People Advisory
You own the People function. We'll help with the hard calls.
Ongoing access to senior People expertise for leaders and HR teams who need another experienced brain in the room — without hiring a fractional People executive.
You own it. We'll help you make the call.
People Advisory gives leaders and HR teams ongoing access to senior People expertise for complex decisions — compensation, restructuring, performance, hiring — without hiring a fractional executive. You retain ownership of the People function; we provide judgment and a second opinion on the hard calls.
What people actually bring us
Bring us the messy one.
The decision you don't make every week. The situation where the answer isn't obvious. The thing you'd rather pressure-test before committing to it.
“Does this compensation package actually make sense?”
“How should we restructure this team?”
“We have a serious performance issue. What would you do?”
“Are we ready to move away from our EOR?”
“We're hiring a senior executive. Are we approaching this correctly?”
“Our performance process isn't working.”
“Which HR technology do we actually need?”
“We're about to make a difficult People decision. What are we missing?”
“Our CEO wants to reorganize the team again.”
“How should we handle this U.S. employee situation?”
We give People advice, not legal advice. Where something needs a legal read, we'll flag it early and work alongside your employment counsel.
Where we're useful
The things people tend to call us about.
- Compensation
- Pay decisions, compensation philosophy, senior packages, benchmarking interpretation and difficult compensation calls.
- Organization design
- Structures, roles, reporting relationships, spans, layers and organizational decisions.
- Performance
- Performance systems, difficult performance situations, manager decisions and process design.
- Difficult employee situations
- Senior People perspective on complex employee situations, with legal counsel involved where appropriate.
- Senior hiring
- Executive roles, assessment, compensation, organizational fit and hiring decisions.
- People strategy
- Priorities, People roadmaps and aligning People decisions with what the business actually needs.
- U.S. employment
- Practical guidance for international companies navigating U.S. employment.
- HR technology
- HRIS and People technology decisions, vendor choices, operating requirements and avoiding technology you don't need.
- Workforce planning
- Headcount, organizational capability, workforce priorities and future requirements.
- Change & restructuring
- People implications, sequencing, communication considerations and execution planning.
The mechanics
How it works.
- 01
Bring it
Bring us the decision, problem, situation, draft or idea you want another experienced perspective on.
- 02
Work it through
We'll challenge assumptions, identify the important issues, share what we've seen work and help determine the practical options.
- 03
Make the call
You leave with a clearer view of what to do, what to watch and why.
- 04
Your team executes
Your team retains ownership and gets the work done.
The commercial difference
Advisory or fractional?
The difference is ownership.
People Advisory
You own it.
- Your team owns the People function.
- Your team executes.
- GSD provides senior expertise.
- GSD helps pressure-test decisions.
- GSD provides recommendations and judgment.
- GSD is another experienced brain in the room.
Fractional People Leadership
We own it.
- GSD takes responsibility for agreed People outcomes.
- GSD leads the work.
- GSD can manage priorities and programs.
- GSD can lead or support the internal People team.
- GSD becomes part of the operating rhythm of the business.
Need advice? Advisory. Need ownership? Fractional.
Where the line sits
Advice. Not another pair of hands.
People Advisory gives you access to our experience, perspective and judgment. Your team remains responsible for execution and ownership.
Advisory includes
- +Senior People decision support
- +Pressure-testing decisions
- +Recommendations
- +Strategic discussion
- +Review of existing materials
- +Feedback on approaches already being developed
- +Targeted input on specific People questions
- +Reasonable async questions between advisory sessions
- +Senior perspective on unfamiliar situations
Advisory does not include
- –Running projects
- –Creating substantial deliverables
- –Routine employee support
- –Payroll or benefits administration
- –Attending recurring internal operating meetings
- –Managing the HR/People team
- –Owning People programs
- –Conducting investigations
- –Acting as the company's de facto Head of People
- –Ongoing project management
Who it's for
Built for people who already have people.
CEOs / founders
You don't need a People executive embedded in the business, but some People decisions deserve experienced executive-level input.
CFOs / COOs
People responsibility sits partly with you and you want an experienced People perspective before making important decisions.
Heads of People / People directors
You can run the function. Sometimes you need someone senior outside the organization to challenge your thinking or help with something you haven't handled before.
Small People teams
You have execution capability but limited senior specialist experience across every People discipline.
You don't need us to take over. You need access to someone who's seen this before.
Four ways to work with us
HR Foundation Build
Your People infrastructure hasn't kept up. We'll help build what the business needs next.
→Hiring in the U.S.
You're employing people in America and need someone who understands how the U.S. side actually works.
→Fractional People Leadership & Operations
You need experienced People leadership with responsibility for getting the work done.
→Got one of those questions right now?
Bring us the problem.
Tell us what's going on. We'll tell you whether Advisory is the right fit — and if it isn't, we'll tell you that too.