A firm that sells to government wins work through tenders, staffs it with named people and waits long for payment. Because people are named in the bid, losing one expert mid-contract is a commercial problem, so retention and cover need planning early.
Not sure what you need? Tell us about your business in six short steps and we will come to the first meeting prepared.
Share your requirementsA government contracting firm bids for work from departments, public bodies and public-sector undertakings, then delivers consulting, technology, supply or project services. Tenders often require named key personnel with specified qualifications and experience, so who is on the team matters for winning as well as for delivering. Once a contract is awarded, the firm staffs a project office, often in another city, for the term of the contract. Payments follow milestones and approvals that can take months, which strains the firm's cash and its ability to pay people on time. Contracts end, and the team has to be redeployed or released. See also HR for professional services.
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
A person named in a tender who then leaves can put the contract at risk, and replacements must meet the same stated criteria.
Government payment cycles are long and uncertain, but salaries fall due every month regardless.
People posted to project offices in other cities feel cut off from the firm and from career prospects.
Tender deadlines bring intense weeks of document work, followed by slack periods when wins are uncertain.
When a project closes, staff are either moved to another contract or released, and the firm has no clear policy for which.
Degrees, experience letters and certificates of every named expert have to be current, complete and easy to produce at short notice.
Start with the topics that matter most here: HR Strategy and Workforce Planning; Compensation, Payroll and Benefits; Employee Administration. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for professional services, not in general.
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
The pieces a b2g and government contracting firms business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
A standard employee file with qualifications, experience letters and certificates kept current and quickly retrievable.
What this coversHideA standard employee file with qualifications, experience letters and certificates kept current and quickly retrievable. The employee information management work covers it.
A view of which contracts end when, who becomes free and which bids need them, so people move from project to project instead of leaving.
What this coversHideA view of which contracts end when, who becomes free and which bids need them, so people move from project to project instead of leaving. The workforce planning work supports it.
Retention arrangements and a named backup for each critical expert, agreed before the bid goes in.
What this coversHideRetention arrangements and a named backup for each critical expert, agreed before the bid goes in.
Allowances, travel home, review points and a route back, so a project posting is seen as a step and not a parking place.
What this coversHideAllowances, travel home, review points and a route back, so a project posting is seen as a step and not a parking place.
A rule that salaries are paid on the fixed date, with the firm's own cash plan covering the gap.
What this coversHideA rule that salaries are paid on the fixed date, with the firm's own cash plan covering the gap. The payroll process management work keeps the cycle steady.
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirementsConfirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
Complete, current records for every named expert, ready for the next bid or audit.
A forward plan that links contract end dates, bench time and bid pipeline.
A steady wage cycle that does not depend on when the client pays.
Retention arrangements for key people and outstation staff, based on where you lose them.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in professional services, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
Why associates and managers leave consulting, accounting, legal and advisory firms, and how to ask about progression, workload and partners at exit.
6 min readRead article
Hiring decisions made one request at a time, in the month the pain is worst. What a workforce plan contains and why a twelve-month view changes what you hire.
7 min readRead article
Most salary structures grew one negotiation at a time. How to build grades and bands from what you already pay, without repricing everybody at once.
8 min readRead article
Payroll says one joining date, the personal file says another and the manager remembers a third. How to establish a single trustworthy employee record and keep it that way.
7 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Be open about the posting terms and the next step, review pay at agreed points and arrange backup. People stay when they know what comes after the project.
Decide earlier which people will move to the next contract and tell them. Leaving it to the last week leads to avoidable exits.
Treat wages as fixed and plan cash for the gap. Late salary quickly costs more in lost trust than a short bridge costs in money.
Clear allowances, scheduled travel home, regular contact with the head office and a route back. Isolation is the usual cause of exits.
Spread tender work, start earlier, reuse standard content and give time back after each submission. The weeks before a deadline are the worst time for improvisation.
Bring the live contracts and the key experts named in each bid. We would ask who could replace each one, how complete their credentials files are, and what happens to a project team when its contract ends. A ready credentials file for every person, or a posting policy for outstation staff, is a practical place to begin. Scope is then agreed in writing.
All 15 business types in professional services · Find another business type
See all HR topics for professional services, or another industry.
Identify payroll leaks, record gaps and hiring bottlenecks in a free first conversation, and leave knowing what to fix first.
Know what you need? Share your requirements in four short steps.
Want the full picture? See the paid HR Diagnostic.
Prefer a quick message? Chat on WhatsApp
