The HR Gap That's Costing Startups Millions (And How We're Fixing It)
2-3 minute read
A couple of years ago, I walked into a startup where a member of the Executive Committee was spending hours filing police reports and managing security incidents. The person who should have been handling these complex issues—the company's Safety Manager—was unable to perform the essential functions of their role. After digging in, my team discovered this person had no formal safety training, and the job description used to hire them didn't capture what the company actually needed. Worse, they were verbally abusing the staff—the same people who needed to trust them and buy into safety protocols.
The cost? Two years' salary. Thousands in losses from unmanaged risk. A damaged culture where employees stopped trusting leadership.
We solved the problem and closed the gaps—we terminated the Safety Manager, rebuilt the job description, and hired the right person. But it didn't have to take two years and all that damage to get there.
This story isn't isolated. 65% of startups operate without formal HR (BambooHR). 23% of new businesses fail because of hiring challenges. And companies with strategic HR practices are 2.5 times more likely to outperform financially (McKinsey).
When founders lack HR guidance during critical growth phases, bad hires cost up to 30% of first-year earnings, compliance mistakes turn into lawsuits, and culture problems that start small can become toxic.
After more than 15 years leading HR in-house and three years doing fractional HR work at the executive level, I kept seeing purpose-driven founders building incredible things but struggling with the people side. Not because they didn't care—but because they didn't have access to strategic HR guidance when they needed it most.
That's why I founded Parity HR.
As the workplace becomes more diverse—culturally, generationally, across every dimension—inclusion becomes essential to business success. HR strategy, inclusion, and equity need to work together. When you're building people systems, you're either building them to include and leverage diverse talent, or you're building them to exclude. There's no neutral.
Parity HR exists to help mission-driven organizations build people strategies that work—methods that are inclusive, equitable, and scalable. Fractional HR means you get senior-level expertise without the cost of a full-time hire: strategic guidance on hiring, retention, compliance, and culture that scales with your growth.
So what can you expect from Parity HR? We strive to provide practical HR strategies for resource-conscious founders who want to do right by their people and their business. No fluff. No corporate HR-speak. Just real guidance from someone who's been in your shoes.
If you believe your people are your greatest asset and you want an HR strategy that reflects that, you're in the right place.
Ready to start? Schedule a consultation to talk about what you're building and how we can help.