People Operations Dashboard

Purpose

This recipe produces a startup people operations dashboard that integrates with the HRIS (BambooHR, Rippling, or Gusto) and ATS (Greenhouse, Lever, or Ashby), displays an interactive org chart, tracks compensation against bands, monitors turnover and retention metrics, visualizes the recruiting pipeline, and shows onboarding progress for new hires. The output is a deployed internal tool giving founders and People leads a single view of workforce health. [src3]

Prerequisites

• HRIS system with API access — BambooHR or Rippling with API key or OAuth2 configured
• ATS system with API access — Greenhouse or Lever with API key configured
• At least 3 months of employee data in the HRIS — required for turnover trend analysis; 12+ months for annualized rates
• Compensation bands or salary budget — by role, level, and department
• PostgreSQL database — free tier at Supabase or Neon
• Dashboard tool account — Retool or Metabase
• Onboarding checklist template (optional) — task list per role for 30/60/90-day onboarding

Constraints

• HRIS API rate limits: BambooHR throttles at ~100 requests/minute; Greenhouse Harvest API allows 50 requests/10 seconds. Cache employee roster daily. [src1]
• Compensation data must be restricted to People team + CEO only. Never show individual salaries in department-wide views — use band position percentiles instead. [src3]
• ATS candidate data subject to GDPR (EU) and CCPA (CA). Anonymize rejected candidate records after 6 months or per retention policy. [src2]
• Turnover rate calculation requires 12+ months for annualized accuracy. For startups under 50 employees, show rolling 6-month rate with confidence warning. [src4]
• Org chart visualization breaks at ~200 nodes in browser-rendered SVG/canvas trees. Use collapsible hierarchy with department-level drill-down for larger orgs.

Tool Selection Decision

Which path?
├── User is non-technical AND budget = free
│   └── PATH A: No-Code Free — Google Sheets + manual HRIS/ATS export
├── User is non-technical AND budget > $0
│   └── PATH B: No-Code Paid — Retool + Supabase + Merge HRIS ($300/mo)
├── User is semi-technical or developer AND budget = free
│   └── PATH C: Code + Free — Metabase + PostgreSQL + cron sync scripts
└── User is developer AND budget > $0
    └── PATH D: Code + Paid — Retool + PostgreSQL + n8n + direct APIs

Execution Flow

Step 1: Design the People Data Model

Duration: 30-60 minutes · Tool: SQL client

Create the 5-table schema: employees (with manager hierarchy), compensation (with band tracking), recruiting_pipeline (with stage tracking), onboarding_tasks (with 30/60/90-day phases), and headcount_snapshots.

Verify: All 5 tables created successfully. If failed: Check PostgreSQL connection and permissions.

Step 2: Build HRIS/ATS Data Sync

Duration: 1-2 hours · Tool: n8n, custom script, or Merge API

Connect to BambooHR or Rippling API using API key/OAuth2. Extract employee directory and compensation data, upsert to employees and compensation tables. Connect to Greenhouse or Lever API, extract active applications and pipeline data. Schedule daily HRIS sync at 6:00 AM, hourly ATS sync.

Verify: SELECT department, COUNT(*) FROM employees WHERE status='active' GROUP BY department; matches HRIS headcount. If failed: Check API key permissions — BambooHR requires "API Access" level, Greenhouse requires Harvest API key type.

Step 3: Build People Analytics Queries

Duration: 1-2 hours · Tool: SQL

Write 5 core analytics queries: headcount by department with growth trend and turnover rate, compensation band analysis (anonymized percentile positions), recruiting pipeline funnel with conversion rates and source attribution, time-to-hire by department, and onboarding completion rate with overdue task flagging.

Verify: Headcount query returns departments with non-zero counts. Pipeline funnel shows descending candidate counts. If failed: Check employee status field mapping and ensure terminated employees have termination_date set.

Step 4: Assemble the Dashboard UI

Duration: 1-2 hours · Tool: Retool or Metabase

Build 6-section layout: KPI row (Headcount, Open Roles, Turnover %, Avg Time-to-Hire, Onboarding Completion), org chart with collapsible hierarchy, recruiting pipeline funnel, headcount trend stacked area chart, compensation band box plots by level, and onboarding Kanban board.

Verify: All 6 sections render. Headcount matches HRIS. If failed: Check query bindings and data source connections.

Step 5: Configure People Alerts

Duration: 30-60 minutes · Tool: n8n or Pipedream + Slack/Email

Set up weekly alerts for: turnover above 15% annualized, stale pipeline candidates (14+ days without stage change), overdue onboarding tasks, and compensation band violations.

Verify: Test alert fires in Slack/email with sample data. If failed: Check webhook URL and workflow execution.

Step 6: Deploy and Share Access

Duration: 30 minutes · Tool: Dashboard platform settings

Share full dashboard with CEO and Head of People. Create restricted view (no compensation data) for department managers. Set recruiter-only view for pipeline tracking. Enable weekly email digest for hiring managers.

Verify: CEO sees all sections. Department managers cannot see compensation data.

Output Schema

{
  "output_type": "people_operations_dashboard",
  "format": "deployed web application",
  "components": [
    {"name": "headcount_by_department", "type": "chart", "description": "Stacked area chart of headcount by department over time", "required": true},
    {"name": "org_chart", "type": "visualization", "description": "Interactive collapsible org tree by manager hierarchy", "required": true},
    {"name": "recruiting_funnel", "type": "chart", "description": "Horizontal funnel showing candidates by pipeline stage with conversion rates", "required": true},
    {"name": "compensation_analysis", "type": "chart", "description": "Box plots showing salary distribution vs band by role level", "required": true},
    {"name": "onboarding_tracker", "type": "kanban", "description": "New hire onboarding progress by 30/60/90-day phase", "required": true},
    {"name": "kpi_cards", "type": "metrics", "description": "Headcount, open roles, turnover %, avg time-to-hire, onboarding completion", "required": true}
  ],
  "refresh_interval": "daily (HRIS sync) + hourly (ATS pipeline)",
  "data_source": "PostgreSQL synced from HRIS and ATS"
}

Quality Benchmarks

If below minimum: Check HRIS/ATS API sync logs. Headcount discrepancies usually mean contractor/intern exclusion or delayed termination processing.

Error Handling

Cost Breakdown

Anti-Patterns

Wrong: Showing individual salaries on shared dashboards

Even if "only managers can see it," one screenshot or screen share leaks compensation data across the company. This destroys trust and creates legal liability. [src3]

Correct: Show percentile position within band, not dollar amounts

Display each person as a dot on a 0-100% band position scale. Managers see "Employee X is at 45th percentile of band" — never the actual salary.

Wrong: Calculating turnover from terminations in the current month only

Monthly turnover of 2/50 = 4% looks alarming but annualizes to 48% — or it could be normal variation. Single-month snapshots create false urgency or comfort. [src4]

Correct: Use 12-month rolling turnover with 3-month trend

Annualized turnover rate = (terminations in trailing 12 months / average headcount) * 100. Show 3-month trend to distinguish spikes from patterns.

When This Matters

Use when a startup has 20+ employees and needs automated visibility into headcount, hiring pipeline, and compensation beyond manual spreadsheets. Critical for companies scaling headcount rapidly (hiring 5+ people/quarter) or preparing for board reporting on team metrics. This recipe builds the dashboard — for recruiting strategy or compensation philosophy, use a playbook card instead.