Jumpstarting HR at a Scaling Startup
I’ve often reflected on all the things that keep Founders up at night, and as one can imagine, that list is quite long! In the early days of building and operating a startup, Founders endeavour to balance myriad priorities — including designing and deploying groundbreaking products or services, acquiring and satisfying an endless stream of new customers, and fostering a dynamic team culture focused on continuous innovation and results.
Having recently joined the Inovia Capital team as Head of Talent and People, I’ve started meeting some of our early stage founders and inquiring about their most pressing challenges. Talent never fails to be mentioned, probably one of the most (if not most) important topics keeping them awake, despite how much capital they’ve already raised or revenue they’re bringing in. The need to build solid HR infrastructure and develop and retain top talent is essential to support the next phase of growth.
As you strive to build a solid foundation to support talent acquisition and retention within your company, I’d like to offer some considerations to think about when hiring your Head of Talent/HR and some immediate priorities that should follow to have them succeed in their new role.
Hiring a Head of Talent/HR
Let’s say you just raised a new round of funding, perhaps series A or B. It may be the case that you have little or no internal support with talent acquisition at the moment. Perhaps you’ve been working with an external search firm/agency or maybe you’ve already hired an internal recruitment team to support your talent acquisition needs.
Now, what’s next? If you’re currently working with a search firm/agency you need to evaluate the cost/benefit of bringing someone in-house. If you already have internal recruiters, you may be thinking about whether there’s a need to bring on someone to oversee/manage the entire Talent and HR function.
Before kicking off the search for a talent/HR hire, there are a couple of questions that you need to ask yourself and some factors to keep in mind.
Is it important to bring an in-house talent/HR person at this time?
- How many hires are you looking to make in the immediate term? What are your planned employee needs in the next 3, 6, 12 and 24 months?
- Are you facing some HR challenges where day to day in house support is needed?
Am I ready to make some expensive HR investments? These include hiring a dedicated Head of Talent/HR, adopting HR tools such LinkedIn Recruiter and/or implementing robust HR Information Management Systems (HRIS) or Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), such as Greenhouse to keep track of candidates.
Once you’ve thought about whether a true need exists, then it’s time to ask yourself about the typical candidate profile that you should be looking for. Is it someone with primarily agency/search firm recruitment experience, internal recruitment, a HR generalist or a combination of recruiting and HR experience?
The truth is that the answer varies depending on the current need and stage of the company. However, if the goal is to keep your team lean at the start, then I’d recommend incorporating the following criteria in your checklist when assessing potential candidates:
Do they have recruiting and HR experience? This person should be able to speak to both areas and have an understanding of where the immediate needs and priorities should be. This would include having an understanding of projected hiring requirements that map to product and growth targets, and putting systems in place to facilitate efficient headcount growth. Additionally, as headcount increases, the person should be able to design effective HR programs that keep the best and brightest happy in the company, while ensuring future employees are drawn to the company as a desirable employer of choice.
Do they function both operationally and strategically? Do they have a “roll up their sleeves” type attitude, where they can manage day to day requirements and be operational, especially if the HR infrastructure has not yet been put in place? On the flip side, are they able to offer strategic insights and map corresponding strategies for looking ahead? Although in most cases, the immediate focus will be to grow headcount by building out different teams (i.e., engineering, sales, etc.), there will however be an eventual broader need to strengthen retention strategies as headcount grows. This will include experience with maintaining a startup culture, keeping employees engaged, and developing career pathways, so being strategic will be extremely important.
Are they a leader? Can they thrive in autonomous environments, guide senior management, and lead positive organizational change? As companies grow and pivot, employees need to be given insights and assurances that they are working at the best place for their careers, and that the organization’s culture and values are well-aligned with their own. The HR leader can play an instrumental role in working with senior management to anticipate and navigate these changes which often arise in dynamic startup environments and are crucial to be managed so that the business can continue to achieve its objectives.
Defining HR Priorities
Once you’ve made that key hire, one of your goals should be to help set them up for success. You should meet with them to determine the company’s current needs and priorities and be clear about their objectives.
Some of the immediate priorities for your new Head of Talent/HR should be to:
Create a 100 Day Plan and KPIs for key HR areas (talent, culture, policies/systems, performance, comp/benefits) to present to the leadership team. This will ensure that your entire senior management team is aware of the HR/Talent priorities and will extend support when and as needed.
Establish Rapport with Employees, across levels and functions to get their perspectives and obtain insights on talent and people related matters. This would then result in a deeper diagnostic to identify pain points/priority areas related to talent acquisition, day to day operations, productivity, employee retention etc.
Initiate a Company Wide Survey to establish baseline employee satisfaction, identify primary areas of improvement, and strategically target investments through HR programs and services. Tools such as Culture Amp or OfficeVibe can help optimize this process.
Evaluate the Current HR Structure. An initial goal should be to have a minimum structure or foundation in place (i.e., defined policies, employee handbook, systems (HRIS, ATS)). Eventually the focus would move towards taking it to the next level by refining systems, employee programs, and policies, and then taking appropriate course corrections and implementing creative and best practices within the company to foster an unforgettable employee experience.
Strengthen Employer Brand. Work with the Marketing team to ensure that all media channels (i.e., blog, website, social media, etc.) are leveraged to support hiring and accurately reflect culture, team, mission/vision set by the leadership team. It’s also important to take a look at Glassdoor reviews. If there’s a lot of negative feedback from current or former employees, there’s a need to determine if there is a cause for concern (i.e., related to culture, management, compensation etc.) and how those matters can be resolved. It would be a shame to deter promising talent before they even get their foot in the door.
As your company focuses on the next stage of growth and looks to scale the team, I would strongly recommend deploying a robust HR infrastructure and corresponding people programs to draw in new talent efficiently and cost-effectively, while also achieving headcount growth targets and maintaining a dynamic and innovative team culture. By taking a closer look at your checklist when hiring a new Head of Talent/HR and establishing related HR priorities with them, you’re one step closer to having your team support growth objectives, while creating an environment conducive to inspiring, developing and retaining top talent.
