Human Resource Manager

Location: South Africa
Industry: Hospitality  and Events 
Employment Type: Full-time or Part time 
Seniority: Mid-to-senior level

Role Purpose

We are looking for a commercially minded HR Manager to lead the full people function across a fast-paced hospitality environment. This role is responsible for recruitment, onboarding, employee relations, performance management, compliance, culture, training coordination, and HR administration.

The ideal candidate is hands-on, structured, fair, resilient, and comfortable working with operational teams where speed, discipline, and consistency matter.

Key Responsibilities
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition

Manage end-to-end recruitment for operational and management roles, including job adverts, screening, interviews, reference checks, offers, and onboarding.

Employee Relations

Handle disciplinary processes, grievances, poor performance matters, investigations, warnings, hearings, and CCMA preparation where required.

HR Compliance

Ensure compliance with South African labour legislation, including BCEA, LRA, EEA, POPIA, and internal HR policies.

Performance Management

Support managers with probation reviews, performance scorecards, development plans, succession planning, and corrective action.

Onboarding and Training

Own the onboarding process and ensure new employees are trained, integrated, and productive quickly.

HR Administration

Ensure that HR Administrator  maintains accurate employee records, contracts, leave records, HR documentation, and reporting.

Culture and Leadership Support

Partner with senior management to improve retention, accountability, leadership standards, communication, and team engagement.

Required Experience

The successful candidate should have:

• 5+ years’ HR experience, preferably in hospitality, restaurants, retail, or another high-volume service environment.
• Strong working knowledge of South African labour law.
• Proven experience handling disciplinary processes and employee relations matters.
• Experience recruiting operational staff and managers.
• Strong administration, documentation, and follow-through.
• Ability to work with demanding operational managers and frontline teams.
• High emotional intelligence with strong boundaries.
• HR qualification preferred.

Ideal Candidate Profile

This person is:

• Firm but fair.
• Highly organised.
• Commercially aware.
• Calm under pressure.
• Confident handling conflict.
• Comfortable in a hands-on environment.
• Strong on process, documentation, and accountability.
• Able to influence managers without needing constant escalation.

Key Success Measures

Success in this role will be measured by:

• Faster and better-quality recruitment.
• Reduced staff turnover.
• Stronger onboarding consistency.
• Fewer unresolved employee relations issues.
• Better disciplinary documentation and compliance.
• Improved management accountability.
• Accurate and up-to-date HR records.