First 90 Days HR Roadmap | Trimaren Human Capital Partners

Getting HR off the ground in a growing life sciences company requires sequencing. Do too much at once and nothing lands well. Do too little and you're playing catch-up while the business scales around you. This roadmap gives you a structured, phased approach to the first 90 days, whether you're the company's first dedicated HR leader, stepping into a newly formalized role, or coming in to rebuild a function that's been running on improvisation.

Before Day One: Pre-Arrival Orientation

If you have any access before your start date, use it. Request documents, org charts, and key contacts in advance so you're not spending your first week on basic orientation.

Gather what you can:

Current headcount and org chart (formal or informal)
Any existing HR policies, employee handbook, or offer letter templates
Benefits carrier and broker contacts
Payroll provider and recent payroll calendar
Open roles and active recruiting activity
Any pending employee relations issues or legal matters

Days 1–30: Listen, Learn, and Stabilize

The first month is about understanding before acting. In life sciences, this means getting fluent in the business model, the regulatory environment (GxP, cGMP, FDA oversight if applicable), and the people dynamics underneath the org chart.

Priority 1: Stakeholder Listening Tour

Schedule 30-minute 1:1s with each member of the leadership team
Meet with people managers across functions (R&D, Regulatory, Clinical, Manufacturing, Commercial, wherever they exist)
Identify 3–5 individual contributors who are informal culture carriers
Ask consistent questions: What's working? What's broken? What do people need that they're not getting?

Priority 2: HR Infrastructure Audit

Complete a rapid audit of what exists and what's missing:

[ ] Payroll: Is it running accurately and on time? Who owns it?
[ ] Benefits: Are employees enrolled correctly? Are there open enrollment gaps?
[ ] Employee files: Are I-9s complete and compliant? Are files organized and appropriately secured?
[ ] Offer letters and employment agreements: Are IP assignment and confidentiality provisions in place? (Critical in life sciences, Trimaren can review these provisions and coordinate specialized legal review to confirm adequacy.)
[ ] State registrations: Is the company registered as an employer in every state where employees work?
[ ] HRIS or people data: Is there a system of record? Is data accurate?
[ ] Compliance postings: Are federal and state labor law notices posted or distributed to remote employees?

Priority 3: Identify Immediate Risks

Flag anything that requires urgent action, not everything needs to be fixed in month one, but you need to know what's on fire.

Active employee relations issues or complaints
Roles classified as exempt that may not meet the legal threshold
Contractors who may be misclassified (especially common in early-stage life sciences)
Missing or outdated agreements for employees with access to IP or proprietary data

> Note: Compliance requirements vary significantly by state. For any classification, wage-and-hour, or agreement-related findings, Trimaren can help you assess exposure and coordinate specialized legal review before you take action. Reach out to work through your findings.

Days 31–60: Build the Core Infrastructure

With your listening done and risks identified, month two is about building the foundational systems and documents the organization needs to operate.

HR Policies and the Employee Handbook

Draft or update a handbook appropriate for your stage and headcount
Prioritize: at-will employment, anti-harassment and anti-discrimination, leave policies, timekeeping (if applicable to hourly or non-exempt roles), and safety
In regulated environments, consider how HR policies intersect with SOPs and quality systems, alignment matters

Compensation Framework

Map current salaries against a consistent benchmarking source
Identify compression issues, equity gaps, or roles that are significantly off-market
Establish a simple job leveling framework if none exists, even a basic structure prevents inconsistent offers and future resentment

Recruiting Process

Document a standard hiring process: intake, sourcing, interview stages, offer approval
Create or standardize offer letter templates (Trimaren can build these and coordinate legal review)
Define who has hiring authority and at what compensation levels

Onboarding Program

Build a 30/60/90-day onboarding checklist for new hires
In GxP environments, ensure onboarding includes required training documentation and role-specific compliance orientation
Assign onboarding ownership, HR, hiring manager, and buddy roles should be explicit

Days 61–90: Align HR to the Business Roadmap

The third month shifts from infrastructure to strategy. You now have enough context to connect HR priorities to where the business is actually going.

Workforce Planning Conversation

Sit down with the CEO and functional leaders to map anticipated headcount needs for the next 6–12 months
Identify critical roles, hard-to-fill positions (regulatory affairs, quality, clinical operations, these take time), and any succession gaps
Build a simple hiring plan with rough timelines and budget assumptions

Performance and Feedback Culture

Assess whether any performance management process exists
Introduce or reinforce a lightweight check-in cadence if there isn't one, formal annual reviews can come later
Identify any performance concerns that have been informally managed and need a documented path forward

HR Metrics Baseline

Establish a small set of metrics you'll track going forward:

[ ] Headcount by function and employment type
[ ] Open roles and time-to-fill
[ ] Turnover rate (voluntary vs. involuntary)
[ ] Offer acceptance rate
[ ] Onboarding completion rates

90-Day Readout

Prepare a brief summary for leadership:

What you found
What you've built or fixed
What's still in progress
Your recommended HR priorities for the next quarter

This builds credibility and keeps HR visible as a business function, not a back-office one.

A Note on Pacing and Tradeoffs

Not every organization will let you move through this roadmap cleanly, a hiring surge, a compliance issue, or a leadership change can shift your priorities fast. The goal isn't to complete every item; it's to have a clear enough picture by day 90 that you're making intentional choices about what to prioritize, rather than reacting to whatever is loudest.

How Trimaren Can Help

Trimaren Human Capital Partners works with life sciences companies at exactly this stage, building the HR function from the ground up or stepping in to bring structure to one that's grown faster than its infrastructure. Whether you need someone to lead this 90-day process directly, a thought partner to pressure-test your priorities, or a set of ready-to-use templates to accelerate the work, we can tailor our support to what your organization actually needs. Reach out to start the conversation.