How to hire an employee relations manager

How to hire an employee relations manager, step by step

Here's a step-by-step employee relations manager hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an employee relations manager job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new employee relations manager
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an employee relations manager do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the employee relations manager you need to hire. Certain employee relations manager roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

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   No

   Hiring the perfect employee relations manager also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of employee relations manager salaries for various roles:

   Type of Employee Relations Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Employee Relations Manager	Human resources managers plan, direct, and coordinate the administrative functions of an organization. They oversee the recruiting, interviewing, and hiring of new staff; consult with top executives on strategic planning; and serve as a link between an organization’s management and its employees.	$28-53
   Director Of Talent Acquisition	A director of talent acquisition is primarily responsible for spearheading the development of strategies that will help a company to narrow down and acquire talented individuals. Typically, they must set goals and budgets, coordinate with stakeholders or higher-ranking officials, review and assess the performance of the talent acquisition team, and conduct training and meetings... Show more	$41-98
   Recruitment Director	A recruitment director is an executive professional who is responsible for directing the recruitment processes and employment programs for an organization. This director is required to assess the external labor market conditions while developing the most effective and appropriate recruiting channels and methods... Show more	$36-82

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Performance Management
   • Management System
   • Conflict Resolution
   • Labor Relations
   • Employment Law
   • Employee Engagement
   • Corrective Action
   • Disciplinary Actions
   • HRIS
   • FMLA
   • Ethics
   • Payroll
   • Federal Laws
   • EEO-1

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead office through OFCCP audit and manage compliance with a conciliation agreement.
   • Manage and publish several cost-savings models for Sr. level management.
   • Provide litigation support to counsel which include representation at depositions, mediation and settlement conferences, and trial document preparation.
   • File EEO-1, ACA annually.
   • Provide oversight for all unemployment claims, successfully defending all unfound claims.
   • Serve as chief spokesperson and advisor on all labor and employee relations matters.

   More employee relations manager duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your employee relations manager job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. An employee relations manager can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, employee relations managers' average salary in louisiana is 40% less than in washington.
   • Seniority. Entry-level employee relations managers 47% less than senior-level employee relations managers.
   • Certifications. An employee relations manager with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in an employee relations manager's salary.

   Average employee relations manager salary

   $81,465yearly

   $39.17 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level employee relations manager salary

   $59,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 15, 2025

   Average employee relations manager salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$106,415	$51
   2	Washington	$103,624	$50
   3	New York	$92,564	$45
   4	Massachusetts	$91,383	$44
   5	Arizona	$91,024	$44
   6	Minnesota	$89,495	$43
   7	North Carolina	$86,390	$42
   8	Virginia	$85,855	$41
   9	Maryland	$82,344	$40
   10	Alaska	$80,958	$39
   11	Texas	$80,635	$39
   12	Ohio	$79,994	$38
   13	Missouri	$78,594	$38
   14	Maine	$78,568	$38
   15	Illinois	$78,429	$38
   16	Oregon	$77,976	$37
   17	Utah	$77,765	$37
   18	Pennsylvania	$76,917	$37
   19	Alabama	$76,365	$37
   20	Colorado	$74,228	$36

   Average employee relations manager salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$136,079	$65.42	26
   2	McKinsey & Company Inc	$122,295	$58.80
   3	Amazon	$122,291	$58.79	77
   4	Chewy	$120,568	$57.97	12
   5	The Walt Disney Company	$119,064	$57.24	13
   6	Salesforce	$112,756	$54.21	8
   7	AIG	$112,113	$53.90	1
   8	Bristol-Myers Squibb	$112,019	$53.86	3
   9	Visa	$108,069	$51.96	2
   10	The Free Press	$106,260	$51.09
   11	Microsoft	$105,966	$50.95	10
   12	Nike	$103,745	$49.88	6
   13	Vonage	$102,746	$49.40
   14	Oriental Trading	$101,894	$48.99
   15	Stripe	$101,157	$48.63	3
   16	National Geographic	$100,792	$48.46
   17	General Motors	$100,246	$48.20	18
   18	Spirit Airlines	$99,935	$48.05	2
   19	J.P. Morgan	$99,901	$48.03
   20	Grant Thornton	$99,785	$47.97	30

4. Writing an employee relations manager job description

   A job description for an employee relations manager role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's an employee relations manager job description:

   Employee relations manager job description example

   What You Will Do:
   
   General Summary
   
   This individual is responsible for establishing and maintaining ongoing lines of communication between community physicians and the University of Maryland Medical System (and all entities). The manager builds and retains relationships with providers, educating them about targeted programs and services. In addition to performing Physician Liaison outreach functions, the individual is responsible, with supervision from the Director of System Physician Marketing & Referral Services, for acting in a lead capacity and participating in the management of outreach for their assigned service line/territory. Duties and responsibilities in this role may vary based on location.Principal Responsibilities and TasksThe following statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all job duties performed by personnel so classified.
   
   1. UMMC: As a complementary partner to the Service Line Marketing Manager, work closely with Service Line team and Physician Marketing team (statewide) to develop and communicate physician marketing /outreach strategy and meet annual goals, e.g. number of sales contacts, and referral volumes.2. Stay current and educated on all information regarding service line/territory by meeting with hospital service line management, executive staff and physician leaders to learn about existing and new clinical service offerings, to be the "expert" when communicating with referring community physicians with the goal of increasing patient referrals to UMMS hospitals and physicians.3. Assist hospital with provider retention, education and promotion of targeted programs and services in primary and secondary service areas.4. Identify and report market intelligence including competitive positioning, practice growth/vulnerability to senior leadership.5. Complete provider onboarding activities such as coordinating/hosting events and making community introductions.6. Identify ways for hospitals to improve inpatient, outpatient and referral processes by reporting and tracking physician customer service issues.7. Support employed practices, including conducting customer service assessments as well as other surveys in support of improved processes and referral volumes.8. Assist in development of monthly schedules of outreach activities based on strategic and programmatic priorities of the marketing and communications department.9. Participate in training and/or supervising new Physician Relations Associates through extensive on-the-job training for a concentrated time period of 3-4 months.10. Utilize and update a comprehensive PRM and market analysis system, which drives outreach strategy to physicians and physician groups in Maryland, and portions of surrounding states, as well as provides critical information on service line physician alignment. Maintain responsibility to make new changes and/or additions to the database. Become a super user and train others as needed. Develop outreach strategies and direction for development of physician relationships utilizing the current platform (Crimson Market Advantage). Assist hospitals and physicians as appropriate in understanding the market and targeting physician practices for business development and education for all UMMS hospitals.11. Develop extensive pre-call planning data e.g. to assess our physician's accessibility to patients, and referring physicians' loyalty/splitting behavior, market conditions, etc.12. Analyze all trend reports generated in the department in conjunction with the VP of Marketing, hospital leadership and Directors of Business Development and Physician Marketing to determine focused efforts required by the Physician Liaison team to improve patient referrals from physician(s) or physician group(s).13. Coordinate targeted onsite visits to potential referring physicians in various communities and regions in Maryland and portions of surrounding states to build relationships and increase referrals to UMMS. Compile information to disseminate to community physicians (i.e. CME programs, updates on new faculty/services, newsletters, outreach programs, etc.) through the Physician Liaison team.14. Identify physicians/physician groups that are or should be important to service lines or hospitals as possible candidates for networking activities which will help generate increased patient referrals to UMMS.15. Maintain oversight of comments and feedback accumulated through physician visits to identify needs, problems and requested information from a larger organizational perspective utilizing departmental trend reports and analysis. Communicate and prepare this feedback and analyses to the appropriate physician, department personnel and leadership..16. Provide ongoing support for relationships established with area physicians and act as the point person for concerns, communication and information.17. Organize and/or participate in Staff Outreach Program functions in the evening and occasionally weekends as necessary either targeting a specific region within the state of Maryland or by specific specialty (i.e. cardiovascular).18. Serve as point person with referring physicians for system-wide initiatives affecting assigned service line or hospital. Examples could include assisting with roll-out of technology tools for referring physicians, new product offerings from UMMS, etc.19. Identify potential opportunities for service line or hospital to establish clinics or expand services, based on feedback from community physicians.
   
   What You Need to Be Successful:
   
   Education and Experience
   
   1. Bachelors' degree required. Master's degree in a related field strongly preferred.2. Five years in the healthcare and/or service industry which includes some clinical, marketing, sales or pharmaceutical sales experience is required.3. Management experience strongly preferred.Knowledge, Skills and Abilities1. Strong organizational skills with demonstrated ability to work with minimal supervision.2. Strong interpersonal, problem solving and communication skills.3. Self-motivated, adaptable and flexible.4. Project a positive image of the organization.5. Adapt hours and availability to meet the needs of our physician customers6. Previous clinical experience is desirable, along with knowledge of medical terminology and practices.7. UMMC: Ability and willingness to travel extensively throughout the state on average 80% of the time required. All other: local travel in hospital catchment area. Possession of reliable transportation is required.8. Proficient knowledge of computer equipment and various software packages (i.e., Microsoft Office to include Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) is required. CRM/PRM database software experience is preferred.
   
   We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right employee relations manager for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   To find employee relations manager candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as hrcrossing, ihirehr, hrjobs, shrm hr jobs.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting employee relations managers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new employee relations manager

   Once you've found the employee relations manager candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new employee relations manager first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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