SquadBear Blog
Practical guides to leave, time tracking and team health, from the team building the HR tool your AI can talk to.
Latest postSlack Leave Approvals: Why Approving in Slack Beats Email
Why leave approvals stall in email, and how Slack DMs with Approve and Reject buttons cut the wait to seconds while the HR system stays the record.
Performance Reviews Are Broken: Here is a Simple Alternative
Performance reviews fail because one meeting does three jobs: pay, feedback, and legal cover. How to split them, plus a two-question check-in template.
EU Pay Transparency Directive: What Small Companies Must Do
EU pay transparency decoded for small companies: the duties that hit every employer now, the reporting that phases in by size, and what to collect today.
EU AI Act in HR: What You Can & Cannot Automate
Emotion recognition at work is banned, high-risk HR duties slipped to December 2027, and everyday drafting is fine. The EU AI Act tiers, sorted for HR.
Your Team Isn't Taking Vacation. That's a Management Problem
Untaken vacation is a management problem, not employee diligence. The four structural causes, the fixes that actually work, and a script for the talk.
The HR Department of One: A Survival Guide
The honest job description, the four fires you never wing, and a month-by-month annual calendar for the person running HR alone at a small company.
Routing HR Questions Through an AI Assistant: What Broke
We routed our HR questions through an AI assistant wired to our own system. What worked, the five ways it broke, and what stays human.
Pulse Surveys vs eNPS vs Health Checks: Which Do You Need?
Annual surveys, pulse tools, eNPS and team health checks answer different questions at different speeds. Sort the instrument first, then the vendor.
How to Run an Effective Team Health Check (Template & Guide)
Why team health checks die by round three, and the three fixes: anonymity people actually believe, a cadence you keep, and one visible action per run.