30-60-90 day plan for CHROs
On this page
- What does a CHRO own that an HR director does not?
- What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
- Which board-level rules land on a CHRO's desk?
- Which numbers should a new CHRO baseline?
- What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
- A filled example
- How should the CEO or board use this plan in the final interview?
- What should the CEO ask at the 30, 60 and 90-day check-ins?
- What the CEO and board owe a new CHRO
- Common mistakes
- Adapting the plan
- Questions people ask
A 30-60-90 day plan for a new chief human resources officer should produce a people risk memo and a 12-month board committee calendar in the first 30 days, agree three people priorities and a succession review with the CEO in days 31-60, and take a people agenda, succession slate and executive pay timeline to the compensation or people committee by day 90. What separates the CHRO from an HR director is the board: executive pay, CEO and executive succession, and, at public companies, SEC disclosure of human capital and pay. Rules on automated tools in employment decisions are also changing, so the plan includes an inventory of those tools, current as of October 2026.
This page is for the CEO, board chair or compensation committee hiring a CHRO who leads the HR function and sits on the executive team. If the role runs HR without board duties, the 30-60-90 day plan for HR directors fits better and covers the federal filing calendar (EEO-1, ACA, Form 5500) that a CHRO inherits too.
What does a CHRO own that an HR director does not?
| Area | HR director | CHRO |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Executives and managers | The CEO, the executive team and a board committee |
| Pay | Pay ranges and the annual cycle for employees | Executive pay design with the committee and its adviser, equity plans, and the pay disclosure process at public companies |
| Talent | Hiring and retention by function | Succession for the CEO and the CEO's direct reports; leadership capability against the strategy |
| Organization | HR team structure | Company-wide organization design and workforce cost against the business plan |
| Risk | Employee relations cases and compliance | Culture, conduct and people risks reported to the board, and governance of automated tools in employment decisions |
What does the 30-60-90 day plan look like?
30-60-90 day plan — [Name], Chief Human Resources Officer, [company]
Reports to: [CEO] Start date: [date]
Employees: [N] in [locations] HR leaders: [names and areas]
Board committee: [compensation / people], next meeting [date]
Public company: [yes / no] Annual meeting and proxy: [months]
DAYS 1-30 — Learn the business, the board and the people risks
Goals:
- One-to-one with the CEO, every executive and every HR leader
- Meet the committee chair and the committee's independent
pay adviser, if there is one
- Read two years of committee minutes, executive pay plans, the
equity plan, succession plans and survey results
- Reconcile headcount and people cost with the CFO
- Review open litigation, agency charges and investigations with
the general counsel
- List every AI or automated tool used in hiring, pay, promotion
or performance decisions, with vendor and internal owner
Deliverables by day 30:
- People risk memo for the CEO: top five risks, each with an owner
- Committee calendar: every decision due in the next 12 months
DAYS 31-60 — Agree the people agenda with the CEO
Goals:
- Agree three people priorities that serve the business plan
- Review succession for the CEO's direct reports, and for the CEO
with the board chair or committee chair
- Assess the HR leadership team and the HR operating model
- Start the next executive pay cycle with the committee's adviser
- Set an approval rule for automated tools in employment decisions
Deliverables by day 60:
- People priorities agreed with the CEO
- Draft succession slate; HR leadership changes decided
DAYS 61-90 — Take it to the board
Goals:
- Present the people agenda and succession review at committee
- Deliver the first quarterly workforce report to the executive
team: headcount and cost against plan, turnover, hiring, pay
- Close one risk from the day-30 memo
Deliverables by day 90:
- Committee-approved people agenda for the year
- Workforce report the CEO and CFO use in planning
Check-ins: weekly with the CEO; day 30, 60 and 90 reviews.Which board-level rules land on a CHRO's desk?
At public companies the CHRO usually runs the process behind the pay and people disclosures the board approves. The items below are checked against the official text as of October 2026; confirm how each applies with the general counsel. This is not legal advice.
| Item | What it requires | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Human capital disclosure | A description of the registrant's human capital resources, including the number of employees and any human capital measures or objectives it focuses on in managing the business, to the extent material to an understanding of the business | 17 CFR 229.101(c)(2)(ii) |
| Executive pay disclosure | The compensation discussion and tables for named executive officers in the proxy statement and annual report | 17 CFR 229.402 (Item 402) |
| Say-on-pay vote | A separate shareholder advisory vote on named executive officer pay, held at least once every three calendar years, for registrants other than emerging growth companies | 17 CFR 240.14a-21 |
| Clawback policy | Listed companies must adopt and comply with a policy to recover erroneously awarded incentive-based pay received by executive officers during the three completed fiscal years before a required accounting restatement | 17 CFR 240.10D-1 |
| Automated decision tools (California) | Businesses covered by the CCPA that use automated decisionmaking technology for a "significant decision", which includes employment opportunities and compensation, must meet the ADMT rules (pre-use notice, opt-out with exceptions, access) by January 1, 2027, and need a risk assessment for that use | CCPA regulations, sections 7001, 7150, 7200-7222 |
State and city rules on AI in hiring differ by place; the AI hiring laws by state page tracks them, and the Colorado AI Act guide covers one of the broadest. The day-30 tool inventory is what makes these rules manageable: a CHRO cannot govern tools nobody has listed.
Which numbers should a new CHRO baseline?
These are examples. Use the definitions the CFO and the committee already use, and write them down before reporting anything.
| Area | Example measures (examples only) | The question behind it |
|---|---|---|
| Workforce cost | People cost against plan, by function; headcount against budget | Does HR's number match the CFO's? |
| Leadership bench | Executive roles with a ready-now successor; leadership roles filled internally | Could the company replace any executive within a quarter? |
| Retention | Regretted turnover in roles the strategy depends on | Are we losing the people the plan needs? |
| Hiring | Time to fill and acceptance rate for critical roles | Can hiring keep up with the plan? |
| Pay | Pay against range and against market for critical roles; equity pool use | Where is pay a retention or fairness risk? |
What does "on track" look like at day 30, 60 and 90?
| Checkpoint | On track | Worth a direct conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | Risk memo names issues the CEO did not know; committee calendar complete; tool inventory started | No meeting yet with the committee chair; the memo restates the HR director's last report |
| Day 60 | Three priorities agreed with the CEO; succession reviewed for every direct report | Priorities are HR programs rather than business needs; succession left for later |
| Day 90 | Committee approves the people agenda; workforce report used in planning | Committee hears a presentation with no decision requested |
A filled example
CHRO: Marcus Oyelaran (invented), joining a listed industrial products company with 5,000 employees, reporting to the CEO, with HR directors for operations, corporate functions and total rewards.
Day 30: The committee calendar showed the next executive pay cycle had to be designed within four months to meet the proxy timeline. Two of the CEO's seven direct reports had no named successor. The tool inventory found a résumé-screening tool bought by one business unit without HR review.
Day 60: The CEO agreed three priorities: plant leadership capability, retention of maintenance technicians and a single pay structure after an acquisition. The screening tool was paused pending a vendor review and counsel's advice on notices.
Day 90: The committee approved the people agenda and a development plan for two internal successors. The first workforce report showed technician turnover concentrated at three plants, which the COO used in the next budget.
How should the CEO or board use this plan in the final interview?
Give CHRO finalists the same brief: size, locations, business plan, committee calendar and one known people problem. Ask for a two-page plan and score it with the rubric in how to evaluate a 30-60-90 day plan in an interview; the interview guide for executive roles covers the rest of the loop. A strong plan meets the committee early, ties people priorities to the business plan and treats succession as month-two work. Questions that test it:
- "Say-on-pay support fell last year. What do you look at in your first 60 days?"
- "Two executives have no successor. What do you tell the board, and when?"
- "A business unit bought an AI screening tool without telling HR. What do you do first?"
- "Which of your HR leaders would you assess first, and how?"
What should the CEO ask at the 30, 60 and 90-day check-ins?
- Day 30: Which people risk would hurt the business plan most? What does the committee need from us this year?
- Day 60: Which executive role is most exposed? What changes in HR leadership are you proposing?
- Day 90: What did the committee decide, and what will the workforce report change in our planning?
What the CEO and board owe a new CHRO
- A seat in the executive meeting and an agenda slot at the committee from the first meeting.
- Direct access to the committee chair and the committee's pay adviser.
- The history: past pay disputes, settlements, investigations and promises made to executives.
- Decision rights on HR structure and HR leadership changes, in writing.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Result | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Running HR programs instead of the people agenda | Executives see HR as overhead | Derive priorities from the business plan with the CEO |
| Meeting the committee late | The pay cycle starts on the old design by default | Committee chair meeting in month one, calendar by day 30 |
| Leaving succession for year two | A surprise departure becomes a crisis | Succession review by day 60 |
| Ignoring tools bought outside HR | Employment decisions made by systems nobody reviewed | Tool inventory in month one and an approval rule by day 60 |
Adapting the plan
- Private or investor-backed company: replace the SEC items with the investors' reporting, the equity or incentive plan terms, and any management changes the investors expect.
- High growth: weight days 31-60 toward hiring capacity; the 30-60-90 day plan for talent acquisition managers shows the recruiting leader's first 90 days.
- Several HR business partners: the 30-60-90 day plan for HR business partners shows what the CHRO should expect from each.
The general 30-60-90 day plan for executives covers the listening tour any new executive runs, and the 30-60-90 day plan template for new hires covers the structure for any role.
Questions people ask
What should a new CHRO do in the first 30 days?
Meet the CEO, every executive and every HR leader, meet the compensation committee chair, read the last two years of committee minutes, executive pay plans and succession plans, reconcile headcount and people cost with the CFO, review open litigation with the general counsel, and list every automated tool used in hiring, pay or performance decisions. The output is a people risk memo and a 12-month committee calendar.
How is a CHRO 30-60-90 day plan different from an HR director's?
An HR director's plan is about running the HR function well: the HR team, vendors, filings and reliable people data. A CHRO's plan adds the board: executive pay and the compensation committee, succession for the CEO and the executive team, human capital disclosure at public companies, and a people agenda the CEO uses to run the business. Most CHROs also lead several HR directors or heads of function.
Which SEC rules affect a CHRO at a public company?
As of October 2026, Regulation S-K Item 101(c)(2)(ii) requires a description of human capital resources in the annual report to the extent material, Rule 14a-21 requires a shareholder advisory vote on named executive officer pay at least once every three calendar years for most registrants, Item 402 governs executive compensation disclosure, and Rule 10D-1 requires listed companies to have a policy to recover erroneously awarded incentive pay. This is not legal advice.
What should a CHRO present to the board at 90 days?
The people agenda for the year tied to the business plan, a succession review for the CEO and the CEO's direct reports with named gaps, the timeline for the next executive pay cycle, and how the company governs automated tools used in employment decisions. It should end with decisions the committee is asked to make.