langner.← Private Equity
Confidential
Deal team only

HR Operating Model  ·  Project Halyard

From ticket-takers to operators.

The people function you inherit was built to keep the tickets closed. The plan you are funding needs it to run people as a lever. This is the redesign, and the economics underneath it.

Target
Multi-region facility-services
platform · ~1,900 employees
Function today
14 people · administrative
· reactive
Redesign
Three-tier operating
model
Prepared by
langner.
operating partner

The redesign

One team doing everything, into three tiers doing it well.

Today
One team, everything, reactive. No tier, no leverage, no owner for the strategic work.
Payroll runsBenefits questionsThe ticket queueOnboardingCompliance filingsTerminationsManager escalationsComp exceptionsWhatever comes in
Target
Three tiers. Expertise built once, partners in the business, and every routine request off everyone's desk.
Centers of Excellence
Comp · Talent · Systems & Analytics. Deep expertise, built once, used everywhere.
HR Business Partners
Embedded with each region. Operators in the business, not administrators of it.
Shared Services
Transactional and tech-enabled. Every routine request, once, fast, and off the leaders' desks.

The economics

Same function. Less cost. And finally, an owner.

This is not a headcount cut dressed up as a redesign. It is the same money buying leverage instead of activity: fewer administrators, more operators, and automation carrying the routine load underneath.

Cost-to-serve per employee$1,180 → $920  ·  −22% over year one
$1,180 $920
CloseYear one
MetricTodayTargetMove
HR team sizeroles, not just heads
14
→
11
6 admin roles automated, 3 operators added
Cost-to-serveper employee, per year
$1,180
→
$920
−22%
HR : employee ratioleverage, not thinness
1:136
→
1:173
+27% leverage
Time on strategic workvs administrative
22%
→
55%
2.5×

The function costs less and, for the first time, has room to own the value creation plan.

The three tiers

What each one is for.

Tier 1

Centers of Excellence

The expertise you do not want re-invented in every region. Compensation architecture, talent and succession, and the systems and analytics spine. Built once, governed centrally, used everywhere.

Comp · Talent · Systems & Analytics
Tier 2

HR Business Partners

The operators embedded with each region and its leaders. They own workforce planning, org design and the hard people calls in the business, and they are measured on outcomes, not tickets.

Embedded · outcome-owned
Tier 3

Shared Services

The transactional engine. Payroll, onboarding, benefits administration and the routine queue, standardized and tech-enabled so it happens once, fast, and never lands on a leader's desk.

Transactional · automated

Getting there

The transition, in four moves.

Stand up shared services first. Pull the transactional load off the whole team so everyone else has room to change. Nothing else works until this does.

Convert the strongest administrators into business partners. Some will make the jump with support. Be honest early about who will not, and staff for it.

Build the centers of excellence around real expertise. Start with compensation and analytics, where the leverage is highest and the current gaps are widest.

Put an operator in the top seat. The redesign needs an owner who runs people as a lever, not a bigger administrator. This is the seat the management assessment flagged to upgrade.