People Ops as a Product 101
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Introduction to MPL Academy
Five years ago, I wrote a blog post that fundamentally changed my approach to leading HR teams. The post, titled “People Ops as a Product” started with, “in my experience, there are two sides to my job; People Operations — and — Human Operations”… represents an idea that almost immediately I wished I would have worded differently! Because here I am, five years later, having completed writing a book on the topic; the idea that effective People teams should operate like product management functions. Since then, this concept has evolved from an experimental approach to a proven methodology embraced by forward-thinking People leaders worldwide. Built for People has been enjoyed by business leaders around the world, and I am so proud to see the thinking it has inspired, the communities it has resonated with, and the shared language we’ve developed around a practice that existed well before my first Medium post.
Today, I'm revisiting these ideas from my original blog post all those years ago, as we launch the Modern People Leader Academy—a comprehensive resource hub designed to equip HR professionals with the tools, frameworks, and mindsets needed to excel in today's rapidly changing workplace. This post serves as your introduction to our cornerstone philosophy for the “Build” portion of the Academy’s content: People Operations as a Product.
The Evolution of People Operations
When I wrote that original post, I distinguished between two core aspects of HR:
Human Operations: The deeply human elements of our work—empathy, listening, coaching, supporting, and championing organizational ethics and values. These aspects require genuine human connection and can't be replaced by algorithms or automation.
People Operations: The systematic, process-driven elements that create the employee experience—from recruitment to offboarding and everything in between.
Five years later, this distinction remains crucial, but our understanding of how these elements intertwine has deepened considerably. The truth has always been that exceptional People leaders excel at both: creating systematic, scalable processes while maintaining the human touch that makes work meaningful. I’ve absolutely cooled on the language now, I find it somewhat confusing, and I am seeing that many teams are adopting what I think is perhaps easier to grasp: that our roles simply have two elements that must coexist together to create world-class people operations products and employee experiences.
Understanding the People Ops Product
At its core, the employee experience is a product—one that your team members "purchase" when they join your organization and continue to "subscribe to" throughout their tenure.
Like any product, the employee experience must:
Be the result of a deliberate, thoughtful process
Offer something genuinely useful to its users
When we apply product thinking to People Operations, we recognize that our "customers" (employees) are making purchasing decisions every day they choose to remain with our organizations. Their "subscription" to our employee experience can be canceled at any time—often with just two weeks' notice.
This perspective shifts how we approach everything from recruitment marketing to performance management systems.
The Multi-Layered Product Concept
In my book, Built for People, I expanded on this concept by examining the employee experience through the lens of product layers:
Core Product: The fundamental value employees seek—a contract of employment, fair compensation, and the basics required by law. This work is table stakes and should be considered the most basic element of shipping a compliant product, but should not be the focus of a People team.
Actual Product: The tangible elements of the employee experience—your policies, benefits, workspace, and tools. All people building must be focussed here in order to effectively improve the Augmented product, which, frankly, is the most powerful as it relates to world-class employee experiences and brands.
Augmented Product: The differentiating features that make your workplace stand out—your unique culture, personal growth, the feelings and experiences work offers you, a sense of community, or innovative approaches to work. This work cannot be directly affected by the products we build in People Operations, and must be influenced by world-class Actual products, and by not compromising your core product.
Understanding these layers helps People leaders identify where to focus their efforts. Are you delivering on your core product promise? Have you created an actual product that supports your core value? Are your augmented features truly differentiating or merely distractions, and are your actual product layers doing all the work they can to drive a meaningful augmented product?
Applying Product Management Principles
So how do we actually build People Operations like a product function? It starts with adopting two core principles:
1. Maximize Impact to the Mission
Every People program, policy, or initiative should directly support your organization's mission. Ask yourself: "How will this help our team achieve our collective goals?"
If your company's mission is to "Make sustainability accessible to everyone," your onboarding program should explicitly connect new hires to this purpose. Your performance management system should measure contributions toward sustainability goals. Your benefits should reflect environmental values.
When someone suggests a new People initiative, always ask: "How will this help us advance our mission?" If the answer isn't clear, it shouldn't be a priority.
“Every decision we make on the People & Places Team is through the lens of what does this mean for our shareholders. Does this provide value to our shareholders?”
2. Accomplish Everything Through Others
Product managers don't build the product themselves—they enable others to build it better. Similarly, great People leaders create systems and frameworks that empower managers and employees to drive the employee experience.
This means:
Managers should own performance conversations
Hiring teams should drive recruitment
Colleagues should deliver peer feedback
Individuals should shape their learning journeys
Your job is to provide the tools, training, and templates that make these activities effective and consistent—then get out of the way.
The Employee Experience Journey
Just like a subscription product, the employee experience has a customer journey with critical moments and touchpoints:
Advertising: Your employer brand is the promise you make to potential employees. Like product marketing, it must be authentic and compelling—setting expectations that your actual experience can fulfill.
Purchasing: Recruitment and onboarding are when candidates "buy" your product. This first impression is crucial for confirming they've made the right choice.
The Experience: Day-to-day work is where employees "use" your product. Their continued engagement depends on whether it delivers consistent value.
Referrals: Satisfied employees become advocates, referring others to join your organization—just like satisfied customers refer products.
Exits: When employees leave, their exit experience shapes their lasting impression of your brand. A positive departure can create alumni who remain advocates for years.
New Learnings Since the Original Post
Since writing that initial blog, I've learned several key lessons about People Ops as a product:
Data is essential but often underutilized. While product teams obsess over metrics, most People teams barely scratch the surface of available data, and specifically on utilising data to drive their projects. I am a staunch advocate for output metrics being set by People Teams in order to get a successful read on the quality of their work. Modern People leaders need to move beyond basic engagement surveys to understand the full employee lifecycle through metrics.
Experimentation is undervalued. Product teams run constant experiments to improve their offerings. People teams should adopt similar test-and-learn approaches to programs and policies.
User research requires intentional investment. Product teams speak directly to users to understand their needs. People teams often rely on assumptions rather than systematic research with employees.
Cross-functional collaboration is non-negotiable. Great products are built by diverse teams working together. People initiatives need input from not just Recruitment and People Operations, but also Finance, Legal, IT, and operational leaders to be truly effective.
Getting Started with Product-Led People Ops
As we launch the Modern People Leader Academy, we're committed to providing practical resources to help you implement this approach. Over time we’re going to give you all the tools to to begin:
Map your employee journey. Identify every touchpoint from awareness through alumni status.
Gather user feedback. Implement structured ways to hear from your "customers" about their experience.
Measure what matters. Define clear metrics for each stage of the employee lifecycle.
Build your roadmap. Prioritize improvements based on impact to mission and user needs.
Test and iterate. Start small, measure results, and refine based on data.
The Future of People Operations and MPL
The most exciting part of seeing this approach spread over the past five years has been watching how it transforms both the employee experience and the HR function itself. We’ve seen companies both big and small (from Dropbox to Juro) adopt People Ops as a Product into their ways of working, improving the lives of thousands of working people. It’s truly been a joy to watch this community grow and share wisdom with a shared experience.
When People teams operate like product teams, they:
Elevate from administrative support to strategic partners
Move from reactive problem-solving to proactive experience design
Shift from subjective decisions to data-informed choices
Evolve from isolated HR initiatives to business-integrated solutions
The Modern People Leader Academy exists to accelerate this transformation. Through our guides, templates, cohorts, and community, we'll help you build a People function that delivers exceptional experiences while driving business results.
P.S. Want hands-on help bringing product principles to life on your people team? Let’s talk — send a message to build@themodernpeopleleader.com.
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