What comes to mind is the urgency, the experimentation, and the relentless hustle to change the world that have become synonymous with startups. In the early days, all was quick decisions after a coffee, job roles changing every week, and no one quite knew who exactly was in charge. In that context, it’s easy to think that HR policies are bureaucratic obstacles to be navigated “someday.”
But here’s the thing: “someday” is often late.
Startups may love to boast about their agility, but if they don’t have some bare-bones infrastructure around HR policy in place, they risk burning out their people, diluting their culture and leaving themselves with legal blind spots.
So, the question here is how to balance agility and structure.
1. Think of ‘Minimum Viable Policies’. Some of the solutions to coronavirus are the same as the solutions to climate change. Just as you would build a minimum viable product (MVP), produce a minimum viable set of policies — minimal, flexible, and scalable. Start with what’s essential:
▪ Code of Conduct
▪ Leave and Attendance Policy
▪ Anti-Harassment and POSH Policies
▪ Pay and Benefit Structure
▪ Grievance Redressal System
All the policies should be transparent, fair and accessible. Carefully crafted, even simple policies can be guardrails, not straitjackets.
2. Culture is Policy — Even When It’s an Agreement?
In early-stage start-ups, culture is frequently defined by founders — how they talk, make decisions and mediate conflicts. But as teams expand, culture waters down unless it’s codified.
Your HR policies are not just your working tools; they’re your values in action. If you treasure flexibility, demonstrate that with your leave policy. If transparency is important, demonstrate it through your feedback loops. If you desire inclusion, make sure that the language, benefits and reporting structures are supporting that commitment.
3. One Size Doesn’t Fit All
It is not a good idea to cut and paste policies from corporate handbooks or internet templates without customizing them to your size, stage and sector. A 20-person fintech startup doesn’t need the same level of policy as a Series C e-commerce company that is scaling geographies.
Instead, ask:
• So, what do we need to mitigate here?
• What practices will enable us to attract and retain talent as we scale?
• How do we make it easy to comply with us, but hard to game us?
4. Be Compliant – Even If You’re Laid-Back
Just because you’re a startup does not mean you are exempt from labour laws, POSH compliance or social security laws. In reality, failing to adhere to rules – whether you mean to or not – can be incredibly expensive in terms of both your bank balance and credibility.
Startups should treat HR compliance as though it were financial hygiene. It’s not glamorous, but it’s a necessary task.
5. Design for Trust, Not Just Control
In big companies, the HR policy is a mechanism for controlling risk. Startups, though, have the chance to flip that script — to set policies that support people, increase safety and encourage ownership.
Trust your people to get an outcome out instead of watching log-in times. Your policies should read like an employee-first guidebook, not a legal contract. 6. Revisit and Revise—Often
The beauty of a startup is that nothing is yet written in stone. As you scale, your people, culture and business model will change – and so should your HR policy. Get into the habit of returning to them periodically, every 6 to 12 months. Have staff be a part of the feedback loop. Be open about what’s changing — and why.
7. Afterthought: Architecture vs. Speed
Greater organisation is also related to the startup’s perception of being slow. But the right HR systems don’t hold you back — they help you grow without feeling chaotic. They provide your people with a feeling of security, reliability and fairness, even as you are pivoting and facing uncertainties. Because, in the grand scheme of things, it is not just innovation that differentiates you, but also how you treat those with whom you build it.