I am an HR business partner preparing advice for a business leader. Analyze this request as a strategic HRBP: connect the business outcome to workforce implications, apply policy consistently, surface employee impact, and distinguish a recommendation from a final legal or executive decision. Business request: [BUSINESS REQUEST] Business context and target outcome: [BUSINESS CONTEXT] Workforce data and known facts: [WORKFORCE FACTS] Relevant policies, commitments, and prior practice: [POLICY AND PRECEDENT] Jurisdictions and employee populations: [EMPLOYEE POPULATION] Create a leader-ready decision memo of 700-1,000 words with:
1. Executive recommendation in 3-5 sentences, including the decision owner and approvals needed. 2. Business rationale and the specific workforce assumptions behind it. 3. People-impact analysis covering capacity, skills, workload, performance, morale, retention, inclusion, employee relations, and manager capability where relevant. 4. Options table: recommended option plus at least two viable alternatives, with tradeoffs, cost or effort assumptions, timing, risks, and mitigation. 5. Policy, fairness, and consistency checks. Identify affected groups, selection or decision criteria, exceptions, and records needed to show a defensible process. 6. Implementation plan by week, including stakeholder communications, manager enablement, employee listening, and metrics to review after launch. 7. Escalations for employment counsel, compensation, benefits, finance, labor relations, privacy, or executive leadership. Ask up to 3 clarifying questions only if a required input is missing. Do not invent headcount, performance ratings, costs, legal requirements, or employee sentiment. Before answering, label every assumption and confirm that proposed criteria are job-related, consistently applicable, and not proxies for protected characteristics or protected activity.
Fill in
| Placeholder | What to enter | Example |
|---|---|---|
| [BUSINESS REQUEST] | Describe the leader's requested people decision or change. | Sales leadership wants to combine two regional account teams and reduce one manager position. |
| [BUSINESS CONTEXT] | Explain the business goal, timing, operating constraints, and success measure. | Revenue coverage must remain stable for Q4; the merger should take effect within six weeks. |
| [WORKFORCE FACTS] | Provide known headcount, role, performance, capacity, turnover, and organizational facts. | Two managers lead 11 and 9 account executives; territory overlap is 30%; no current performance plans. |
| [POLICY AND PRECEDENT] | Paste relevant policies, compensation rules, commitments, and comparable past decisions. | Manager selection must use documented job-related criteria; last reorganization used role scope, customer complexity, and leadership competencies. |
| [EMPLOYEE POPULATION] | State the impacted teams, locations, employment types, union status, and any sensitive population details. | US employees in New York and Texas; salaried exempt; no union representation. |
How to use
- Give the model actual business constraints and workforce facts, not only a desired personnel outcome.
- Read the alternative-options table with the business leader before treating one route as decided.
- Validate selection criteria against the role requirements and prior reorganization practice.
- Follow up with: “Turn the implementation plan into a manager briefing and employee Q&A, keeping all uncertainty explicit.”
Variations
Workforce plan
Use when planning headcount, skills, and hiring over a planning cycle.
Build a workforce planning brief for [BUSINESS UNIT] for [PLANNING PERIOD]. Use [BUSINESS TARGETS], [CURRENT WORKFORCE DATA], [SKILL GAPS], and [BUDGET CONSTRAINTS]. Produce demand assumptions, supply analysis, role-by-role build-buy-borrow-automate options, hiring sequence, retention risks, manager capacity implications, and monthly leading indicators. Separate known data from estimates and identify decisions requiring finance or executive approval. Ask up to 3 questions only if required inputs are missing. Check that totals reconcile and that no forecast is presented as an observed fact.
Org design review
Use when evaluating reporting lines, spans, and decision rights.
Assess the proposed organization design in [CURRENT ORG] and [PROPOSED ORG] against [BUSINESS STRATEGY] and [OPERATING PROBLEMS]. Create a concise diagnostic covering layers, manager spans, duplicated ownership, decision rights, key-person dependencies, customer handoffs, and implementation risks. Recommend changes with rationale, transition roles, and a 30-60-90 day adoption plan. Use [WORKFORCE CONSTRAINTS] for policy or location limits. Ask up to 3 questions only if needed. Check that every structural recommendation solves a stated operating problem.
Talent review
Use when preparing a calibrated talent discussion with leaders.
Prepare a talent review discussion guide for [TEAM] using [ROLE EXPECTATIONS], [PERFORMANCE EVIDENCE], [POTENTIAL INDICATORS], and [SUCCESSION NEEDS]. Create a one-page matrix narrative for each employee: observed results, demonstrated behaviors, development priorities, readiness evidence, retention factors, and next-step actions. Do not infer potential from personality, tenure, or protected traits. Flag unsupported ratings and calibration questions. Ask up to 3 questions only if inputs are missing. Check that each assessment is grounded in job-related evidence.
Tips
- Start with the business decision that must be made, then show the people evidence that should constrain it.
- Use transparent, job-related criteria before viewing individual names when a decision affects roles, opportunities, or employment status.
- Include an implementation owner and an employee-listening mechanism; a strategy memo without adoption work is incomplete.
- Treat workforce data as directional unless its source, date, definitions, and population coverage are known.
FAQ
What does an HR business partner prompt help produce?
It can produce a decision memo, workforce plan, organization design review, or leader briefing grounded in the facts you provide.
Can AI choose people for a layoff or promotion?
It should not make that decision. It can help test job-related criteria and identify inconsistencies for authorized decision-makers to review.
How do I keep the analysis fair?
Provide policy, prior practice, role requirements, and evidence, then require the model to identify assumptions and adverse-impact concerns.