Phase 2 · Hire, Land, Keep
Your next hire should not be a coin flip.
Informal hiring feels fast. It is expensive. We rebuild one role's hiring and onboarding, then you copy the pattern.
The owner question
“Why can I not find, or keep, good people?”
Phase 2 of 3
Hire, Land, Keep
A repeatable path from a vague vacancy to a person who is still good at day 90, with the live record checked before day one.
The engagement
Hire, land, keep: the 90 day people system
- Role scorecard
- Interview kit
- Offer letter
- First week and first 90 days
- A retention rhythm an owner can actually run
Why owners call
Replacing a skilled person costs far more owner time than keeping one.
What you will be fluent in
The 12 ideas that do the heavy lifting in this phase.
Each one in plain English. Open a row for the business example, why it matters, and where it comes from.
Or read every term across all three phases
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Role scorecard A scorecard names what good looks like in this job before anyone writes a posting or sits in an interview. 01
Write the job as evidence, then go looking for that evidence.
- What it looks like in business
- Instead of hiring a nice conversationalist for operations, the owner lists the three results the person must produce in ninety days and the work samples that would prove it.
- Why it matters
- Without a scorecard, every interviewer invents a different job, and the person who interviews well beats the person who can do the work.
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Structured interview A structured interview is a repeatable conversation about the work, not a vibe check that changes with the interviewer's mood. 02
Same questions, same evidence, same scorecard, every time.
- What it looks like in business
- Two owners like different candidates until they score the same work sample and the same three questions against the scorecard.
- Why it matters
- Unstructured chats invite bias, cannot be defended, and produce hires the team cannot explain a month later.
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Offer letter An offer letter puts the deal on paper so pay, title, and start date are not a memory of a hallway conversation. 03
If it is part of the deal, it is on the page before day one.
- What it looks like in business
- A candidate hears twenty two an hour, payroll hears salary, and the first paycheck becomes a Texas Payday dispute that a one page letter would have prevented.
- Why it matters
- Handshake terms feel friendly and then become two different stories, which is how wage claims and broken trust start.
- Source
- Tex. Lab. Code Ch. 61
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Onboarding Onboarding is the path from accepted offer to a working employee, not a laptop, a password, and a shrug. 04
If day one is improvised, day ninety is already at risk.
- What it looks like in business
- Day one has the I-9, the offer terms, the tools, a named buddy, and a written 30 day picture of success, instead of an inbox and a guess.
- Why it matters
- Inconsistent onboarding is the highest leverage retention leak in a small shop, because early turnover is the pain owners feel first.
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90-day landing The first ninety days are a designed landing, not a silent hope that the person will figure it out. 05
Design the first ninety days, or you will keep paying to restart them.
- What it looks like in business
- At day thirty the owner reviews three outcomes with the new hire, writes what is working, and resets the next thirty days instead of waiting for a blowup.
- Why it matters
- Early exits are usually an onboarding and expectation failure, not proof that the town has no talent.
- Source
- EEOC Small Business
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Compensation structure A compensation structure is the story of how this shop pays, so two people in the same job are not paid from two moods. 06
Pay from a range you can explain, not from whoever asked last.
- What it looks like in business
- Before an offer, the owner places the role on a short range, checks the market and the equal pay facts, and can explain the number without blinking.
- Why it matters
- Random pay feels personal, invites equal pay trouble, and makes every raise a negotiation instead of a system.
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Retention check-in A retention check-in is a regular, short talk about the job, the load, and what would make someone stay, held before the resignation letter. 07
Ask while they will still tell you, not after they have a new offer.
- What it looks like in business
- Once a month the owner asks what is in the way, what is working, and whether pay or hours still match the deal, then writes one action.
- Why it matters
- In a small team, one unexplained departure is a hole in the schedule and a rumor, and surprise exits are usually preceded by silence.
- Source
- EEOC Small Business
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Exit data Exit data is what you learn when someone leaves, written down so the next hire is not a rerun of the same miss. 08
A resignation is expensive research. Write it down and use it.
- What it looks like in business
- Three people leave inside ninety days citing unclear work. The owner stops blaming the labor market and rebuilds day one and the scorecard.
- Why it matters
- Small shops treat each departure as a personality story, and the pattern that is costing them stays invisible.
- Source
- Tex. Lab. Code Title 4
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Texas covenants not to compete A noncompete cannot simply block future work; it must protect a legitimate agreement through restrictions no broader than reasonably necessary. 09
Tie the promise to an enforceable agreement, then narrow time, place, and activity.
- What it looks like in business
- HR and counsel compare the proposed restriction with the employee's actual territory, duties, confidential access, duration, and any special rule covering the profession.
- Why it matters
- Courts may reform or reject excessive terms, and recent profession specific changes can make an old template unreliable.
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Federal employment discrimination laws Federal law adds overlapping rules for protected status, reasonable accommodation, pay equality, harassment, and retaliation in Texas workplaces. 10
Match the protected right to the correct federal statute before analyzing the decision.
- What it looks like in business
- HR reviewing a discharge checks which statutes cover the employer, the worker, and the alleged conduct instead of assuming one employee threshold applies to every claim.
- Why it matters
- The statutes use different coverage rules, proof standards, remedies, and filing periods, while one set of facts may trigger several at once.
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Form W-4 Form W-4 is how a new hire tells the employer how much federal income tax to withhold from each paycheck. 11
Collect it on day one. Withhold what it says, not what anyone remembers agreeing.
- What it looks like in business
- A worker with a second job marks that box, and the withholding rises to match a household income neither employer can see alone.
- Why it matters
- An employer who never collects one has to withhold at the highest single rate, and the worker discovers the shortfall at filing time.
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Personnel file A personnel file is the employer's record of one worker: the hiring paperwork, reviews, warnings, pay changes, and the separation. 12
One folder per worker, and three folders that never go in it.
- What it looks like in business
- Medical notes, accommodation requests, and the I-9 come out and live in their own folders, because different rules govern who may read each one.
- Why it matters
- Federal recordkeeping sets how long the file is kept, and mixing medical papers into it turns a routine request into a privacy problem.
The other two questions
“Am I even allowed to do this?”
The law does not care that you have eight people and no handbook. A consultant builds the baseline a small shop can actually run.
Stay legal without becoming a lawyer
“What do I do with this person?”
When the owner is also HR, every conflict feels personal. A fair process keeps the team, and the file, intact.
Handle hard people moments without making them worse
Next step
We will rebuild one role's hiring and onboarding this month, then you copy it.
One conversation, no retainer, and a straight answer about whether this is a fix or a phone call to a lawyer.