People Generalist

sweetgreen is on a mission to build healthy communities by connecting people to real food. We passionately believe that real food should be convenient and accessible to everyone. Every day in each sweetgreen restaurant, our 5,000+ team members make food from scratch, using fresh ingredients and produce delivered that morning. And in our local communities, we are committed to leaving people better than we found them. We are in the business of feeding people, and we are out to change what that means. Our people are our most valuable ingredient, the heart of our company, the face of our brand, and what truly makes the sweetgreen experience special and unique.

The People Generalist owns the operational and compliance backbone of the employee experience for our Support Center and Restaurant organization. This role sits on the People team and is the day-to-day owner of employee relations case administration, leaves of absence and accommodations, workers’ compensation, employment compliance, and People operations support for more than 5,000 team members across our restaurants. The People Generalist sets the methods and documentation standards for how this work gets done, partners closely with People Business Partners, Legal, Payroll, Total Rewards, Risk, and our third-party vendors, and serves as the escalation point when a restaurant team needs an answer.

You will:

- Own the employee relations case lifecycle from intake through closure, running lower complexity investigations end to end, supporting People Business Partners and Legal on sensitive matters, drafting corrective action and separation documentation, and maintaining case data and trend reporting that helps the team get ahead of emerging patterns.

- Manage and track leaves of absence and accommodations for Field and Support Center employees, serving as the escalation point on eligibility, pay, duration, and return to work; run the interactive dialogue; manage our third-party administrator to agreed service levels; and reconcile the weekly advise-to-pay file before it reaches Payroll.

- Partner with Risk and our workers’ compensation carrier across the claim lifecycle, translating medical work modifications into what a restaurant can realistically support, and guiding Area Leaders, Head Coaches, and Support Center managers through accommodation and return-to-work conversations.

- Own employment compliance programs including I-9 and E-Verify support, audit readiness and remediation, the unemployment claims vendor relationship, and the labor law posting program across all markets.

- Execute organizational hierarchy changes and protect data integrity across our People systems, and support People programs including performance cycles, engagement surveys, open enrollment, onboarding, and offboarding, serving as a documentation checkpoint before a separation moves forward.

- Improve how the work gets done by building the SOPs, templates, knowledge base content, and workflow automation that allow restaurant teams to resolve routine questions without escalation.

Desired traits:

- You exercise sound judgment with confidential and sensitive information, and you know what to escalate, what to document, and what should stay out of a chat thread.

- You are a clear and precise writer who can explain a leave policy to a team member and a risk exposure to Legal in the same afternoon, and both will understand you.

- You are organized under volume and hold multiple systems, competing priorities, and a field team that needs an answer today.

- You are comfortable with ambiguity and can make a defensible decision when precedent is thin.

- You are process-minded and would rather invest the time to fix a broken workflow than work around it indefinitely.

- You are collaborative and build credibility quickly with restaurant leaders, People Business Partners, Legal, and outside counsel.

- You are accountable and hold our vendors to the same standard, raising misses directly and professionally.

Desired experience:

- 5+ years of HR experience with meaningful time in employee relations, leaves administration, or People operations, preferably in a multi-unit restaurant, retail, hospitality, or other hourly workforce environment.

- 3+ years of hands-on administering leaves of absence (FMLA, state programs, and company leaves) and ADA accommodations, including running the interactive process.

- Working knowledge of federal and multi-state employment law, including FMLA, ADA, FLSA, Title VII, I-9 and E-Verify, wage and hour, and state-specific leave and posting requirements, with California, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, and Illinois experience preferred.

- Experience conducting or supporting workplace investigations and producing documentation that holds up under legal review.

- Systems fluency across HRIS, case management, and spreadsheets, with experience in UKG or a comparable HRIS, ServiceNow, ChartHop, Coupa, or a leave third party administrator portal.

- PHR/SPHR or SHRM-CP/SCP certification, Spanish fluency, and experience managing third-party vendors to a service-level agreement are all a plus.

What you'll get:

- Highly competitive pay + bonus plan

- Three different medical plans to suit your and your family's needs

- Dental and Vision insurance

- Flexible PTO plan

- 401k program

- Employee HSA and FSA

- Complimentary greens

- An opportunity to make a real impact on the people around you, both by growing them and by connecting them to real food

- To live the sweetlife and celebrate your passion + purpose

- A collaborative team of people who live our core values and have your back

- A clear career path with opportunities for development, both personally and professionally

- Free sweetgreen swag

Come join the sweetlife!

About sweetgreen

Sweetgreen is a national restaurant brand dedicated to building healthier communities by connecting people to real food. Since 2007, Sweetgreen has reimagined fast food to be fresh, flavorful, and rooted in relationships with farmers and communities. As we grow, we are committed to developing our people in our restaurants and at our support center, so that everyone can be part of the movement. When you join Sweetgreen, you not only invest in your own future but help create spaces where food, people, and purpose come together
Salary range for this role: Starting salary range based on experience $78,000 — $111,000 USD

Sweetgreen provides equal opportunities for all employees and applicants, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race (including traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and protective hairstyles), religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, any service in the uniformed services of the United States, or any other consideration protected by federal, state, or local law.

California residents: Review our applicant privacy notice HERE (https://drive.google.com/file/d/14IrmjTwzN2BIuNkteB5EqJFSDDgPqJNL/view).

sweetgreen participates in the federal government's E - Verify program to determine employment eligibility. To learn more about the E - Verify program, please click here (https://www.uscis.gov/e-verify).