract administration, and employee relations for 2 flagship retail locations.
- Restructured labor models using workforce analytics, delivering headcount adjustments that reduced annual labor spend by 8% and improved staffing alignment.
- Managed collective bargaining agreement compliance, successfully resolving complex workplace grievances and reducing union filings by 30%.
Education
MBA - Business Administration
Keller Graduate School of Management
Chicago, IL12-2015
Master of Science - Human Resources Management
Keller Graduate School of Management
Chicago, IL05-2013
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration Management
Chicago State University
Chicago, IL05-2010
Skills
- Employee Onboarding
- Recruiting And Talent Acquisition
- Change Management
- Employee Relations
- Partnership management
- Service Delivery Excellence
- Process Improvement
- Workday HRIS
- ADP Workforce Now
- Data Quality & Reporting
- Microsoft Excel
- Policy Administration
- Customer Success
- Issue Resolution
- Global HR Strategy
- Employer communication
- Leadership Coaching
- Performance Management
- Workplace Investigations
- HRIS Administration
- Employment Law
- HRIS/Payroll
Certification
Professional in Human Resources (PHR), Keller Graduate School of Management
Accomplishments
- Designed implementation-ready talent planning and job leveling frameworks that secured leadership readiness for 15 critical roles.
- Decreased policy violations by 35% through enterprise policy development and organizational risk mitigation.
- Achieved 0 findings across 8 external audits.
Timeline
Director of Human Resources
RESILIENCE
03.2022 - 05.2026
Training & Organizational Effectiveness Leader
FORD MOTOR COMPANY
02.2021 - 06.2022
Human Resources Manager (HRBP)
CHILDREN'S HABILITATION CENTER
01.2019 - 02.2021
Diversity & Talent Specialist
MCDONALD'S GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS
01.2018 - 01.2019
Human Resources Manager
MACY'S
01.2016 - 01.2018
MBA - Business Administration
Keller Graduate School of Management
Master of Science - Human Resources Management
Keller Graduate School of Management
Bachelor of Science - Business Administration Management
Chicago State University