Building an HR Knowledge Layer with Claude Skills

Make HR expertise reproducible and consistently available across your entire people function.

Learn How It Works

The HR Knowledge Problem

Most HR organizations face a critical challenge: best practices for employee relations live in the head of your most experienced HR Business Partner.

Compensation philosophy is scattered across spreadsheets, and nuanced approaches to difficult conversations get lost when someone leaves.

Claude Skills offers a way to make HR expertise reproducible. Instead of searching Confluence, Claude automatically applies domain knowledge from curated Skills files.

Modern Office

The Four HR Verticals

We've organized HR expertise into four core domains.

🎯

Talent Acquisition

Recruiting • Onboarding


Interview techniques, candidate assessment, offer negotiations.

💎

Total Rewards

Comp • Benefits • Equity


Comp philosophy, salary bands, promotion criteria.

🤝

Employee Relations

Conflict • Investigations


Difficult conversations, documentation, legal compliance.

⚙️

People Ops

HRIS • Compliance


System workflows, reporting standards, process automation.

The Distribution Flow

Each HR team uses Claude to create and validate Skills, then publishes them to your internal HR Knowledge Marketplace.

The key insight: Skills are context-invoked. When an HRBP starts drafting a PIP, Claude automatically applies your Skill without them needing to remember it exists.

1. HR Experts Create Skills

2. Validate with Real Scenarios

3. Publish to Internal Marketplace

4. Teams Install Relevant Skills

5. Claude Auto-Applies Expertise

What Makes a Good Skill

Precise Triggers

Help Claude know when to activate. Don't use broad triggers. Use specific ones like "when implementing a formal PIP".

Progressive Detail

Keep the main Skill file scannable (2-3 pages) while putting comprehensive guidance in references.

Strong Directives

"Consider documenting" gets ignored. "MUST document within 24 hours" gets applied.

Validation Checkpoints

Force Claude to confirm critical compliance steps like "Reviewed protected class status".

Real-World Application

Consider an HRBP addressing a performance issue.

Without Skills

Search for templates, try to remember legal requirements, ping senior colleagues, dig through old emails, hope for the best.

With Skills

Start drafting, and Claude automatically:

  • Applies progressive discipline framework
  • Ensures location-based legal compliance
  • Suggests timeline consistent with past PIPs

Getting Started

01

Identify Core Knowledge

Weeks 1-2. Map where expertise currently lives. Start with 3-5 high-impact areas.

02

Build Foundational Skills

Weeks 3-6. Have domain experts create Skills. Document the "right way".

03

Deploy and Iterate

Weeks 7-8. Distribute Skills to team members. Train on usage.