How a redesign works
Redesigned so your team can follow it, and AI can run it.
We take the step your audit found costing you the most and redesign it with your team. You get clear rules, forms and approval steps your team can follow, tested on your own real cases. Most redesigns take 3 to 4 weeks. Results start right away, before any tool exists.
Before and after: salary offers
A real before and after of a redesign for generating salary offers. It’s based on a redesign Helen led at a previous organization, with details changed to protect confidentiality. Before a hiring manager could make an offer, they needed a salary from the talent team.
- Requests came in by email and chat
- Only one person could set the salary
- Stalled whenever that person was busy or out
- One form for every request
- Clear written rules anyone trained can follow
- Several people can approve, so it keeps moving
What makes a process ready for AI
Anyone can rewrite a process. We redesign it so a tool can run the repetitive steps.
Rules written as clear criteria
Every rule says exactly when it applies and what to do. A person can follow it, and so can a tool.
Example: “If the role is hard to fill, the salary can go above the range, up to this limit.”Files and forms in one place, set up the same way
Every request comes in through one form. Every document is named and stored the same way, so a tool can find what it needs.
Example: one form for every salary request, not emails and chats.The judgment calls marked
We label which decisions a person always makes, so a tool knows where to stop and hand off.
Example: hard-to-fill roles go to a named approver.The repetitive, rule-based steps are ready for a tool the day you want one. The judgment stays with your people.
The redesign, start to finish
What a redesign fixes
We start from what the audit found.
The audit shows which step is costing you the most. The redesign fixes that step on paper first. A few examples:
How long it takes depends on what you already have.
The basics exist
You already have templates, salary ranges or rating definitions. We fix how they’re used.
We build the basics with you
For example, a review template, a competency framework, or definitions of “meets” and “exceeds” for each role level.
How it works
Three to four weeks, three questions answered.
Agree on the fix
What exactly needs to change, and what does good look like?
- We confirm the step to fix, and the target number from your audit
- We collect real past cases to test the new process against, like your last 20 offers
- We check which basics already exist, like templates, salary ranges, rating definitions and approval rules
You get: an agreed plan for what we’ll rewrite, and the target we’ll test it against.
Your time: a 60-minute working session with the person who owns the process.
Write the new process
What are the rules, and when should people bend them?
- We draft the new steps, rules, forms and templates
- We write down the exceptions, and who approves them
- We review the drafts with the person who owns the process and the people who will use it
You get: a complete draft of the new process, reviewed by the people who will run it.
Your time: two 45-minute review sessions.
Test it and hand it over
Does it work on real cases, and can your team run it without us?
- We run the new process on your real past cases, and compare the results with what actually happened
- We fix anything that breaks
- We train the people who will use it, and hand over a short playbook
You get: a tested, written process your team can run, and the number to watch so you know it’s working.
Your time: one training session for the people who will use the new process.
What we ask for
What we need from you.
- The person who owns the processA few hours a week, to work through the new rules with us
- A decision makerSomeone who can approve the new rules, so they stick
- Real past casesSo we can test the new process against what actually happened
- Your current documentsTemplates, salary ranges, rating definitions and policies, if you have them
- The people who will use the new processTo review the drafts and tell us what won’t work in practice
What you get, and why it matters
What you get at the end of the redesign.
Every step, rule and exception
Written in plain language, so anyone trained can follow it.
Why it matters: It keeps working when people leave or change roles, and new staff can learn it quickly.
One way in, named people to sign off
One form for every request, and approvers named in advance, with a time limit.
Why it matters: Nothing waits on one person’s inbox. In our salary offer example, that alone cut the wait from up to 3 days to 24 hours.
Proof it works, and a number to watch
The new process tested on your real cases, with a target to track from the first week.
Why it matters: You can show your CEO the number moving, before you spend anything on a tool.
Run the new process as it is, or work with us to build a tool that runs it. Either way, results start right away. In our salary offer example, offers went from up to 3 days to 24 hours, before any tool existed.
Sample redesign
Salary offers: from days to 24 hours
Here’s a before and after of one real workflow: setting the salary for a job offer. It went from inconsistent, slow and easy to break, to consistent, fast and built to last. We got there by redesigning the process, before building any tool. It’s based on a redesign Helen led at a previous organization, with details changed to protect confidentiality.
- Requests came in by email and chat
- Only one person could set the salary
- Stalled whenever that person was busy or out
- One form for every request
- Clear written rules anyone trained can follow
- Several people can approve, so it keeps moving
Why this matters
Speed decides who you hire. In a survey of 9,000 job seekers, 67% had taken a second-choice offer because their first choice took too long. And losing a finalist is expensive: the average cost to hire one person is nearly $4,700, before counting the time managers and recruiters spend starting over. Counting that time, Edie Goldberg, quoted by SHRM, puts the full cost at three to four times the role’s salary. When a finalist waits days for a salary, someone faster can hire them first.
Sources: Robert Half, 2018 · SHRM, 2022
Getting a salary for a job offer took days
- 01The hiring manager picks the candidate
- 02They send the resume and job description to the VP of Talent, by email or chat
- 03WaitingThey wait for a salary: anywhere from 2 hours to 3 days
- 04The hiring manager thinks it’s too low and pushes back
- 05WaitingBack and forth for another couple of days
- Lost candidatesPeople with other offers walked away while we waited.
- Frustrated managersHiring managers wanted their new person to start.
- One bottleneckEvery offer waited on one person’s inbox.
We changed how requests come in, and wrote down the rules
How requests come in
- One form for every salary request, not emails and chats scattered everywhere.
- The form alerts several people on the talent team at once, not just one.
- Everyone knows to expect an answer within 24 hours.
How the salary is set
- Clear rules for counting a candidate’s years of relevant experience, and how that sets their salary.
- Every role has a salary range. Most new hires start in the bottom half of the range, set by their experience, and never below people already in the role with similar experience. That leaves them room to grow their pay without leaving the range.
And we wrote down when to bend them
Only roles that are hard to fill get escalated. Even then, there are clear rules, with room for judgment.
Hard-to-fill roles can get more
Roles that need specialized technical skills, and vice president and chief-level roles, can ask for a higher salary.
Pay has to stay fair
A higher offer is fine as long as it’s fair to the people already there. A senior vice president can’t make more than a chief.
Signing bonuses close the gap
When the salary can’t go higher, a signing bonus can make the offer competitive.
A talent partner makes the recommendation. Two or three approvers, named in advance, can sign off. Before, only one person could.
Offers no longer wait on one person
- 01The hiring manager picks the candidate
- 02They submit one form with the resume and job description
- 03No waitingThe form alerts several people on the talent team at once
- 04Most roles: a senior talent manager sets the salary using the rules
- 05No waitingHard-to-fill roles: a talent partner recommends, and a named approver signs off
All of this came from writing the process down, before we built any tool.
We find the step that’s costing you the most, fix it on paper first, and write it down so it keeps working. Then, when you’re ready, we build the tool that runs it.