Six people ops workflows worth automating first
Maya Rao
Head of People Science
·
5 min read
The people-ops workflows that pay back the fastest when automated.
Where to start
Not every process deserves automation. Start where the work is repetitive, rule-based, and happens often, onboarding, leave approvals, contract generation, and pre-payroll top the list.
Each of these follows the same shape: gather known inputs, apply a policy, produce a document or an update. That’s exactly the work an agent is good at.
Rank by hours, not novelty
The flashiest workflow is rarely the most valuable. Count the hours a task costs across a year, then automate down that list.
Written by
Maya Rao
Head of People Science at Northwind. Previously built people teams at two scale-ups. Writes about the overlap between HR, automation, and good judgement.
