When HR Operations is the right answer
Many companies only notice how fragile their HR processes are when something specific goes wrong: a faulty payroll run, a missed assignment deadline, a data protection incident. Until then it worked, because one person had everything in their head. That person leaves, the company grows, and suddenly every contract change needs three follow-up questions. Three situations in which HR Operations work typically begins:
Spreadsheets instead of systems
Employee master data, leave balances and contracts live in scattered Excel files. Every change is manual work, and errors pile up.
International assignments without a process
Employees work from abroad or are posted abroad, but there is no clean process for social security, tax and residence status.
Payroll is a risk, not a routine
Month-end payroll is stressful every time, special cases are corrected by hand, and nobody has the full picture.
What I take on as HR Operations
The focus is on processes and systems, not on advising on individual cases. In concrete terms that covers:
How an engagement runs
30 minutes, directly with me. I tell you whether and how I can help.
Review of all HR processes, systems and interfaces, prioritised by risk.
Processes get documented, systems rolled out or tightened, payroll runs more reliably.
Documented processes your team can carry on without me.
The process audit in the first two weeks
The audit is not a presentation but a list with traffic lights: which processes exist, who runs them, where they break, what happens if that person is out. Eight questions I answer in every audit:
- Where does master data live, and how many versions are there?One source of truth, or five Excel files that disagree.
- How does a contract change reach payroll?Through a process with a four-eyes check, or by email to one person.
- Who checks the payroll run before it goes out?And against which criteria.
- Which deadlines are running, and who is watching them?Probation, fixed-term contracts, assignments, retention.
- How many hours a week does pure administration cost?Measured, not estimated.
- Which systems talk to each other, and which do not?HRIS, payroll, time tracking, recruiting.
- Who has access to which personnel data?And whether that matches what the data protection officer signed off.
- What breaks if one person in the HR team is out for three weeks?The most honest question in the whole audit.
Results from past roles
At an international software company, manual HR administration cut from 30 to 5 hours a week with Excel VBA and AI routines instead of extra manual work. Payroll governance and global mobility built where no structured process had existed, including the rollout of a SaaS solution negotiated with the works council. At a bank, operational HR work across twelve countries, with the documentation duties of a regulated organisation. All of it in permanent roles, the details anonymised under case studies.
The detailed examples: HR admin cut from 30 to 5 hours, Payroll governance and global mobility built, HR across twelve countries.
AI in HR Operations
HR Operations is the area where AI saves hours fastest, because the work consists of recurring documents: reference letters, certificates, contract amendments, answers to the same questions again and again. I build these routines in the tools your company already pays for, Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT Enterprise or Claude, with a works council agreement (Betriebsvereinbarung, the binding agreement between employer and works council) that stands before the routine goes live, not after.
What that looks like in practice: AI for reference letters, AI for employee questions, and the framework under AI for HR teams. How many hours your routines currently tie up, the time calculator estimates.
How the cost is made up
I work on a day-rate basis under a services contract. The day rate is named on the first call and depends on whether it is a full-time engagement or fractional on fixed days. The most honest comparison is the time your HR administration ties up today against the time after the engagement, plus what a faulty payroll run or a missed deadline costs. The logic behind it: What an Interim HR Manager costs.
HR operations, payroll governance and system rollouts Roles in corporate groups, mid-sized companies and scale-ups., among others. More about me
Frequently asked questions about HR Operations
Do you run payroll yourself?
I manage the payroll provider and check quality, but I do not process the payroll myself as a payroll specialist. Where needed, I work closely with your existing provider or tax adviser.
Do you know our HRIS?
I have supported several HRIS rollouts and get into existing systems quickly. When selecting a new system, I bring the requirements logic, and you make the final choice.
What if we are expanding internationally?
Global mobility and entity set-up in new countries are part of my experience. Tax and employment law details I clear with local tax advice; process governance stays with me.
Do we need a new system for this?
Rarely right away. Most problems sit in the process, not in the tool. Only once the process stands is it worth asking whether the system can carry it.
What stays when you are gone?
Documented processes, clean data, a team that runs the workflows itself. That is the criterion I measure every Operations engagement against.