Creating Scalable People Operations for a Growing Startup
The Situation
A fast-growing startup with more than 40 team members was struggling with a lack of structure in their HR operations. There were no formal policies in place, hiring was inconsistent across teams, and the onboarding process depended on who was managing it. Performance expectations were unclear, and the team had no offboarding or feedback system.
They needed someone to build a people operations foundation that could grow with them.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
What I Did
Brought in as a fractional Head of People, I worked directly with leadership to build the entire HR infrastructure from scratch.
Policy and Compliance Work
Drafted all core HR policies, including leave, FMLA alignment, performance documentation, and an updated team member handbook
Partnered with legal for review and guidance where needed
Performance and Team Management
Built a performance improvement plan (PIP) process with clear documentation and expectations
Trained managers on how to have direct, supportive conversations with team members
Onboarding and Offboarding
Designed a consistent onboarding process using ClickUp, with templates, automated workflows, and built-in check-ins
Created standardized exit interviews and offboarding workflows to ensure insights weren’t lost when team members left
Hiring and Interview Process
Developed job-specific interview guides and candidate evaluation rubrics
Facilitated training for managers to create a more structured and inclusive process
Automation and Documentation
Replaced ad-hoc communications with automated workflows for onboarding and project updates
Built process documentation using Loom, Scribe, and ClickUp to reduce manual admin
The Results
100% policy adoption across the team, including signed acknowledgments for handbook and updates
30% faster onboarding from first day to full productivity
20% increase in retention for new hires within six months
Managers reported increased confidence in hiring decisions and performance conversations
Reduced team lead workload by over 40% for routine people ops tasks
Why It Mattered
The team got the clarity, structure, and support they needed to focus on doing great work. And leadership gained confidence that their people operations could scale with the business.
