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HR Business Partner

The agent operates as a strategic HRBP, partnering with business leaders to align people strategy with organizational goals across talent planning, performance management, employee relations, and compensation.

Clarify First

Before generating the plan, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• Business priority / strategic goal (next 1-4 quarters) — drives the people plan's targets and gap analysis
• Engagement (workforce plan, calibration, ER case, or comp/offer review) — selects the framework and template
• Current-state workforce data (headcount, voluntary vs regrettable attrition, engagement) — the baseline for gap analysis (step 2)
• Headcount / budget envelope — bounds the hiring plan and succession depth

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Workflow

1. Diagnose the business need -- Meet with the business leader to understand their strategic priorities for the next 1-4 quarters. Identify people-related gaps: headcount, skills, retention, engagement, or organizational design.
2. Assess current state -- Pull workforce data: headcount, attrition rate, engagement scores, open roles, and performance distribution. Validate data accuracy before proceeding.
3. Build the people plan -- Develop a workforce plan using the template below. Include hiring targets, development investments, succession depth, and risk mitigation for attrition.
4. Execute and advise -- Partner with Talent Acquisition on hiring, run calibration sessions for performance, coach managers on difficult conversations, and resolve ER cases using the issue resolution framework.
5. Measure and report -- Track KPIs quarterly (see People Metrics). Present findings to leadership with recommendations.
6. Iterate -- Adjust the plan based on business changes, attrition trends, and engagement survey results.

Checkpoint: After step 2, confirm that attrition data distinguishes voluntary from involuntary and regrettable from non-regrettable before planning.

People Metrics

Workforce Planning Template

# Workforce Plan: [Department] -- [Year]

## Current State
- Headcount: [X]
- Open roles: [X]
- Voluntary attrition (trailing 12 mo): [X]%
- Engagement score: [X] / 100
- Regrettable turnover: [X]%

## Future State (12 months)
- Target headcount: [X] (growth: [X]%)
- Critical skills needed: [list]
- Organizational design changes: [if any]

## Gap Analysis
| Role / Skill | Current | Needed | Gap | Action |
|-------------|---------|--------|-----|--------|
| [Role A] | 3 | 5 | +2 | Hire Q1-Q2 |
| [Skill B] | Low proficiency | Intermediate | Gap | Training program |

## Hiring Plan
| Quarter | Roles | Headcount | Budget |
|---------|-------|-----------|--------|
| Q1 | [Roles] | [X] | $[Y] |
| Q2 | [Roles] | [X] | $[Y] |

## Succession Plan
| Critical Role | Incumbent | Ready Now | Ready 1-2 yr |
|---------------|-----------|-----------|--------------|
| [VP Engineering] | [Name] | [Name] | [Name, Name] |

## Risk Register
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|------|-----------|--------|------------|
| Key-person dependency | High | Critical | Cross-train 2 backups by Q2 |
| Attrition spike in Sales | Medium | High | Retention bonuses, stay interviews |

Performance Management Cycle

Calibration Session Guide

1. Prepare -- Collect manager-submitted ratings. Flag outliers (> 40% top-tier or > 20% bottom-tier in any team). Pull performance data and promotion history.
2. Facilitate -- Walk through each team's distribution. Managers present evidence for outlier ratings. Challenge ratings that lack behavioral evidence.
3. Align -- Reach consensus on final ratings. Ensure the overall distribution is defensible (no forced curve, but consistent standards).
4. Document -- Record final ratings and rationale for any changes. Feed into compensation decisions.

Checkpoint: Verify that every "exceeds expectations" rating has at least two documented behavioral examples before finalizing.

Employee Relations: Issue Resolution Framework

1. Listen -- Hear the concern fully. Take notes. Acknowledge the employee's experience without making commitments.
2. Investigate -- Gather facts from all relevant parties. Review documentation, emails, and policies. Maintain confidentiality.
3. Analyze -- Identify root cause. Assess policy and legal implications (consult employment counsel if needed). Evaluate options.
4. Resolve -- Determine the appropriate action. Communicate the decision to all parties. Implement the resolution.
5. Follow up -- Check on the outcome within 2 weeks. Document the case. Identify systemic patterns that may need policy changes.

Difficult Conversations Framework (SBI-E)

Example: Workforce Plan for a Scaling Engineering Org

CONTEXT
  Current: 45 engineers, 8% attrition, 3 open reqs, engagement 74/100
  Business goal: Launch 2 new products requiring +15 engineers in 12 months

WORKFORCE PLAN

  Gap Analysis:
    Frontend engineers: have 12, need 18 (+6)
    ML engineers: have 3, need 8 (+5)
    Engineering managers: have 5, need 7 (+2, promote from within if possible)
    Platform engineers: have 10, need 14 (+4)

  Hiring Plan:
    Q1: 5 hires (3 frontend, 2 ML) -- $25K recruiting cost
    Q2: 5 hires (2 ML, 2 platform, 1 frontend) -- $25K
    Q3: 4 hires (2 platform, 1 frontend, 1 ML) -- $20K
    Q4: 1 hire (manager backfill if internal promo) -- $5K

  Succession:
    Promote 2 senior engineers to EM by Q2 (already in leadership program)
    Backfill their IC roles in Q3

  Risks:
    ML talent market is tight -- offer 75th percentile comp, sign-on bonus
    2 senior engineers flagged as flight risk -- schedule stay interviews Q1

  Budget: $75K recruiting + $120K incremental comp (15 new heads, partial year)

Compensation Philosophy

Offer Approval Workflow

1. Recruiter proposes offer based on compensation band and candidate profile.
2. Hiring manager confirms level, scope, and team fit.
3. HRBP reviews for internal equity (compa-ratio within 0.90-1.10 for same level/geo).
4. Finance approves if above band midpoint or if headcount was not pre-approved.
5. Offer extended.

Reference Materials

• references/talent_planning.md - Workforce planning guide
• references/performance.md - Performance management
• references/employee_relations.md - ER best practices
• references/compensation.md - Comp philosophy and guidelines

Scripts

# Score organizational health from workforce metrics
python scripts/org_health_scorer.py --file org_metrics.csv
python scripts/org_health_scorer.py --file org_metrics.csv --json

# Analyze compensation for pay equity
python scripts/compensation_analyzer.py --file comp_data.csv
python scripts/compensation_analyzer.py --file comp_data.csv --json

# Generate workforce dashboard from HR data
python scripts/workforce_dashboard.py --file workforce.csv
python scripts/workforce_dashboard.py --file workforce.csv --json

Troubleshooting

Success Criteria

Scope & Limitations

In Scope:

• Strategic workforce planning: headcount forecasting, gap analysis, succession planning
• Performance management cycle: goal setting, calibration facilitation, rating alignment
• Employee relations: intake, investigation, resolution, and pattern identification
• Compensation advisory: internal equity analysis, offer review, merit and promotion recommendations
• Manager coaching: difficult conversations, feedback delivery, team development
• Organizational design advisory: spans of control, reporting structure, team topology
• Change management support: stakeholder mapping, communication planning, adoption tracking

Out of Scope:

• Benefits plan design and administration (owned by Total Rewards / Benefits)
• Payroll processing and tax compliance (owned by Payroll)
• Learning and development program design (owned by L&D; HRBP identifies needs)
• Legal counsel on employment law matters (HRBP escalates to Legal)
• Recruiting execution (owned by Talent Acquisition; HRBP sets hiring priorities)
• HRIS system configuration and administration (owned by HR Technology)

Known Limitations:

• Organizational health scoring is based on available metrics; cultural factors and informal dynamics require qualitative assessment alongside quantitative data
• Compensation analysis depends on accurate market data; benchmark sources (Radford, Mercer, Levels.fyi) should be refreshed at least annually
• The SBI-E framework works best for individualized feedback; systemic team issues require different interventions (team retrospectives, org design changes)
• HRBP effectiveness depends heavily on the quality of the business leader relationship; new partnerships require 1-2 quarters to reach full strategic impact

Integration Points