Do HR Right From Day One: How to Start Small and Scale Smart

You’re the first (or only) person in the HR seat at a small company. Maybe you were just hired to build something from the ground up — or maybe you’re stepping into a role where “HR” has meant spreadsheets, sticky notes, and a lot of good intentions. Either way, the systems are light, the expectations are high, and it’s up to you to make sure what you build today can grow with the business tomorrow.

Join Danielle Laurent, MSHR, SPHR (Founder’s HR Lab), and Leah Mawhinney (Senior HR Systems Manager) as they share ideas and frameworks to help small companies lay the groundwork for HR programs that are lean, effective, and built to scale. Whether you're building from scratch, cleaning up what's already there, or supporting clients through early-stage growth, you’ll walk away with a clearer sense of what to do first — and how to keep things from breaking later.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Prioritize high-impact HR programs that meet today’s needs — and scale with you
  
• Sequence your policies, tools, and processes so they won’t break at 100+ employees
  
• Communicate HR’s value to leadership, even without perfect data
  
• Track early metrics that show progress and build trust