Why Growing Companies Are Building Frankenstein HR Workflows (And What We're Doing About It)
A deep dive into the makeshift solutions HR teams are cobbling together to survive - and why we decided to build something better.
"Would love a lightweight HR-specific tool someday, but for now, this setup helps us stay sane."
That comment landed in our inbox three weeks ago, and we haven't stopped thinking about it since.
It came from Sarah, an HR Director at a 280-person tech company. She was responding to a question we had posted in our HR Success Centre community about workflow management - a topic that's been bubbling up in conversations for months.
But Sarah's response wasn't unique. Over the past six months, we’ve had similar conversations with 50+ different HR professionals. Each one describing their own version of what we’ve started calling "HR Frankenstein workflows" - creative, cobbled-together systems that work... until they don't.
The Anatomy of HR Chaos
Let me paint you a picture of what Tuesday looked like for Marcus, an HR Business Partner at a 350-person manufacturing company:
9:23 AM: Slack ping from a manager asking about parental leave policy
9:31 AM: Email from finance about a pay discrepancy
9:45 AM: Hallway conversation about onboarding delays
10:02 AM: Teams message about conflict resolution
10:15 AM: Another Slack thread about benefits enrollment
By 10:30 AM, Marcus had five different conversations happening across four different platforms, with zero visibility into what needed follow-up and what could wait.
Sound familiar?
The Great HR Workaround Revolution
Here's what fascinated us: When we asked these 50 HR professionals how they were handling this chaos, nearly every single one had built some version of the same makeshift solution.
The Pattern:
Shared HR inbox (Gmail or Outlook)
Google Forms for intake
Spreadsheet tracker (usually Google Sheets)
Notion or Confluence for internal documentation
Monthly "FAQ roundup" emails
Sarah's setup was actually one of the more sophisticated ones:
"We've set up a shared HR inbox to centralize all incoming queries, that alone reduced a lot of chaos. For recurring requests (letters, onboarding, etc.), we use simple Google Forms tied to a tracker. We also maintain an internal Notion page with basic HR policies and FAQs, and send monthly roundup emails addressing common questions."
It's working for them. Sort of.
The Real Cost of "Making It Work"
But here's what Sarah mentioned next - and what the other HR pros echoed:
"Biggest pain point? Context switching, handling real-time asks while managing deeper HR cycles like payroll or reviews."
This is the hidden cost that no one talks about. It's not just about messy workflows - it's about what happens to HR professionals when they're constantly switching between:
Slack notifications
Email threads
Spreadsheet updates
Real-time employee needs
Strategic HR projects
Dr. Sophie Leroy's research on "attention residue" shows that when we switch tasks, part of our attention gets stuck on the previous task. For HR professionals juggling 15-20 different employee requests while trying to run payroll or conduct performance reviews, this isn't just inefficient - it's exhausting.
The Tools That Don't Fit
"Why not just use existing tools?" we asked.
The responses were telling:
Zendesk/Freshservice: "Feels too IT-heavy. Our employees don't want to log 'tickets' to ask about vacation policy."
Jira/Asana: "Way too complex for what we need. Overkill for simple HR requests."
HRIS systems: "Our Workday has a case management module, but it's buried under six menu clicks and nobody uses it."
Slack/Teams alone: "Everything gets lost in the noise. No way to track or prioritize."
One HR Director at a 180-person startup put it perfectly: "We need something that feels human, not like we're turning employee support into an IT helpdesk."
The Moment of Clarity
Three conversations changed everything for us.
Conversation #1: Lisa, HR Manager at a growing SaaS company, told me she spent 40% of her time just figuring out what needed follow-up. Not actually helping people - just trying to track what was falling through the cracks.
Conversation #2: David, HRBP at a manufacturing company, mentioned that their CEO asked why HR response times were so inconsistent. David couldn't answer because they had no way to measure it across their email/Slack/hallway hybrid system.
Conversation #3: Maria, a solo HR professional at a 120-person agency, said she'd started avoiding the kitchen at work because employees would corner her with "quick questions" that turned into 20-minute conversations, derailing her entire day.
These weren't technology problems. They were human problems that bad workflow design was making worse.
What We're Building
That's when we decided to stop talking about the problem and start building the solution.
Over the past month, we've been quietly designing something new. Not another generic ticketing system adapted for HR, but a purpose-built workflow platform that actually understands how HR teams work and how employees want to interact with HR.
Here's what we're focused on:
Human-First Design
Employees shouldn't feel like they're "filing tickets." They should feel like they're having a conversation with HR - just with better structure and follow-up.
Context That Travels
No more "Can you remind me what this is about?" responses. Every request carries the context HR needs to help effectively, the first time.
Intelligence Without Complexity
Smart routing and tagging that works behind the scenes, without requiring HR teams to become project managers.
Built for HR Rhythms
Understanding that HR professionals need to focus on quarterly reviews, payroll cycles, and strategic work - not just reactive request management.
The Validation
We're not building in isolation. We've already shared early concepts with 12 of the HR leaders who helped us understand this problem, and the response has been encouraging:
"This is exactly what we've been trying to build with our Frankenstein setup - but actually designed for HR." - HR Director, 290-person tech company
"Finally, something that doesn't make employees feel like they're bothering IT when they have an HR question." - HRBP, 420-person healthcare organization
"The smart intake forms alone would save us hours every week." - HR Manager, 180-person consulting firm
What's Next
We're still in the early design phase, but we're committed to building this in partnership with the HR community. Every feature decision, every workflow choice, every design element is being validated with real HR professionals dealing with real workflow chaos.
If you're reading this and thinking "This sounds exactly like my Tuesday morning," we want to hear from you. We're looking for a small group of HR teams to be part of our early design process - sharing feedback on prototypes, testing early versions, and helping us build something that actually works for how you work.
Because frankly, HR professionals deserve better than Frankenstein workflows held together with digital duct tape and determination.
You're solving real problems for real people every day. Your tools should make that easier, not harder.
Ready to ditch the Frankenstein workflow? We're building the HR workflow solution you've been waiting for - designed specifically for growing companies like yours.
Join our email list to get exclusive updates on our progress, early previews, and first access when we launch. Plus, we're selecting a small group of HR teams to be early adopters (completely free) to help us build this right.
👉 [Sign up here] to never miss a beat
Or email us directly at hello@hrsuccesscentre.com if you want to join our early adopter group and help shape the future of HR workflows.