Begin with the mandate

An HR launch plan needs a business context. Start with the work the centre will own, the capabilities it needs and the decisions that remain with headquarters. Record which assumptions are confirmed and which depend on a later business decision.

Translate the mandate into a short people brief that your sponsor, India leader and setup partners can all explain in the same terms.

  • What work will the centre own at launch, and what follows later?
  • Who approves a change in the organisation, location or hiring assumptions?
  • Which roles and capabilities must exist before the first team starts?

Name the owner before designing the process

A process is not ready because a document exists. Someone needs the authority, access and capacity to operate it. For each employee-lifecycle activity, identify the accountable owner, the delivery team and the escalation route.

Compare this map with the scope of existing providers. A gap between two contracts can become an unowned responsibility.

  • Who approves a role, an offer and an exception?
  • Where does the hiring partner hand over to the internal team?
  • Who owns employee queries, onboarding completion and manager readiness?

Review the operating foundations

Map the policies, systems, information flows and service dependencies needed for the first hiring wave. Each workstream should have a deliverable, a named owner and an observable completion condition.

Specialist legal, payroll and statutory questions belong with appropriately qualified providers. The HR setup plan should make those dependencies visible without treating a general readiness review as certification.

  • Which headquarters policies need an India-specific review?
  • What information is needed, who may access it and where is it retained?
  • Which systems and providers must be ready before offers or joining dates?

Use a readiness review to make a decision

Bring the owners together around evidence: completed work, open dependencies, unresolved decisions and the consequences of proceeding. Separate blockers from actions that can follow launch.

End with an explicit sponsor decision and an action record. A status colour is useful only when everyone understands the evidence and the decision behind it.

  • What evidence demonstrates readiness for this hiring wave?
  • Which unresolved item could affect an employee or manager on day one?
  • Who decides whether to proceed, change the plan or pause?

Use this framework to shape a discussion. Your organisation’s circumstances, agreed mandate and qualified specialist advice determine the appropriate actions.

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