Manager - Staffing (Blue Collar Workforce)

Role: Manager - Staffing (Location: Chennai & Blore)

Job Objective:

This role is responsible to design and execute an end-to-end blue-collar workforce strategy including mass hiring, rural talent sourcing, migrant workforce management, skill development, and workforce retention

Key Accountabilities

Work Force Strategy & Planning

Develop annual and quarterly blue-collar workforce hiring strategy aligned to business expansion plans

Forecast manpower requirements in collaboration with Operations and BD team

Build sustainable talent pipelines for high-attrition roles

Develop strategy for workforce mobility

Create rural sourcing, establish workforce retention and engagement framework

Mass Hiring & Rural Talent Acquisition

Lead large-scale hiring drives across regions and project sites.

Develop sourcing channels including:

• Rural camps and village outreach programs
• ITIs / Skill Development Institutes
• NGOs and community organizations
• Government skill programs (DDU-GKY, PMKVY, State Livelihood Missions)
• Authorized recruitment agents; migrant workforce
• Gig platform

Conduct hiring mela / job fairs in Tier 2 & Tier 3 locations.

Ensure hiring cost per head is optimized without compromising quality.

Maintain recruitment SLAs with Operations

Drive diversity hiring across projects

Migrant Workforce Management

Manage documentation, compliance and statutory requirements.

Develop structured migrant workforce onboarding program.

Coordinate travel logistics for inter-state hiring.

Ensure accommodation, food, transport, and welfare facilities.

Address cultural, language and integration challenges.

Manage workforce stability during seasonal migration trends

Talent Pool & Cross Deployment Strategy

Build centralized database of blue-collar workforce with skill mapping.

Create cross-deployment model across plants / client sites.

Develop multi-skilling framework in collaboration with Training Centres.

Maintain standby workforce pool for urgent requirements.

Reduce manpower downtime and improve workforce utilization

Monitor absenteeism and manpower efficiency metrics

Retention, Engagement & Welfare

Design retention initiatives to reduce attrition.

Conduct periodic engagement surveys for blue-collar workforce.

Implement grievance redressal mechanism at site level.

Ensure statutory compliance (PF, ESIC, Wages, Contract Labour Act etc.).

Improve employee living and working conditions in partnership with Operations.

Training & Upskilling

Partner with Training School, Safety and Govt. Skill centers to:

• Deliver induction programs
• Technical skill certification
• Safety training
• Multi-skilling programs

Build career progression pathways for shop-floor employees.

Track training effectiveness and productivity improvement

People Management

Ensure developmental requirements of Operations Managers / KAMs, Site Operations Team are incorporated in training calendar

Ensure timely goal setting, performance review, feedback and development of subordinates in the team

Identify and groom successors for critical roles within the department

Ensure required training programs are conducted and attended by team members

Key Performance Indicators

Business Results

100% manpower fulfilment within SLA

Reduction in hiring cost per head

Reduction in blue-collar attrition %

Workforce productivity improvement %

Cross-deployment utilization ratio

Operational Excellence

Hiring TAT adherence

Absenteeism reduction

Accommodation & welfare compliance score

Digitized workforce database (100% coverage)

Leadership Development

Migrant retention rate

Seasonal attrition management

Zero statutory non-compliance cases

Grievance closure TAT

Key Complexities

High attrition in blue-collar segments

Seasonal migration patterns

Unionized / semi-unionized workforce environments

Low-margin operations requiring cost discipline

Rural ecosystem variability

Education

Any Graduate and certification in Labour Law (preferred)

Experience & Job Knowledge

1015 years of experience in blue-collar hiring / Industrial HR

Experience in mass hiring (1000+ annual intake preferred)

Exposure to migrant workforce management

Experience working with NGOs / Govt skill programs preferred

Manufacturing / Logistics / Supply Chain industry exposure desirable