Service Line: Human Resources
Overview
A publicly traded life science company partnered with a venture capital and a growth equity firm to undertake a carve-out of a business unit from the life science company. An independent company was formed and PBO Advisory Group was contacted to help with the establishment and specific on-going management of various operational functions for the new company.
Challenge
In addition to setting up a QuickBooks account, PBO Advisory was engaged by the new company to serve as its outsourced human resources team. We were challenged to build the proper HR infrastructure for phasing-in over 40 employees during a three-month period. Our client’s biggest concerns included the nuances of a remote workforce located throughout the United States and getting the initial employees on boarded quickly so that they wouldn’t look for employment elsewhere.
Solution
Working with the company’s CEO, we deployed an HR team to build the HR infrastructure, including such tasks as:
- Developing a staffing and compensation plan for the first six months of operation that included a timeline of hiring, benefits implementation, and compensation
- Securing a benefits broker to ensure that the employees would receive comparable (or stronger) employee health, dental, and vision benefits;
- Implementing a 401(k) program
- Securing an insurance broker to acquire workers compensation and employment practices liability insurance policies
- Establishing a payroll system by comparing both traditional and professional employer organizations (PEO) options, setting up state employment development department registrations for seven states, and securing a cloud-based payroll company
- Creating the appropriate on-boarding checklist for specific activities and relevant federal and state documents required for all new hires
- Onboarding employees in a timely and seamless manner
- Creating job descriptions, HR policies and procedures, and an employee handbook
- Ongoing HR support for the first year of operation, including additional hiring, harassment prevention training, developing compensation plans, formulating employee development plans, and developing an HR information system and an applicant tracking system
Result
In the first 30 days of operation, PBO Advisory secured and onboarded 24 employees and created the appropriate on-boarding checklists. Today, the company is nearly 50 employees strong. One of our final tasks was to hire a full-time HR manager for our client. However, we are still called upon to assist with selected HR projects.
