Acquisition Integration
The HR due diligence checklist for founders and CEOs
Most transactions are evaluated on financials, customers, and operations. The people side often gets a fraction of that rigor, even though it is where integration risk tends to surface first.
This checklist organizes what leadership should understand about the organization it is acquiring before the organizational work begins. Each section is a set of questions worth answering before close.
Leadership and key talent
- Which leaders are critical to the value of the deal, and how likely are they to stay?
- Where does institutional knowledge sit, and how concentrated is it?
- What retention agreements, contracts, or promises already exist?
- Is there a succession answer for the roles the business cannot afford to lose?
Structure and roles
- How is the organization actually structured, beyond the org chart?
- Which roles will overlap or duplicate after the transaction?
- Where is accountability unclear today?
- Which teams carry the work the deal thesis depends on?
Compensation and benefits
- How do pay structures and incentive plans compare between the two organizations?
- What benefit differences will employees notice first?
- Are there commissions, bonuses, or equity arrangements that change at close?
- What has been promised informally that is not written down?
Culture and ways of working
- How do decisions actually get made in each organization?
- Where will the two cultures collide first?
- What norms and expectations do people consider non negotiable?
- How does work really get done when the process is not written down?
Compliance and risk
- Are employment agreements, classifications, and policies current and consistent?
- Are there open claims, disputes, or grievances leadership should know about?
- Where are the policy gaps between the two organizations?
- What obligations transfer with the transaction?
Integration readiness
- What must be true in the first 90 days for the deal to deliver its value?
- Which people decisions need to be made before day one, and which can wait?
- Who owns the people side of the integration plan?
- How will leadership communicate what is changing, to whom, and when?
What happens after the checklist
Diligence tells you what you are acquiring. The organizational work begins after the transaction, when leadership, teams, operations, and cultures have to come together without losing productivity or momentum.
Lana Moss has spent more than 15 years in executive partnership roles across acquired startups and global enterprise environments. She served as Head of HR for four acquired companies during post merger integration and directly advised CEOs of acquired companies. Her engagement starts with a four week executive people strategy assessment that leads to a People Strategy and a 90 Day Roadmap.
Common questions
- When should HR due diligence start?
- Before the transaction closes. The people side of a deal shapes valuation risk, retention risk, and integration cost, and those are far easier to address before close than after the organizational work has already begun.
- Who should lead HR due diligence?
- Someone with senior level people strategy experience who has sat inside acquisitions. Lana Moss is a fractional CHRO level advisor whose acquisition experience spans numerous transactions, including due diligence and operational integration.
- What happens after HR due diligence?
- The findings become a people strategy. Lana's engagement starts with a four week executive people strategy assessment that leads to a People Strategy and a 90 Day Roadmap, so leadership knows what to prioritize once the transaction is complete.