HR Consultation Singapore

The difference is what we do for you. HR Consultation is pure advisory — we diagnose, recommend, and produce implementable deliverables (revised handbook, audit findings report, salary structure, benefits framework), and your internal HR team takes those outputs forward. We don't run your HR function; you do.

HR Shared Services is the operational arm — we hire the HR staff and run the function for you (payroll, employee lifecycle, statutory reporting, work pass administration, all on documented service levels). Different commercial model (monthly retainer with minimum term rather than project-based), different scope (HR operations rather than advisory).

The two services are often sequenced: an HR Consultation engagement surfaces operational gaps, then HRSS is engaged separately to run the operations if the client wants that transition.

Four engagement structures, each suited to different scopes. We recommend the right shape after understanding what the work actually needs.

Project-based fixed fee — most common. Scope is defined in the engagement letter (e.g., "HR audit + handbook revision," "C&B benchmarking for senior bands"), fixed fee for delivery. Used when the scope is clearly bounded.

Monthly retainer — for clients who want People Profilers as a continuous HR thinking partner. Monthly fee covers advisory access, periodic deliverables, and executive sounding-board availability. Suited to mid-sized employers without a dedicated senior HR advisor in-house.

Day rate — time-and-materials for engagements that are too variable to fix-price (multi-phase work, restructuring support, situations where scope evolves as findings emerge).

Custom-scoped per engagement — when engagement complexity (multi-country, sensitive M&A integration, large multi-phase programs) doesn't fit any standard structure, we scope and quote bespoke.

Every engagement is documented in an engagement letter before any diagnostic work begins. Fees are quoted in writing up front.

Varies significantly by scope. Some indicative ranges from our recent engagements:

HR audit + remediation plan — typically 3–6 weeks from kickoff to documented findings + prioritised remediation plan. Faster for narrow-scope audits (e.g., handbook-only review); longer for full HR function diagnostic.

Employee handbook development or revision — typically 4–8 weeks from scoping conversation to handbook ready for legal review and rollout. Depends on existing material to work from and how many policies need fresh drafting.

C&B benchmarking + structure design — typically 4–6 weeks for the diagnostic and benchmarking, plus 2–4 weeks for the structure design phase if engaged. Total roughly 6–10 weeks for end-to-end engagements.

Retainer engagements are ongoing — typically reviewed at 6 or 12 months for renewal.

Timelines are estimated in the engagement letter and updated if scope changes. We do not commit to specific completion dates because most engagements have a discovery phase that can reveal additional scope.

Confidentiality is core to the practice. HR audits surface things companies don't want public — policy gaps, compliance exposure, compensation discrepancies, employee relations risks. C&B work involves salary data, internal equity findings, and proposed restructuring that's commercially sensitive.

Every engagement is governed by an NDA before any document exchange or diagnostic work. Findings, salary data, internal equity analyses, and policy gap reports are shared only with authorised stakeholders the client names in the engagement letter. We don't reference engagement specifics in marketing or with other clients.

For M&A or restructuring-adjacent engagements where confidentiality is heightened (transactions not yet public, contemplated separations), we put additional information-handling protocols in place — restricted internal team, secure document handling, agreed code-naming if needed.

Implementable artifacts — never abstract strategy decks that produce no usable output. Specifics depend on engagement scope:

HR audit engagements produce a findings report with severity-rated gaps, prioritised remediation plan with effort estimates, and a stakeholder briefing deck for your executive team or board.

Handbook engagements produce a revised employee handbook in your existing format (or fresh draft if starting from scratch), policy commentary explaining the rationale for changes, and a rollout communications plan.

C&B engagements produce a benchmarking report with sector and role-specific market data, internal equity analysis, recommended salary banding structure with documented methodology, benefits framework recommendations, and a phased implementation sequencing plan if you're moving from old to new structure.

All deliverables are designed to be defended by your internal HR team to leadership and operationalised without needing us to be present in the room.

Yes — implementation support is a separate engagement, scoped after the advisory work completes. Common patterns:

Short-term implementation assist — day-rate or short project-fee engagements for the rollout phase. Examples: change-communications support for handbook launch, salary-band rollout coordination across teams, training your HR team on new policies or frameworks.

Ongoing advisory access — clients who finish a project engagement sometimes convert to a monthly retainer for continued thinking-partner access during implementation and beyond. Sounding board availability for HR decisions, periodic check-ins on rollout progress.

Operational transition to HRSS — when advisory work reveals that ongoing operational HR delivery makes more sense than maintaining the function in-house, our HR Shared Services practice can take over the operational layer as a separate engagement. The advisory team's documentation accelerates the HRSS onboarding.