When to Hire HR Support

If you’re a startup founder, chances are you’ve spent most of your time building the product, chasing funding, and convincing people to care about what you’re creating. And that’s how it should be. Because if the product doesn’t land, there’s nothing else to talk about.

Which means, naturally, things like HR—policies, hiring frameworks, and pay structures—get pushed way down the list. Below the line. Not urgent. At least not yet.

What founders don’t always realize, though, is that you’re in the perfect position to use HR to actually shape your culture, while it’s still forming. And the decisions you make now—about how you hire, how you pay people, and how work gets done—those things ripple out. They affect how fast you grow. They determine whether people stay. It’s a big deal.

Startup founders often regret not investing in HR support sooner. They thought it could wait. And when they waited? By then, they were backpedaling, trying to fix the cracks instead of building something solid from the start.

The real question isn’t if you need HR support; it’s when you need it. And there are signs—clear ones—that tell you you’re at that point. Before the crisis hits. Before the chaos kicks in. You just have to know how to read them.

How to know when it’s time to hire HR support

You can recognize stages of growth where it becomes impossible for you to manage people and keep pace with your main responsibilities.

Hiring the first 5-10 employees

The transition from a handful of co-founders to a small team marks the first critical HR milestone. Suddenly, the company needs consistent offer letters, clear job descriptions, and basic onboarding processes that go beyond informal coffee chats. Without structure, new hires often feel lost or unclear about expectations.

At this stage, most startups don’t need a full-time HR director, but they do need professional guidance. Investing in HR consultants or comprehensive HR software platforms can offer templates and processes that check the right boxes. These solutions help establish consistent hiring practices without the cost of a dedicated employee.

Crossing 15-25 employees

Once a startup reaches the 15-25 employee range, informal policies stop working. Team members start asking about vacation policies, performance review processes, and employee benefits packages. Without clear procedures, confusion is inevitable, and you may even create potential compliance issues.

At this stage, occasional HR consulting is not going to cut it. Systematic HR support is needed via part-time HR professionals or outsourced HR services. Companies also need to implement basic HR systems for tracking employee information, documenting policies, and maintaining compliance with international employment laws.

Approaching 30-50 employees

This threshold represents a major shift in organizational complexity. Companies at this size need deliberate culture strategies, diversity and inclusion initiatives, and structured manager training programs. Employee retention becomes a strategic priority as turnover costs start impacting the bottom line significantly.

This stage typically justifies hiring the first dedicated HR professional. Whether titled as an HR generalist or people operations manager, this role focuses on building scalable people processes. The investment pays dividends through improved employee satisfaction, better compliance management, and a more strategic approach to talent development.

Expanding internationally

International expansion brings an entirely new level of HR complexity regardless of team size. Different countries have unique labor laws, tax requirements, and cultural expectations around employment. Misclassifying contractors or missing local compliance requirements can mean legal and financial consequences.

Companies entering global markets need specialized HR expertise. Partnering with global HR providers or employer of record (EOR) services becomes essential for navigating international employment successfully. These partnerships provide local expertise, which means the startup stays focused on core business operations.

What HR can do for your startup

Sure, HR finds great people. But strategic people operations? That’s what turns those hires into a competitive advantage across every part of your business.

• Ensure legal compliance and risk mitigation. HR professionals are familiar with labor laws, benefits regulations, and worker classification requirements that are not only complex but are different in every country. Their expertise helps startups avoid costly fines, lawsuits, and regulatory issues that can derail growth.
• Design scalable people processes. From structured onboarding programs to performance review cycles, HR builds repeatable systems that maintain quality as teams grow. These processes help new employees successfully come on board and regularly provide existing team members with chances to grow and learn.
• Prevent expensive operational mistakes. Experienced HR support helps founders avoid common pitfalls like misclassifying contractors, creating toxic workplace dynamics, or making payroll errors. Paying to fix these problems will cost more than the upfront investment in expert HR guidance.
• Support modern workplace initiatives. As teams scale, HR manages diversity and inclusion programs, remote work policies, and how to keep the team aligned and informed. These efforts are essential for attracting top talent and stopping silos before they start across different locations and cultures.
• Build a foundation for sustainable growth. Strategic HR creates the trust and infrastructure necessary for long-term organizational health. This includes establishing fair compensation frameworks, conflict resolution processes, and leadership development programs that support the company’s evolution from startup to scale-up.

Signs you’re waiting too long

In hindsight, many founders recognize they waited too long before getting HR support. But the warning signs were there months before:

• Experiencing high turnover or persistent hiring mistakes. When good employees leave within their first few months or founders repeatedly realize they’ve hired the wrong people for key roles, it signals broken people processes. These patterns indicate that recruitment, onboarding, or role definition needs professional attention before more talent walks out the door.
• Founders constantly pulled into people operations. If leadership finds themselves constantly answering questions about vacation policies, mediating conflicts, or handling payroll challenges, they’re operating below their strategic value. This operational burden prevents founders from focusing on product development, business strategy, and revenue growth.
• Widespread confusion about roles and policies. Team members shouldn’t have to guess about their responsibilities, reporting structure, or basic workplace policies. When employees regularly ask, “Who should I talk to about this?” or “What’s our policy on that?” the organization needs the clarity that structured HR provides.
• Always playing catch-up with employee issues. Reactive management means addressing problems only after they’ve escalated into bigger conflicts or legal concerns. Proactive HR identifies potential issues early and implements solutions before they impact team morale or business operations.
• Compliance gaps that create legal exposure. Misclassifying contractors as employees, ignoring local labor laws, or lacking proper documentation can result in significant fines and legal disputes. Many startup leaders discover compliance issues during audits or when employees complain about unpaid overtime or benefits violations.

“The growth stage offers a greater mandate to acquire great talent, effectively manage expansion, and develop a culture where employees feel connected to the company’s mission,” advises Beth Nevins, Founder of developa.io and expert in talent management, in a Tech Uncensored podcast episode.

When to hire in-house vs. outsource HR

The decision between outsourced and in-house HR is about matching the company’s specific needs and growth stage with the right level of support.

In the early stages, “Founders will have to spend money on contracts. That’s the first thing they should seek advice on,” says Nevins. “They may decide to use an automated tool or get legal advice from an employment lawyer, but that’s spend you can’t avoid,”

Each approach—whether outsourcing HR or building an in-house team—offers distinct advantages depending on team size, complexity, and strategic priorities.

Outsource HR (10-30 employees)

For companies in the 10-30 employee range, outsourced HR provides professional expertise without the overhead of a full-time salary and benefits package. Outside HR services handle essential compliance requirements, maintain employee documentation, and establish basic policies that keep growing teams organized. This approach allows founders to access experienced HR guidance while maintaining flexibility in their operational spending.

The first 10-30 hires will shape the company’s trajectory. “If you haven’t got the right element in the first 0 to 20, you’re not getting anywhere anyway. Working out how you can use that budget creatively is going to be important in getting the right initial founding team,” Nevins adds.

Outsourced solutions work particularly well for straightforward organizational structures with standard employment arrangements. The cost-effectiveness becomes especially apparent when considering that a dedicated HR professional’s salary often exceeds what smaller companies can justify based on workload alone.

In-house HR (30-75 employees)

Once companies reach the 30-75 employee threshold, the need for dedicated, on-site people leadership becomes compelling. In-house HR professionals can focus on culture development, coaching managers, and designing systems that reflect the company’s unique values and operational needs. This hands-on presence enables more nuanced problem-solving and relationship-building that external consultants can’t replicate.

When building an in-house HR team, “Founders need to hire absolutely unbelievable recruiters because they need to do the heavy lifting,” says Nevins. “They’re being relied on to do a lot of assessment and, on top of business development as well.”

The investment in internal HR pays dividends through improved employee engagement, faster resolution of workplace issues, and strategic people planning that aligns with business objectives. At this size, there’s enough HR activity to justify a full-time position while benefiting from an expert in organizational dynamics.

Hybrid approach

Many successful scale-ups combine in-house HR leadership with specialized external partnerships, particularly when expanding internationally. An internal HR leader manages culture, employee development, and day-to-day people operations, while global HR providers or EOR services handle international compliance, payroll, and local employment requirements. This hybrid model delivers both strategic internal guidance and specialized external expertise.

HR support at startup speed

Savvy startups think about HR before it becomes a problem. No late-night Slack messages about payroll. No vague legal questions about hiring on the other side of the world.

Pebl’s Employer of Record (EOR) service helps companies—startups especially—build HR operations the right way, from day one. Not reactively or after something breaks. But built-in, thoughtful, and scalable.

You want to hire someone in Germany? Great. Brazil? Of course. Any of more than 185 countries? Go for it. Pebl handles all the stuff you probably don’t want to think about—local laws, compliance, payroll, and tax codes you never knew existed.

We offer the infrastructure that lets you hire, pay, and manage your people anywhere. So you can stop Googling “employment law in São Paulo” and get back to building your company.

Want to grow globally without losing sleep over it? We’re ready when you are.

This information does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal or tax advice and is for general informational purposes only. The intent of this document is solely to provide general and preliminary information for private use. Do not rely on it as an alternative to legal, financial, taxation, or accountancy advice from an appropriately qualified professional. The content in this guide is provided “as is,” and no representations are made that the content is error-free.

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