Workflow 1
HR Operating Model
HRBP + COE + Shared Services
Illustrative current-practice design
This is one worked example of how the process is commonly run, not a standard and not advice. Timings, thresholds and percentages are illustrative. Verify anything legally sensitive against local law and your own counsel.
Use it as a complete starting point, then adjust it for your company's strategy, culture, workforce, jurisdiction, collective agreements, technology, risk appetite and future-of-work direction.
Content last reviewed 28 July 2026.
Philosophy
HR is advisory, not approval-gated. The business owns people decisions; HR owns the framework, the guardrails, and the quality of the conversation.
Cadence
Reviewed annually; coverage rebalanced each quarter against headcount
The steps
- 01
HRBP layer
- Dedicated HRBP coverage per business unit: frontline operations, technology, commercial, corporate functions
- Named HRBP for senior leadership and for M&A / transformation support
- HRBP owns the relationship, the diagnosis, and the escalation path
- 02
Centres of Excellence
- Talent acquisition, total rewards, learning & development, talent management, D&I
- COEs own design, benchmarking, and the tooling; HRBPs own the application
- 03
HR Shared Services / HR Ops
- Transactional workflows: HRIS records, onboarding checklists, letters, payroll interface, tier-1 queries
- Everything with an SLA lives here; anything requiring judgement routes to HRBP
Who does what (RACI)
| Step | Responsible | Accountable | Consulted | Informed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People decision (hire, exit, pay) | Manager | BU Leader | HRBP | HR Ops |
| Framework and policy design | COE | CHRO | HRBP, Legal | Managers |
| Transaction and record | HR Ops | HR Ops Lead | Payroll | Manager |
SLAs to track
Tier-1 query response
1 business day
HRBP escalation acknowledgement
48 hours
Future-of-work considerations
- Skills-based deployment across business units, not only headcount coverage
- AI-assisted tier-1 service with a named human owner for judgment calls
- HRBP capacity as an explicit design constraint
- Global and distributed teams changing what shared services can standardize