THE FIELD NOTES

Honest writing about modern HR in India

EPF compliance, payroll strategy, and building culture in Indian startups. No fluff. Just things we've learned and things we're still figuring out.

Featured · HR Strategy

The honest cost of running HR in spreadsheets

Spreadsheets feel free until they don't. Here's the math on what they actually cost — in hours, errors, and risk.

Vikram Joshi · April 12, 2026 · 8 min read

Culture

How to write an employee handbook your team will actually read

Most handbooks are 60-page PDFs that nobody opens. Here's how to write one your team treats like a useful product.

Aisha Patel

April 2, 2026 · 11 min read

Guides

Why approval workflows fail (and how to fix yours)

Approval workflows aren't broken because they're slow. They're broken because they're invisible. Here's how to make yours actually move.

Daniel Park

March 22, 2026 · 9 min read

Guides

5 leave policies that scale from 10 to 100 employees

What worked at 10 will break at 100. Five patterns we see in growing companies that actually hold up.

Aisha Patel

March 14, 2026 · 7 min read

Guides

Onboarding checklist: the first 30 days

What every new hire should hit in their first month — and the order to deliver it so they're productive by week two.

Aisha Patel

March 5, 2026 · 10 min read

Compliance

Compliance basics for growing teams

The compliance work you can defer, the compliance work you cannot, and how to tell the difference.

Vikram Joshi

February 24, 2026 · 12 min read

HR Strategy

Building a remote-first attendance policy

Most attendance policies were designed for offices. Here's how to write one that respects how distributed teams actually work.

Daniel Park

February 12, 2026 · 8 min read

Culture

Offboarding done right: a manager's guide

How great managers handle resignations — from the first conversation to the last day, with dignity intact on both sides.

Aisha Patel

February 1, 2026 · 9 min read

Product

The HR tech stack for 2026

What modern HR teams are running on this year — and the categories you can probably consolidate.

Vikram Joshi

January 22, 2026 · 11 min read

Product

From spreadsheets to SignHR: a migration guide

How to move off your current setup in an afternoon — including the data prep nobody warns you about.

Daniel Park

January 10, 2026 · 9 min read

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