January
Close the record and open the year
Confirm retention, ownership, recurring reviews, and the calendar of jurisdiction-specific checks before routine work crowds them out.
A practical HR year
Know what to review next, before it becomes urgent.
This calendar turns the recurring HR year into twelve decision points. Each month connects a free evidence or analysis step to the operating tool that carries the work forward.
The operating rule
A calendar is useful only when every date has a decision behind it.
A reminder without scope, ownership, evidence, or a record creates activity, not control. Use the month as the prompt; set the exact deadline from the governing source.
01 · Scope
Name what applies
Identify the entities, workforces, locations, plans, and policies the review covers.
02 · Own
Assign one accountable person
Put a name and completion date beside the work before the month begins.
03 · Run
Use a repeatable method
Carry the review through a checklist, calculator, workbook, or documented conversation.
04 · Record
Keep the evidence
Save the decision, source date, exception, and next review point where another owner can find them.
Twelve decision points
Run the year in a deliberate order.
Move the sequence when your fiscal year, benefits cycle, bargaining agreement, or operating season requires it. The value is the closed loop, not the month printed on the card.
February
Carry pay decisions into the operating record
Reconcile ranges, increase decisions, posting practices, and the documentation managers will need before compensation conversations begin.
March
Calibrate performance before ratings harden
Set the rating definitions, review manager evidence, and test whether the same performance would receive the same judgment across teams.
April
Tighten hiring and the first 90 days
Review the handoff from approved role to accepted offer, then make expectations, check-ins, and ownership visible through the new hire's ramp.
May
Test the manager system
Identify where managers are improvising on expectations, feedback, documentation, and difficult conversations, then give them one repeatable operating method.
June
Read retention risk at midyear
Put a number around avoidable loss, hold stay conversations while options still exist, and assign action instead of recording sentiment without follow-through.
July
Reforecast capacity and headcount
Compare the work expected in the second half with available capacity, manager span, open roles, and the fully loaded cost of each staffing choice.
August
Review pay structure and internal equity
Test range placement, compa-ratio, compression, and promotion decisions before budget assumptions become individual promises.
September
Refresh the policies managers actually use
Prioritize policies tied to recurring decisions, verify the jurisdictions in scope, and replace language that managers cannot apply consistently.
October
Prepare leave and accommodation workflows
Check intake, documentation, handoffs, and manager scripts before year-end absences and open-enrollment questions increase the volume of live cases.
November
Plan the work and credentials next year requires
Identify expiring qualifications, recurring training, critical-role coverage, and the staffing decisions that must move before the new year begins.
December
Close decisions with an owner and evidence
Archive the year's records, carry unresolved actions forward, set next review dates, and make the operating file usable by someone other than its author.
Carry the whole year
Choose the amount of system the work requires.
The $79 Calendar and Document Audit Kit provides the working calendar and audit method. The $749 Complete TrueStep HR System connects the broader operating catalog. A $149 Setup Session gets either one running on your own calendar.