Know What You Owe, Who Owns It and When It Falls Due
An HR compliance framework is the structure a business uses to keep track of its employment-related obligations: the registrations, policies, records, registers, filings and committees it is expected to maintain. It states what applies to your business, who owns each item, when it falls due and what evidence is kept, so readiness can be checked instead of assumed. We build the structure; the legal position stays with qualified professionals.
HR Compliance Framework in brief
An HR compliance framework is the structure a business uses to keep track of its employment-related obligations: the registrations, policies, records, registers, filings and committees it is expected to maintain. It states what applies to your business, who owns each item, when it falls due and what evidence is kept, so readiness can be checked instead of assumed.
- GullyHR is an HR consulting, HR services, training and software company based in Bengaluru, working with Indian startups and small and medium businesses.
- GullyHR builds the framework: the obligation register, the ownership, the calendar and the evidence trail. Interpretation of a statute, statutory filing and representation before an authority stay with your chartered accountant, labour-law consultant or advocate, and GullyHR coordinates with them.
- Scope covers a compliance assessment, a responsibility matrix, a compliance calendar, policy and document review, employee-record review, contractor-process review, POSH-process readiness, a management view and a corrective-action roadmap.
- You receive an obligation register with a status against every item, a responsibility matrix, an annual calendar, review notes on policies and employee files, a contractor checklist, a POSH readiness note and a dated roadmap.
- Delivered as a readiness assessment for one entity, as a full framework project across locations, or as a periodic review once the framework is running.
The starting point
Could You Answer a Compliance Checklist Today?
Employment obligations are usually spread across an accountant, an outside consultant, an HR person and the founder, with no single list. It works until a customer, lender or investor sends a checklist and the honest answer is that nobody can say with certainty.
We map what applies, give each item a named owner and a date, and make readiness something you can check.
You may be experiencing:
- A customer, lender or investor checklist that nobody in the business can answer with any certainty.
- Everything running through one person, and nobody able to say what falls due this month when that person is away.
- Registrations, returns and records divided between an accountant, a consultant and HR, with no single list.
- Appointment letters and policy acknowledgements existing for some employees and not others.
- Contract workers on your premises daily, and no clarity on the records you are expected to hold for them.
- A harassment policy circulated once by email, with no constituted committee and no complaint route employees recognise.
- A due date found after it passed, because it lived in one person's phone calendar.
- A new plant, branch or entity opened without anyone checking what changes in the registrations and records you hold.
- Policies describing one practice while the shop floor follows another.
- An outside consultant leaving, with the handover amounting to a folder nobody has opened since.
- Registers kept at head office while the site that actually uses them has none.
What we can help with
Our HR Compliance Framework Services
Applicability Mapping
Which obligations your business actually carries, worked from entity type, registrations held, locations, employment categories and industry, rather than from a generic list that includes things that do not apply.
Obligation Register
Every applicable item listed with its status marked in place, partial, missing or not applicable against the evidence seen, with items that turn on interpretation referred to a qualified professional.
Ownership Matrix
A person's name against every obligation, not a department's, across HR, accounts, site managers and outside consultants, recording who prepares, approves, files and holds the record.
Compliance Calendar
Monthly, quarterly, annual and renewal items on one calendar with the owner, the input each needs and a reminder lead time, so the year is laid out as dates rather than held in memory.
Policy and Document Review
The handbook, appointment letters, contracts and standing policies reviewed for coverage and contradiction, with gaps and items for professional review noted.
Employee Record Review
A sample across grades, locations and employment types checked against what a file is supposed to contain, with a gap list and a standard file checklist for the future.
Contractor Compliance
The people on your premises who are not on your payroll counted too: contract terms, the records a vendor must submit and the verification made before an invoice is cleared.
Harassment Framework Readiness
The committee, policy, complaint route, awareness and annual reporting your business is expected to maintain, tested for whether it would hold if somebody used it, with points referred to a qualified professional.
The scope
What the Consulting Covers
A compliance framework is a working routine, not a one-time checklist. These are the parts we can review or build. The scope is agreed with you and can take all twelve areas or only some.
Entity and Registration Inventory
A single list of the entities, locations and registrations your business holds, with the person who keeps each one current.
Applicability Mapping
Which obligations apply to you, worked from entity type, locations, headcount mix and industry rather than from a generic list.
Obligation Register
Each applicable item recorded with its status, owner, evidence held and the points marked for a qualified professional.
Ownership and Escalation
A named person against each item, with a back-up and a route for raising a problem before a date is missed.
Compliance Calendar
Monthly, quarterly, annual and renewal dates on one calendar, with the input each needs and when the reminder goes out.
Policy and Handbook Review
The standing policies and handbook read for coverage, contradictions and clauses that no longer match how the business works.
Letters and Acknowledgements
Appointment letters, policy acknowledgements and declarations checked for completeness across employees and employment types.
Employee File Review
A sample of files checked against a standard file checklist, with a gap list and a folder structure for the future.
Contractor and Vendor Records
The records a contractor is expected to submit, how they are checked and what is verified before an invoice is cleared.
Committees and Complaint Routes
Whether the committees, complaint routes and awareness your business is expected to maintain exist and would work if used.
Evidence Filing
Where each proof of compliance is kept, who can open it and how it is found when someone asks.
Management Review and Diligence Readiness
A fixed-format compliance status for leadership, and an index of documents ready for a customer, lender or investor request.
Working together
Ways to Work With Us
Readiness Assessment
A diagnostic for one entity or location: applicability mapping, document review, a sample check of employee and contractor records, and a dated action roadmap.
Framework Design and Implementation
The full project: register, responsibility matrix, calendar, reviewed policies and letter formats, record checklists and a management view.
Multi-Location or Multi-Entity Rollout
Where sites or entities carry different obligations and keep records differently, the framework is designed once and adapted for each.
Periodic Review and Diligence Support
A standing review on an agreed cycle, and help assembling the response where a customer, lender or investor has issued an employment checklist.
GullyHR does not give legal advice, file returns or replace your accountant or labour-law consultant. We do not guarantee compliance. We build the structure and coordinate qualified professionals.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the scope of your engagement, deliverables can include:
- An obligation register listing every applicable item with its status, owner and the evidence seen.
- A responsibility matrix naming who prepares, approves, files and holds the record for each obligation.
- An annual compliance calendar with monthly, quarterly, annual and renewal dates, the inputs each needs and reminder lead times.
- A policy and document review note covering the handbook, letters and contracts, with gaps, contradictions and items for professional review.
- An employee-record gap list by employee category, with the file checklist and folder structure for the future.
- A contractor compliance checklist covering contract terms, vendor-submitted records and the verification before an invoice is cleared.
- A harassment framework readiness note covering policy, committee, complaint route, awareness and reporting.
- A management dashboard definition and a dated corrective-action roadmap with owners and target months.
- A diligence response index listing the documents customers, lenders and investors commonly ask for and where each one is held.
- An evidence filing guide setting out where each record is kept, who may open it and how long it is held under your retention policy.
- A handover note format, so the work of an outside consultant or a departing owner can be picked up by someone else.
Step by step
How We Work
Map What Applies
We establish which obligations your business actually carries, working from entity type, registrations, locations, employment categories and industry. Items that turn on interpretation are marked for a qualified professional.
Request Documents and Interview Owners
One written request goes out for registrations, licences, returns, policies, letter formats, employee files and vendor records. Short conversations with HR, accounts, site managers and consultants establish who does what today.
Assess Status and Review Records
Each obligation is marked in place, partial, missing or not applicable against the evidence seen. The handbook, contracts and letters are reviewed, and a sample of employee and contractor files is checked.
Agree Ownership and the Calendar
The responsibility matrix and the annual calendar are drafted and walked through with the people named in them, so an owner learns they own something before a date arrives.
Implement, Correct and Review
The register, calendar, checklists and management view are put in place. Roadmap items are tracked to closure with evidence filed, and a review on an agreed cycle re-checks the register. Where it is included in the engagement, we run the first calendar cycle alongside your team, checking that reminders reach the named owners and that evidence is being filed, and refine the register from what we find.
The difference
What a Working Framework Gives You
A defined compliance framework helps you:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering which obligations are in place, partial or missing, and what evidence can currently be produced, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Answer a customer, lender or investor question from one register rather than from memory.
- Give each obligation a named owner, so items stop falling between HR, accounts and consultants.
- See due dates before they arrive rather than after.
- Keep policy documents describing what the business actually does.
- Know the remaining gaps in employee and contractor records rather than have somebody else find them.
- Make compliance a standing item at the leadership review, with a status the team can rely on.
- Prepare for an inspection, audit or diligence request from one evidence index rather than a scramble.
- Hand over compliance duties when a person leaves, because the register and calendar hold what that person knew.
- Bring a new site or entity into the framework with a standard starting checklist.
- Review compliance status with leadership at fixed intervals, in the same format each time.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Businesses Past One Person's Memory
Companies that employ across departments or shifts and can no longer hold the compliance list in one head.
Multi-Location Operators
Businesses running a plant or site alongside an office, where records are kept differently at each.
Owners With Split Responsibility
Businesses whose registrations, returns and records are divided between an accountant, a consultant and an internal HR person.
Companies Using Contractors
Businesses that engage housekeeping, security, canteen or manpower contractors on their own premises.
Companies Facing Customer or Lender Checks
Businesses where an audit, review, investor checklist or supply-chain requirement has started asking employment questions.
Leadership Preparing for Diligence
Teams preparing for a funding conversation, an acquisition discussion or entry into a regulated customer's vendor process.
Businesses Changing Accountants or Consultants
Companies handing work to a new professional and wanting a record that does not depend on what the previous one remembered.
HR and Accounts Teams
People who have been handed compliance as an extra duty and want a structure, a calendar and a register to work from.
Companies Opening a New Site or Entity
Businesses adding a location, a unit or a new legal entity, where records and responsibilities need to be set up from the start.
Good to know
A Compliance Cycle Your Team Can Run
Each period
- Look ahead: the owner checks what falls due in the coming period and whether the inputs are ready.
- Prepare and review: the person who prepares passes the work to the person who approves, with the record attached.
- Complete and file the evidence: the proof is saved in the agreed place and the register status is updated.
Each year
- Re-check applicability: entity, location, headcount mix and contractor use are compared with the register.
- Renew and refresh: registrations, letter formats and policies are reviewed on the dates the calendar sets.
Each stage has an owner, a date and a place where the record is kept.
Good to know
Track Whether the Framework Is Working
Coverage
- Register coverage: how many applicable items have a named owner and a due date.
- Evidence on file: how many items can be backed by a document today.
- Open gaps: which items are partial or missing, and how long each has been open.
- Contractor records received: how many vendor submissions arrived complete and on time.
Discipline
- Calendar adherence: how many items were completed before the reminder lead time ran out.
- Employee file completeness: how many sampled files meet the standard checklist.
- Acknowledgement coverage: how many employees have a signed letter and policy acknowledgement on file.
- Corrective actions closed: how many roadmap items are closed with evidence.
Measures use agreed definitions. A status is a view of the record seen, not a statement of the legal position.
Good to know
Scope and Service Boundaries
Each engagement defines
The entities, locations, employee categories, contractors, obligations and deliverables included, and whether implementation support follows the assessment.
Requires a separate agreement
- Preparing and filing returns on your behalf.
- Legal advice, opinions or representation before any authority.
- Statutory or financial audit.
- Payroll processing.
- Day-to-day HR administration, agreed separately as outsourced HR management.
- Constituting a committee or handling an actual complaint on your behalf.
- Software licences, procurement and integrations.
Decisions remain with your authorised management team. Policies, letters and formal employment actions should receive appropriate specialist review.
Good to know
Timeline and How to Prepare
Timeline
The timeline depends on the number of entities and locations, the state of existing records, how many employee categories and contractors are covered, and how quickly documents and owners are available. We confirm the schedule after agreeing the scope.
Useful inputs
- Entity and registration details, and the list of locations.
- Headcount by employment type, including contract workers.
- Policies, handbook and letter formats in use.
- Any existing compliance list, tracker or consultant report.
- A sample of employee files and vendor contracts.
- Names of the accountant, consultant or HR person who handles compliance today.
If these are not documented, we can begin by understanding how things are done now. A missing record is recorded as a finding.
Good to know
Confidentiality and Compliance Information
Handled by agreement
Compliance reviews can involve employee records, salary data, licences and vendor contracts. Before work begins we agree what we receive, who may access it, how it is shared, the confidentiality terms and how working material is returned or removed. Where an individual's data is not needed to reach a conclusion, we use masked or aggregated samples.
Who sees the findings
Findings go to the people you nominate. Items that need a qualified professional are referred to one, rather than circulated more widely.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
It is the structure a business uses to keep track of its employment-related obligations: the registrations, policies, records, registers, filings and committees it is expected to maintain, with what applies, who owns each item, when it falls due and what evidence is kept.
No. GullyHR is not a legal practice and does not state a legal position, and this engagement does not file returns. We build the structure, assess readiness against the evidence and coordinate qualified professionals where required. Please confirm legal and statutory points with one.
No, and the framework depends on them. It gives their work a single register, a named owner and a calendar, so what they do is visible to you and does not depend on one person remembering it. Many engagements strengthen that relationship.
No, and nobody honest could. We assess readiness against the evidence we see, mark what is in place, partial or missing, and flag what needs professional interpretation. Whether you are compliant is a legal position outside what we provide.
We assess whether the committee, policy, complaint route, awareness and reporting are in place and whether they would work if used, and help you prepare. The constitution of the committee and its formal obligations are for a qualified professional to confirm.
Yes. People who work on your premises but not on your payroll can carry obligations for you as the principal employer. The framework includes a contractor checklist and a verification step before an invoice is cleared. Please confirm the specific obligations with a qualified professional.
It is reported to you plainly and early, with the evidence, and marked for a qualified professional. Findings go to leadership in one session rather than being circulated, and the roadmap sequences them by consequence and effort.
Whatever exists, as it is. Registrations, licences, returns, policies, letter formats, employee files and vendor records, including incomplete ones, since a gap is itself a finding. We send one written request listing what we would like to see.
After the applicability mapping. The scope states which entities, locations and employee categories are covered, whether contractors and the harassment framework are included, and whether implementation follows the assessment. It is agreed in writing beforehand.
Pricing depends on the number of entities and locations, employee categories covered, contractor use, the state of existing records and whether implementation support is included. Share your requirements and we will send a tailored proposal.
Usually when the list no longer fits in one person's head. Common triggers are a customer or investor checklist nobody can answer, a second location keeping records differently, contractors working on your premises, or a due date noticed after it passed.
A named person in HR or accounts, with a leadership sponsor who reviews status. The register gives each obligation its own owner, so the person who keeps the register does not need to do every item themselves.
On a cycle you set, commonly monthly for the calendar and quarterly or half-yearly for the full register. It is also worth re-checking when an entity, location, headcount mix or contractor arrangement changes.
Yes. The register and evidence index show what you can answer, what is partial and what is missing before the request arrives. Points that turn on legal interpretation are referred to a qualified professional.
Yes. The framework is built around the team you have and the systems you run. Your HR person keeps the register, your accountant and consultants continue their work, and the GullyHR platform is used only if you decide the record side is easier held there.
The engagement carries written confidentiality terms covering documents, employee data and findings. Reviews use samples and, where individual data is not needed, masked or aggregated records. Findings go only to the people you nominate.
Replace Assumption With a Register You Can Check
Know which employment obligations apply, who owns each one, when it falls due and what evidence you hold, and be able to show it when a customer, lender or inspector asks.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
Book a Compliance Readiness Consultation
Tell us what is prompting the question about compliance.
Explore further
