Run HR the Same Way Every Month, Whoever Is Doing It
As a software company grows past the point where the founder knew everybody, HR work stays in the heads of a few people. We help you write the SOPs and checklists, fix an annual calendar, state service levels, build an approval matrix for HR decisions, run a monthly review and carry out a yearly audit. You decide how HR works; we make it repeatable, so it does not depend on whoever happens to remember.
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Share your requirementsThe starting point
Could Someone Else Run Your HR Tomorrow?
Joiner and exit steps are known to the person who did them last time. The cycle of appraisals, increments, budget and policy review is carried by habit, and requests reach HR through chat, email and walk-ups with no stated turnaround.
We help you turn HR from a set of habits into a set of routines.
You may be experiencing:
- Joiner and leaver steps known only to the person who ran them last time.
- An annual cycle of appraisals, increments, budgets and policy review carried by habit.
- Requests to HR arriving by chat, email and in person, with no turnaround time.
- Offices or entities applying different practices to the same HR event.
- Exceptions, such as a hiring premium or a leave carry-forward, approved by whoever is asked and not recorded.
- A monthly HR review that is absent or limited to attrition.
- Audits that find missing records, after which fixes are made once and not repeated.
What we can help with
Our HR Operations and Governance Services for Software Companies
HR Process Inventory
List the HR activities your company performs, who does each, how often and where the steps are recorded. We mark those held by one person and those without any written steps.
SOPs and Checklists
Write step-by-step procedures and checklists for the routines that matter most, such as joiner, exit, leave, payroll input, letters and appraisal cycle, in plain language that a new team member can follow.
Annual HR Calendar
Build a calendar of the year's HR cycles: budgets, increments, appraisals, engagement surveys, policy reviews and compliance dates, each with an owner, a lead time and a dependency.
Service Levels for Employee Requests
State how requests reach HR, how they are logged, who answers and within what time, for common items like letters, leave queries and access, and track performance against them.
Approval Matrix for HR Decisions
Define who approves hires, offers, exceptions, transfers, increments and policy deviations, up to what limit and with which deputy. Exceptions are recorded with a reason.
Multi-location and Multi-entity Operations
Show which routines are common and which vary by office or entity, who owns each variation and how a change in one location reaches the others.
Monthly HR Review
Run a monthly review with leadership using a standard agenda: key people measures, requests and turnaround, exceptions, calendar status and actions.
Audit and Continuous Improvement
Carry out an internal review of records, approvals and SOP adherence each year, assign findings to owners and track them to closure, so fixes last.
The deliverables
What You Receive
Depending on the agreed scope, deliverables can include:
- A process inventory with owners and gaps.
- SOPs and checklists for the main HR routines.
- An annual HR calendar with owners.
- Service levels for employee requests.
- An approval matrix for HR decisions.
- A monthly review agenda and action log.
- An internal audit format and findings tracker.
- Set-up of workflows, reminders and request logging in your system or on GullyHR.
Step by step
How We Work
Observe How HR Runs
We shadow routines and ask each HR team member to run a joining or exit from memory, and compare it with what the checklist would say.
Prioritise
We agree with you which routines hurt most, such as exits, payroll inputs and appraisal cycles, and start there.
Write and Test
We write the SOPs, calendar and approval matrix, and test them on live cases, adjusting for what people find awkward.
Set Up the Routine
We configure request logging, workflows and reminders, and begin the monthly review, with owners confirmed.
Audit and Review
Before work starts we record where you stand. After the first cycles we review adherence and run a first internal check.
The difference
Make HR Dependable and Less Person-dependent
A defined operating routine helps your company:
We do not promise outcomes. We record a baseline before work starts, covering the HR tasks that only one person can perform, the turnaround of common employee requests and the exceptions approved without a record, and report against it, so you can see what changed and what did not.
- Hand HR work to a new team member without a long explanation.
- See the year's HR cycles before they arrive.
- Tell employees how long a request takes.
- Record exceptions and who approved them.
- Review HR performance each month.
- Fix findings once, and keep them fixed.
Find your fit
Who This Service Is For
Growing Software Companies
Move HR from founder memory to written routines.
HR Teams of One or Two
Reduce dependence on a single person.
Companies with Several Offices or Entities
Keep common routines common.
Firms Preparing for a Client or Customer Audit
Have records and approvals in order.
Companies After Rapid Hiring
Put structure around HR work that grew faster than its processes.
How it usually shows up in information technology and software
As software companies grow past the point where the founder knew everybody, HR work remains in the heads of a few people. Joiner and exit steps are known to the person who did them last time. The annual cycle of appraisals, increments, budget and policy review is carried by habit. Requests to HR are made by chat, email and walk-up, with no stated turnaround. Offices in several locations or entities apply different practices. Approvals for exceptions, such as a hiring premium or a leave carry-forward, are given by whoever is asked, and they are not recorded. Monthly management review of HR is absent or limited to attrition. Audits, when they occur, find missing records, and improvements are made once and not repeated.
Common challenges
Where it goes wrong in information technology and software
Processes live in people's heads
The loss of one HR person leaves the others guessing.
The annual cycle is carried by habit
Appraisal, increments and policy review slip because no calendar exists.
Requests have no turnaround
Employees do not know how long an HR query should take.
Exceptions are approved informally
Decisions are not recorded, and similar cases get different answers.
A better process
What a working version looks like
- 01
Write the SOPs
A short procedure and checklist for each repeated task: joining, exit, leave, payroll inputs and letters. The HR process work provides the structure.
- 02
Fix an annual calendar
Dates, owners and dependencies for the appraisal cycle, increments, budgets, policy review and compliance tasks.
- 03
State the service levels
Turnaround for common requests, one channel for submitting them and a record of each.
- 04
Write the approval matrix for HR
Who can approve exceptions, up to what limit, with a log.
- 05
Review monthly and audit yearly
A monthly review of the people pack and service levels, with an annual check of records. See HR process audit.
What to check this week
- Ask an HR team member to run a joining from memory and compare it with the checklist.
- Find the annual HR calendar and see whether it has owners.
- Time three recent employee requests from receipt to answer.
- Look for the last exception approval and how it was recorded.
- List the HR tasks that only one person can do.
What this looks like in information technology and software
The parts of hr operations and governance that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
HR Operations for Distributed Teams
Where the workforce may never be in an office.
What this coversHide
HR Operations for Distributed Teams
Where the workforce may never be in an office.
What this coversHideSoftware businesses increasingly operate across locations and remote arrangements, and HR operations that assume physical presence create friction with the population least tolerant of it.
- Fully digital joiner, exit and document processes
- Access provisioning and revocation tied to HR events
- Multi-location and remote-arrangement administration
- Payroll input discipline across entities and locations
- Policy ownership and version control maintained centrally
- Service levels stated and measured for employee queries
- Records retained and retrievable across jurisdictions
- Internal review of HR data accuracy on a stated cycle
Tying access revocation to the HR exit event, rather than to a separate IT request, closes the gap that most software businesses carry and most would rather not discuss.
Questions on this, in information technology and software
A standard operating procedure is a written, step-by-step description of a routine, with owners and records. Any HR team that repeats routines, and wants someone else to be able to run them, benefits from SOPs for joiners, exits, leave and payroll inputs.
Fewer than you might think. We start with routines that are repeated often or cause errors, and write them briefly. More can follow once those are in use, and each one needs an owner to keep it current.
They are stated turnaround times for common employee requests, with a place to raise and track them. They set expectations on both sides and show you where HR is stretched. You decide the times; we help you measure against them.
We build the calendar and the review routine, and mark items for your adviser. GullyHR does not give legal advice, so confirm statutory obligations and dates with a qualified professional.
Often yes. If a ticketing tool, HR system or shared calendar can carry the routines, we set them up there. Otherwise we can configure workflows, reminders and request logging on the GullyHR platform.
By giving each one an owner and a review date, adding them to the annual calendar and checking adherence in the yearly audit. Changes then pass through a short approval, so the written version matches the practice.
The steps, owners, timing, forms and records for one process, such as joining or exit, in a page or two. Short and followed is better than long and ignored.
So that employees know what to expect and HR can see where it is slow. A stated turnaround turns complaints into measurable gaps.
Define who can approve what, record each decision with the reason and review them periodically. Patterns of exceptions show where the policy needs changing.
Monthly for service and numbers, annually for the full process and record check.
Run HR on Routines, Not Memory
If HR work lives in the heads of a few people, start by writing down what happens and who owns it.
Prefer to talk first? Call +91 80958 58589 or write to hello@gullyhr.com.
Book an HR Operations Consultation
Tell us about your HR team, your locations and what depends on one person.
The general method — what hr operations and governance covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the hr process consulting and implementation page. What is above is the part that differs for information technology and software.
Other HR topics for information technology and software
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.
See all HR topics for information technology and software, or another industry.