40% of small business executives say payroll, benefits, compliance, and people management is “the worst” part of their jobs. Legacy HR practices are outdated and risky, and most of their software is clunky and siloed.

The reality is that there is no longer a need for a traditional HR department. Almost all its responsibilities can be automated. SMBs need only an individual or small team to do what robots can’t: manage employee experience and make it a competitive advantage. That’s people operations.

Based on monthly conversations with half a million SMBs, this book explains how to skip an HR department by using better digital tools and automating traditional HR processes so executives can cut costs, save time, and get back to leadership. It explains how to do more with less, including:

• Hack HR (with robots): Make the stuff you have to do easy
• Sleep Well: Stay on the right side of compliance
• Boost Productivity: Measure and improve your people with efficient, digital tools
• Scale Culture: Making the employee experience efforts measurable and efficient
• Plans and templates to guide each stage of your journey, for businesses with twenty employees, two hundred, and everywhere in between.

The book also contains actionable templates, tools, checklists, and examples curated from today’s most successful small businesses.

Jay Fulcher is the CEO of Zenefits, which provides people and payroll services to help 11,000+ small and mid-sized businesses manage growth, productivity, performance and compliance. Jay has more than 25 years of experience leading technology companies, including as an executive at PeopleSoft and SAP. He regularly advises businesses and is a sought-after speaker.

Kevin Marasco is Zenefits' CMO. He is instrumental in delivering Zenefits’ message and strategies for growth, scaled to the needs and pace of small and mid-sized businesses. He is a well-regarded and frequent speaker at HR, tech, and marketing forums.

Tracy Cote is Chief People Officer at Zenefits, where she leads the people experience programs. Passionate about the impact of inclusive business cultures, she taught at San Francisco State University for over 10 years, where she demystified human resources management for newcomers to the field.

Preface: Leveling the Playing Field for the “Other 99 Percent”

Part I: The Rise of People Operations

Chapter 1: The Great Pivot: The New Work Order!

Chapter 2: So Long, HR

Chapter 3: The Rise of People Ops

Chapter 4: People Ops in Action

Part II: Automate HR: Kill Paperwork

Chapter 5: Make the Stuff You Have to Do Easy (Go Digital)

Chapter 6: Step 1: Create Digital Employee Records

Chapter 7: Step 2: Automate Hiring and Onboarding

Chapter 8: Step 3: Automate Time and Pay

Chapter 9: Step 4: Automate Health Insurance Benefits

Part III: Build an Incredible Employee Experience

Chapter 10: The Bones of a Successful People Operation

Chapter 11: Employee Motivation

Chapter 12: Fair Pay

Chapter 13: Rethink Communications

Part IV: Unleash Your Workforce

Chapter 14: Performance Alignment

Chapter 15: Closing the Engagement Gap

Chapter 16: Creating a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Workplace

Chapter 17: Making Remote Work Work

Part V: The Future of People Operations

Chapter 18: The Rise of the CPO: Building a Modern People Ops Team

Chapter 19: Measuring People Ops

Chapter 20: POPS Technology

Chapter 21: Turning POPS into a Competitive Advantage

Appendix: Digital Tools and Resources

Glossary

References

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Index