HR Setup
A people function sized for your actual growth stage. Six processes on one page each, a performance cycle tied to the business plan, compliance done without paperwork overhead — and a named internal owner running it after we leave.
Building the HR function from scratch, fractional HR leadership and people foundations for growing companies — across the DACH region, Poland and wider Europe.
What you get
- An HR operating model sized for your stage: what's in-house, what's outsourced, what's automated, what's postponed.
- The six processes that actually matter — hiring, onboarding, performance, comp, exits, and one escalation path for the hard conversations. Each one a page, not a manual.
- A performance cycle tied to the business plan — KPI/OKR alignment, calibration template, the conversation script managers actually use.
- A manager routine the leadership team can commit to: weekly 1:1s, quarterly check-ins, one comp review a year. Not every week.
- Compliance floor — labour law, GDPR, documentation — done without turning HR into a paperwork function.
How we work
- We build from the decisions your exec team already makes, not from a textbook org design.
- Every document is a template your managers can use on Monday. If it takes a workshop to explain, we've over-engineered it.
- We focus on the hard stuff: comp conversations, poor-performer exits, post-merger integration — the moments when a cheap HR function becomes expensive.
- We hand over to a named internal owner. If no one in-house owns HR on day one, that's the first decision, not the last.
Ideal for
- Founders at 30–150 FTE where HR has outgrown one part-time person.
- Post-merger integrations where two HR functions need to become one without losing the good parts of either.
- Exec teams who've just hired a permanent Head of HR and need a foundation shipped in their first 90 days.
Typical engagement shape
- Duration
- 10–16 weeks
- Team
- 1 senior principal (Adrianna Huber), embedded 2–3 days/week
- Cadence
- Weekly exec touch + bi-weekly manager working session
- Starts with
- A people diagnostic in week 1: who owns what today, what's breaking, what can wait
- Exit
- The HR operating model is live and owned by a named internal lead
Where we've run this before
Built the HR function greenfield at Welyo after the Focus Telecom + Systell merger, harmonising two cultures and running KPI/OKR performance cycles from day one. Earlier HR leadership at RTB House (APAC + EMEA), TikTok (Europe), and Primotly. See Adrianna's full CV →
Common questions
How do you set up an HR function from scratch?
Start with what the business needs to decide about its people, then build the foundations: structures, core policies, the leadership routines and the few people-metrics that tie to the plan. Built to run without us, with a permanent owner in place at the end.
What is fractional HR, and is it right for us?
A senior HR leader working part-time, carrying the function without a full-time head of HR. Right for companies too big for no HR but too small, or too early, for a full-time executive hire.
Fractional HR vs. outsourced HR — what's the difference?
Outsourced HR runs admin and compliance outside your company. Fractional HR is senior leadership inside it — building the function, sitting in the exec room, setting direction. We do the latter.
When does a company actually need a real HR function?
When headcount growth, a merger, or recurring people problems outgrow ad-hoc handling — when people decisions start affecting the business plan and nobody owns them at the table.
How long does it take to stand up HR?
The foundations in weeks, not quarters: structure, core policies and the first performance cycle, then handover to a permanent owner. We did exactly this greenfield after the Welyo merger.