Startup CHRO
A senior HR leader who sets up structure, policies, hiring and payroll foundations for a growing company.
Culture Engineering & CHRO-as-a-Service
High attrition because of culture, and no senior HR leader to fix it? Get a CHRO who owns the outcome.
Culture-driven attrition is expensive and slow to reverse. People leave managers, unclear expectations, unfair treatment and a workplace where nobody listens. HRBS gives you an experienced HR leader on a flexible model, plus a Culture Engineering programme that finds the causes and fixes them.
Does this sound familiar?
- Good people leave within a year, and exit interviews blame "better opportunity".
- The founder or CEO is still the de facto head of HR.
- Managers were promoted for technical skill and were never taught to lead people.
- Employees stay quiet in meetings and complain in private, or online.
- Policies were written for a 20-person company and no longer fit.
- Change initiatives start with energy and fade within a quarter.
Not sure which of these is your biggest risk? Take our free HR Self-Assessment: 50 questions, about 10 minutes, with an instant HR implementation level.
What it costs you if nothing changes
Every exit means rehiring, retraining and lost customer knowledge. Teams with weak managers lose their best people first, and those who stay disengage. Without senior HR leadership, the founder carries people issues personally, decisions get made case by case, and the organisation can't scale beyond the leader's own reach.
CHRO-as-a-Service
Senior HR leadership, on the model that fits you
Part-time or remote CHRO / HRBP
Agreed days each month for strategy, leadership advice, manager support and employee issues.
Full-time HRBP
An HRBS professional placed with your business units for continuous HR partnership.
Culture Engineering
Interventions we design and deliver
We start from your diagnosis, not a catalogue. These are the levers we use most often.
Culture change programmes
Define the behaviours the business needs, and align leaders, rituals, policies and rewards to them.
Leadership development
Help senior leaders set direction, build trust and communicate decisions clearly.
Manager capability
Practical training on goal setting, feedback, difficult conversations and fair decisions for first-line and mid-level managers.
Org design and role clarity
Reporting lines, spans of control, decision rights and role definitions that remove confusion.
Employee listening
Pulse surveys, skip-level meetings and stay interviews, with visible action on what people say.
Change management
Plans for communication, involvement and reinforcement, so changes stick beyond the launch.
Psychological safety
Team norms and manager habits that make it safe to raise problems and ideas early.
Career and learning programmes
Capability maps, career paths, role-based learning journeys and onboarding that gets new joiners productive faster.
Recognition, retention and well-being
Recognition practices, retention plans for critical roles, and workload and well-being support.
Employee experience and process simplification
Map the employee journey and remove the friction in everyday HR processes.
HR policy and SOPs
A modern, consistent HR policy manual and the SOPs managers need to apply it fairly.
Fairness and inclusion
Consistent, transparent processes for pay, promotion and opportunity.
How the engagement works
- Diagnose. Attrition data, exit reasons, employee listening, manager interviews and the HR Self-Assessment show where culture is breaking down.
- Prioritise. We agree the two or three changes with the most impact on attrition and performance, with measures for each.
- Lead and deliver. Your HRBS CHRO or HRBP runs the programme with your leadership team, month by month.
- Measure. Attrition, engagement pulse results and manager effectiveness are reviewed every quarter, and the plan is adjusted.
Who this is for
Founders still acting as head of HR, growing companies losing good people to culture issues, and established businesses between HR leaders. Where the issue is role clarity and output rather than culture, our workforce productivity service is the better starting point. For compliance and policy risk, see statutory compliance.
Why HRBS
We do the work, not just the report. A named HRBS leader stays accountable for the culture roadmap, and progress is measured on attrition and engagement data rather than activity.
Free self-assessment
Where is your organisation most at risk?
50 questions, about 10 minutes. Get your HR implementation level and your top people-management risks instantly.
Often combined with
Related HR services
Talent Management & Workforce Productivity
Fix low output and low accountability with role restructuring, clear KRAs and a performance rhythm managers can run.
Statutory Compliance & Legal HR Service
Statutory risk audits, HR due diligence, IPO readiness and new-plant compliance, so you can scale without surprises.
Global Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding
Stop bad hires, offer drop-offs and poor employer ratings. Calibrated hiring, verification and employer-brand repair.
FAQ
HR Consultancy & CHRO-as-a-Service FAQs
What is CHRO-as-a-Service?
An experienced HR leader from HRBS who works with your leadership team on an agreed part-time, remote or full-time basis, giving you senior HR leadership without a full-time CHRO hire.
How do you know attrition is caused by culture?
We look at when and where people leave, what exit and stay interviews say, manager-level patterns and employee listening results. Concentrated exits under particular managers or teams usually point to culture or management causes rather than pay alone.
Do you still offer learning and development?
Yes, as part of culture engineering. Manager capability, leadership development, career paths and role-based learning are designed around the gaps the diagnosis finds, rather than offered as standalone training.
How long does culture change take?
Early signs, such as better manager conversations and fewer regretted exits, often appear within two to three quarters. Lasting change takes longer and depends on leadership commitment.
What is the HR Self-Assessment?
A free, 50-question online assessment for business owners covering 25 areas of people management. It gives an instant HR implementation level and highlights your highest-risk areas. It reflects one person's view and is not an audit.
Ready to cure the problem, not just the process?
One 30-minute call to understand the problem and agree a clear next step.