Case Studies
A few of the situations we have been asked to fix.
Rebuilding HR after a change in leadership
A fast-growing biotech company changed its entire executive team. The new leaders found an HR function that could not support a multi-state business, worldwide operations, and a headquarters in Asia. Most employees were in California. The HR director sat in New Jersey. Mismanagement had already produced employee lawsuits. Morale had fallen, and revenue had slowed.
The Challenges
- Replace the whole HR department without a lawsuit, so the new team could rebuild the work with no claims and no one left inside to block the changes.
- Identify the people in key roles who were making the culture toxic, and have replacements ready to start.
- Build HR from the ground up. There was no platform to automate the work or keep it in sync.
What HRology Did
- Every person on the HR team left on a settled basis. No lawsuits, and no claims.
- The people creating the toxic environment were identified. Their replacements were hired and ready, and those exits happened without incident.
- Sound HR practices went in, and the errors left by the old function were corrected. The mood shifted. People who had lived through the chaos could see the work was finally being handled.
Opening a US company with no one on the ground
A global tech company was opening a US business for its entertainment distribution arm. Headquarters wanted the Los Angeles entity incorporated and hiring in the same breath. Local people were already chosen, including two senior leaders, one of them on the finance side, plus managers and associates. The company had just incorporated and had just picked a CPA firm. Leadership was still overseas, three to four months from arriving, and had never set up a California company or an HR function. The employees still had to start within a month.
The Challenges
- No one on site. The new entity had to operate for months before its leaders arrived, and those leaders had no experience standing up a California business.
- One month to make the company ready to employ people: policies, offer letters, a handbook, payroll, health insurance, workers' compensation, employment-practices coverage, benefits, and a 401(k). Headquarters knew it all had to exist. They did not know how to build it.
What HRology Did
- Put in an HR platform right away, with payroll, timekeeping, time off, and applicant tracking, so employees had a system from day one.
- Adapted offer letters and an employee handbook from work already on the shelf, instead of writing them from scratch.
- Onboarded the local hires, including both senior leaders, and told them plainly that leadership would arrive months later and that this would feel like a startup. By the time the head of the business unit landed, the people were working, the HR setup was in place, and the deadline had been met.
Unsticking an HR function that had fallen years behind
A global company ran a large US operation across four entities, with warehouses and somewhere between 250 and 300 people. The HR director was a local hire. She had already told the company, more than once, that she would sue for discrimination. Fear of that claim froze the business. Other entities had employees who needed to go, and nothing was done, because a termination could be turned into evidence for her own case. Hiring was not getting done, so the company was short-staffed. Time off still moved on paper, with several signatures, for a workforce of that size. The process was a decade or more behind the company's growth.
The Challenges
- The company was handcuffed. It kept an HR leader it no longer trusted, because ending that employment looked like it would become a large lawsuit.
- Problem employees in the other entities were left in place, because any termination could be used to build her claim.
- Recruiting had stalled, people were burning out, and everyday HR still ran on paper that could not keep up with the warehouses or the headcount.
What HRology Did
- Ran a full audit so the company could see what to fix, and where.
- With the company, worked out how to limit the cost if the director sued, then ended her employment and rebuilt the HR operation.
- Replaced a process more than ten years out of date. Employees could feel the company moving forward. Open roles were filled so people were no longer covering the gaps.