When a Swedish industrial company prepared to grow from 150 to 1,500 employees, it faced a challenge with keeping strong business momentum while scaling HR capabilities needed for the near future. Processes and systems were built for a small start-up, data ownership unclear, and manual work absorbed precious time across People Business Partners, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, Payroll and Line Managers as well as IT and Finance.
The company brought in a Program Manager to lead the transformation of its core HR capabilities into future business capabilities, while maintaining 10x growth, with cross-functional collaboration and people at the center.
What we did
Embedded Agile Practices for Smarter Business Execution
We established new cross-functional ways of working across HR, Finance, IT and Communications by clarifying mandates, roles and data ownership down to specific data points. Agile methods became a natural part of business delivery, enabling clear priorities, faster iteration, and collective problem-solving.
Highlights
- Cross-functional governance with SteerCo and extended stakeholder groups
- Pragmatic agile delivery: sprint planning, demos, retros
- Clear data ownership and consumer mapping
Replaced the Core HR Systems
Three major systems were implemented: HR Management (HRM), Payroll & Expenses, and Time & Scheduling. The entire workforce transitioned into new processes and ways of working.
Highlights
- 100% of employees and managers onboarded into new ways of working and digital tools for HRM, Payroll and Time Reporting flows
- Significant reduction in manual work for HR, including Talent Acquisition, People Business Partners, Payroll and Learning & Development
- Large-scale data clean-up enabling automation and future AI
- Sunset of legacy tools and introduction of automated data quality guardrails
Lead Change Management as Business Enabler
We ensured adoption and engagement through structured change management across all initiatives. This included stakeholder mapping, tailored communication plans, and hands-on support for leaders and employees to confidently navigate the new processes and systems.
Highlights
- Change impact assessments and readiness checks
- Targeted communication and training for different audiences
- Continuous feedback loops to adjust and improve adoption
Enabling Further Business Capabilities (in progress)
The next phase is focusing on several capabilities beyond HR. A structured program was created to manage roll-out and interdependencies, covering four projects along with Change Management as a cross-project stream.
Projects
- Position Management – Organizational management independent of individuals in order to support Strategic Workforce Planning
- Workforce Planning – Optimize workforce investments by forecasting needs and managing costs
- Job Architecture – A clear and consistent framework for organizing and comparing jobs
- Pay Transparency – Full compliance with the new EU Directive including confidence among managers when executing Pay & Performance activities
Results - Business Value
- Line managers and HR teams spend significantly less time on administration, freeing up capacity for value-creating and strategic work.
- Reduced manual processes and improved data quality lead to fewer errors, faster decision-making, and more reliable reporting for Finance and C-level Management.
- Automation and clear ownership of data enable cost efficiency and support future investments in AI and analytics.
- Transparent, consistent processes and targeted training increase employee engagement and reduce onboarding time for new hires, supporting rapid growth.
- Cross-functional collaboration ensures that HR initiatives directly support business goals, improving operational efficiency and supporting profitability.
Outcome: Business Impact
- The company now operates with a scalable, modern HR foundation that supports 10x growth without increasing administrative overhead.
- Strategic workforce planning and compliance initiatives (e.g. EU Pay Transparency) are managed proactively, reducing business risk and supporting sustainable growth.
- The transformation delivers measurable business value: improved profitability, faster time-to-value for new hires, and a more agile organization ready to meet future challenges.
