Every tool has to earn its place
TrueStep HR makes the calculators, templates, and document kits a small team or a busy manager reaches for in the moments that have to be handled right: a hire, a pay decision, a write-up, a hard conversation. The standard is the whole product. Before a tool enters the catalog, it has to prove it helps someone make a better decision, with more confidence and less risk.
Why the standard exists
People decisions carry consequences. A hire. A pay change. A write-up. A termination. A workforce reduction. None of these is the moment for a generic template or a guess, so every tool has to prove it can help before it ships.
One standard, three tests
Every tool in the catalog has to pass all three. The tests are simple. The bar is not. This is what "built to the TrueStep HR standard" means.
The full standard is public: the quality gate every file passes before it ships, the review cadence, and a log of meaningful updates. Read it on the Standards and updates page. New to digital downloads? The download help page walks every step from checkout to open files.
About TrueStep HR
TrueStep HR started with a turnover calculator.
At the time, everyone agreed turnover was a problem. What nobody could explain was what it was actually costing the business.
So I built a tool that could answer the question. I pulled together the research, worked through what should and should not be included, and created a calculator that showed the full math behind the number.
The next time the conversation came up, we had something more useful than "turnover is expensive." We had a real estimate people could understand and use to make a decision.
That became the idea behind TrueStep HR.
A lot of HR work starts with a question that should have a clear answer but does not. What should this role pay? How much is overtime really costing us? Do we need another HR person? Is turnover high enough to justify action? Are we documenting this correctly?
Too often, the answer depends on who is in the room, how much time they have, and whether someone has already built the spreadsheet.
TrueStep HR is meant to solve that problem.
The research has already been done. The formulas are already built. The guidance is already included. You should be able to open a tool and use it that day without turning it into another project.
These are tools I originally built because I needed them myself and did not have weeks to waste recreating the same work every time a question came up.
They are designed for lean HR teams, business owners, and anyone else responsible for people decisions without a large team behind them.
The advisory work follows the same approach. Understand what is actually happening, remove unnecessary complexity, build a practical process, and help the business move forward.
That includes building HR functions, fixing broken processes, supporting reorganizations, and helping teams manage growth and change without making everything harder than it needs to be.
TrueStep HR is practical HR support for people who need something they can actually use.
Greg Best, MBA, SPHR · Founder, TrueStep HR
Three kinds of tools, built to one standard
Editable files, one-time purchase, downloaded the moment you buy. The files are yours, and the standard behind them is the same one that runs TrueStep HR Teams and the advisory work. One platform, three ways to use it.
Two ways in, depending on who the decision is for
Same standard, same sourced figures, same senior read. What changes is whether you are answering the call on your own desk or building the managers who will make the next one.
The decision has landed on your desk
You are the HR team, or you are the owner doing HR between everything else. Find where you stand, then take the one tool that answers the call in front of you.
- Free HR Operating System Readiness Scorecard. No sign-up to see your profile.
- A senior HR practitioner reads the result with you. The 20 minute Report Review is free.
- The kit, workbook or calculator for that decision. One-time purchase, editable files you keep.
- When you are ready for more, book the founder: a working session that sets your kit up on your real numbers, or a deep-dive that ends in a written plan you keep.
The managers behind you are the exposure
You are promoting managers faster than anyone can develop them, and the same problem keeps arriving from more than one of them. The team lane reads how the group actually works, then builds the capability in the room.
- Each manager takes the free situational manager assessment and the Work Style Profile, the same instruments that run on this site.
- TrueStep HR Teams turns the results into tracked development plans, check-ins that move them, and the month in dollars. Seats run in small cohorts, onboarded personally by the founder.
- Facilitated team sessions with a senior HR practitioner run behind it, when you want the work done live.
- And one-to-one: any manager who takes the assessment can book a results debrief with the founder.
Tell us what you are working on
Email us and we will point you to the right tool, or tell you plainly if we do not have one yet.