The HR Spring Cleaning Diagnostic | emPowers People | Systems
emPowers People | Systems
The HR Spring Cleaning Diagnostic
Spring 2026 Edition
emPowers People | Systems

The HR Spring Cleaning
Diagnostic

A completely unofficial assessment of how much accumulated clutter your HR function is quietly dragging around.

Every spring, people open a closet they haven't touched in two years and find things they forgot they owned, things they meant to throw away, and things they genuinely cannot explain. Congratulations — your HR function has the same problem. This diagnostic will help you figure out which category most of your processes fall into. It will take about 8 minutes. The results may be uncomfortable. That is the point.

Section 01
The Junk Drawer
Processes nobody can explain but nobody has the courage to remove
Section 02
The Overstuffed Closet
Approval layers and steps added "just in case" that never left
Section 03
The Broken Appliances
Technology you're paying for that nobody is actually using
Section 04
The Lease You Forgot
Programs still running on autopilot with no owner and no purpose
// A Little About You First
4 sections · about 8 minutes · results are genuine even when the questions aren't
* No HR programs were harmed in the making of this diagnostic. Several may need to be discontinued afterward. That's fine.
Section 1 of 4 — The Junk Drawer

How many things in your HR function
exist without explanation?

Every organization has a junk drawer — the place where things go when nobody knows where else to put them, and nobody has the energy to deal with them properly. In HR, it's called "the way we've always done it." Rate each item honestly. This isn't a performance review. It's more of an intervention.

Scale: 1 = Blissfully clean · 5 = There's definitely something alive in there

Q1.1 — The Explainability Test
If a new HR team member asked you to explain why a specific process exists, how often would "we've always done it this way" be your honest answer?
Bonus points if you've ever said this while making direct eye contact with someone you respect.
1 - Almost never5 - It's basically our motto
Q1.2 — The Zombie Program Index
How many HR programs or initiatives are currently running that were launched more than three years ago and have not been formally reviewed since?
If you're not sure, that's already a 4.
1 - All current and reviewed5 - Several, no one dares touch them
Q1.3 — The Sacred Cow Count
How many HR processes or programs exist primarily because a senior leader likes them, was involved in creating them, or would notice if they disappeared?
This one makes everyone look at the ceiling for a moment before answering.
1 - Zero — we're outcome-focused5 - Several with very specific owners
Q1.4 — The Participation Trophy Problem
How many HR metrics or reports are produced regularly that nobody has ever acted on — but that continue to be produced because someone, somewhere, once asked for them?
The report that goes out every Friday to three inboxes where it is immediately archived unread.
1 - Everything we produce is used5 - We've lost count
Junk Drawer Score
0 / 20
Section 1 of 4
Section 2 of 4 — The Overstuffed Closet

How many layers has your process
accumulated since it was designed?

The overstuffed closet is where things go that are too good to throw away but too inconvenient to actually use. You know exactly what's in there. You just haven't opened it since 2019. In HR processes, this is your approval layers, sign-off requirements, and compliance steps — each added for a perfectly good reason that may have expired somewhere around the third leadership transition ago.

Scale: 1 = Neatly organized with labels · 5 = The door physically will not close

Q2.1 — The Approval Layer Audit
For your most common HR process, how many people need to approve, review, or sign off before it is complete — including approvals that happen via email because the system doesn't support them?
Email approvals are just approval layers wearing a disguise.
1 - One or two, clearly justified5 - Enough for a committee photo
Q2.2 — The Compliance Theater Index
How many steps in your HR processes exist primarily to demonstrate that something happened, rather than to actually improve the outcome?
The acknowledgment form for the acknowledgment form is a real thing that exists in the wild.
1 - Every step drives an outcome5 - We have steps that exist for other steps
Q2.3 — The Exception That Ate the Rule
What percentage of your HR transactions require some form of special handling, manual override, or "it depends" routing that sits outside your standard documented process?
When the exception becomes more common than the rule, you don't have a rule. You have a suggestion.
1 - Under 5% exceptions5 - Exceptions are the process
Q2.4 — The Last Time Someone Removed a Step
When was the last time your team formally removed a step, approval, or requirement from an HR process — rather than adding one?
Adding steps is easy. Removing them requires courage, documentation, and a standing meeting nobody scheduled.
1 - Recently and regularly5 - We have never done this
Overstuffed Closet Score
0 / 20
Section 2 of 4
Section 3 of 4 — The Broken Appliances

How much technology are you paying for
that isn't actually working for you?

Every household has that appliance — perfectly functional, occasionally dusted, never used. You spent real money on it. You showed it to guests during the implementation. You told yourself you'd use it regularly. You have not used it since the first month. It still sends invoices. This section is about whether your HR technology has become that appliance.

Scale: 1 = Fully operational kitchen · 5 = Museum of HR Technology, admission free

Q3.1 — The License Utilization Honest Estimate
What percentage of your total HR technology licensing spend covers features or modules that your team, managers, or employees actively use on a regular basis?
Most organizations discover this number is considerably lower than they assumed. The vendor discovery call is always a fun one.
1 - Over 80% actively used5 - Under 25% actively used
Q3.2 — The Self-Service Adoption Reality Check
How would you honestly describe employee and manager adoption of your HR self-service tools — the ones that were supposed to reduce HR's transactional workload?
If HR is still answering the same questions the portal was built to answer, the portal is not the solution. The process is the solution.
1 - High adoption, HR workload reduced5 - They call HR instead of looking
Q3.3 — The AI Honest Assessment
For any AI or automation tools your HR function has deployed, how clearly could you articulate what specific problem each one is solving — in one sentence, without mentioning the vendor's pitch deck?
"We're using AI in HR" is not an answer. "We use AI to reduce time-to-screen by 40% for high-volume roles" is an answer.
1 - Perfectly clear operational intent5 - We have it. It does something.
Q3.4 — The Data Confidence Test
If a business leader asked you right now for a specific HR data point — headcount by department, time-to-fill for a specific role, or turnover by tenure band — how confident are you that the answer would come from your system rather than a spreadsheet someone maintains separately?
The spreadsheet that lives outside the system is a vote of no confidence in the system.
1 - System of record, always reliable5 - Someone has the "real" spreadsheet
Broken Appliances Score
0 / 20
Section 3 of 4
Section 4 of 4 — The Lease You Forgot to Cancel

What is still running on autopilot
with no owner and no clear purpose?

The lease you forgot to cancel keeps charging you every month. Nobody reads the invoice. Nobody questions the renewal. It has been two years since anyone could tell you what you're actually getting. You keep meaning to cancel it. You have not cancelled it. In HR, this is the program that exists because it exists, owned by nobody, measured by nothing, survived by institutional inertia alone.

Scale: 1 = Everything is intentional and owned · 5 = Several things would outlast a leadership transition

Q4.1 — The Named Owner Test
For your five most significant HR programs or processes, how many have a named individual who is accountable for outcomes — not just execution — and who would be the person to call if the program needed to be redesigned or discontinued?
A program without an owner is not a program. It's a recurring calendar event.
1 - All have clear accountable owners5 - Ownership is genuinely unclear
Q4.2 — The Business Outcome Connection
For your current HR program portfolio, how many programs could be directly linked to a specific business outcome that a non-HR senior leader would care about — in a way that would survive a five-minute interrogation?
"Employees like it" is not a business outcome. "It reduced voluntary turnover in high-cost roles by 12%" is a business outcome.
1 - All clearly linked to business outcomes5 - Mostly HR-internal metrics
Q4.3 — The Renewal Without Review
How many HR vendor contracts, platform subscriptions, or program budgets renewed in the last 12 months without a formal review of what was actually being delivered?
Auto-renewal is a feature. Auto-renewal without review is how you end up paying for things you forgot you had.
1 - Everything reviewed before renewal5 - Most renew without formal review
Q4.4 — The Elimination Willingness Test
If you were told today that you had to reduce your HR program portfolio by 20% and that eliminations had to be announced to the business — how much anxiety does that produce?
The amount of anxiety is approximately proportional to how many programs exist that you know shouldn't.
1 - No anxiety - we'd know what to cut5 - Significant anxiety - several are at risk
Lease You Forgot Score
0 / 20
Section 4 of 4
The HR Spring Cleaning Diagnostic — Results
Your Organization
Spring 2026 Edition
Your Overall Clutter Score
—
out of 80 — higher means more clutter, more cost, more complexity
The Junk Drawer — — / 20
Overstuffed Closet — — / 20
Broken Appliances — — / 20
Lease You Forgot — — / 20
Your Maturity Classification
Where your overall clutter score places you — and what that actually means for your HR function.
What the Diagnostic Found
Each finding includes the humorous observation and the real operational insight underneath it. Both are true.
A Note on Methodology: This assessment uses the same diagnostic framework as the HR Complexity Tax™ assessment — the four sections map directly to the four Structural Complexity Drivers. The humor is a delivery mechanism. The framework is real. The findings are genuine. If your score landed somewhere between "uncomfortable" and "I need a moment," that is the appropriate response. The actual diagnostic will quantify precisely how much that discomfort is costing you annually.

You have officially looked
in the closet.

This was the warm-up. The actual diagnostic — the one that produces a dollar estimate of what your complexity is costing you, identifies your specific structural drivers, and sequences a set of prioritized actions — is a different tool entirely. It is more serious. It is also more useful. If your score just now made you uncomfortable, the real assessment will explain exactly why.

Ready for the actual diagnosis?

The HR Complexity Tax™ Diagnostic translates your clutter into a real dollar figure — and tells you which Complexity Drivers are costing you the most, in the order you should address them. No metaphors about closets. Well. Fewer metaphors about closets.

Take the Real Assessment

The HR Complexity Tax™ Diagnostic is a more comprehensive tool.
It will not tell you that your closet smells. It will tell you what it's costing you.

emPowers People | Systems — The HR Spring Cleaning Diagnostic — Spring 2026 Edition