How quickly can Zalaris have HR and payroll operational after a carve-out?

Where Zalaris is engaged during the deal phase, we design the HR infrastructure in parallel with the legal and commercial separation process, enabling day-one operational readiness. Organisations that engage Zalaris after the deal has closed typically achieve stable, SLA-governed HR and payroll operations within 90 days.

Can Zalaris work alongside a parent company TSA arrangement?

Yes. Zalaris can work in parallel with parent company TSA arrangements, managing the migration of HR and payroll processes from the TSA to the standalone Zalaris model within a defined transition window, with no gap in payroll or compliance coverage.

What is HR as a Service (HRaaS) and how does it work for carve-outs?

Zalaris HR as a Service is a managed operating model that combines HR administration, integrated payroll, on-demand HR Business Partner support, and HR technology into one accountable service. For carve-outs, it provides newly separated organisations with a fully operational HR and payroll function from day one without building it from scratch or relying on a parent company TSA.

Your corporate separation has an HR problem. Here is how to solve it.

When a business separates, HR infrastructure disappears overnight. Payroll, compliance, employee data, contracts, systems, all inherited from a parent that is no longer responsible for them. Zalaris HR as a Service gives newly carved out and corporate spin off organisations a fully operational, compliant HR and payroll function from day one, without building it from scratch.

A separation closes in months. Building an HR function takes years.

See how it works

What breaks at separation?

The three HR failures every carve-out faces

No standalone payroll or HR systems

The parent's HRIS, payroll engine, and compliance infrastructure are not yours on day one. Rebuilding takes 12–18 months. Your employees cannot wait that long for an accurate payslip.

Compliance obligations with no local infrastructure

Employment law, works council obligations, statutory reporting, and regulatory filings across multiple countries do not pause for a separation. The liability is immediate. The expertise to manage it is not.

An HR team with no bandwidth to build and run simultaneously

The HR leaders who need to design the new organisation are also the only people who can keep the existing function running. The build-versus-operate tension is where most carve-out HR programmes break down.

Pre-deal playbookWhat every CHRO needs to prepare before the deal closes

Why HRaaS for carve-outs

The HR function your organisation needs from day one, run by Zalaris while your team focuses on building the new business.

HR Operations

HR administration across the full employee lifecycle from hire to retire. SLA-governed, multi-country

HR Partner Plus

On-demand HR Business Partners for the markets you are entering (or separating into)

HR Technology

Policy, process, and compliance frameworks built for the new entity, not inherited from the old one

HR Transformation

The separation blueprint, system setup, and operating model design delivered by IT and process consultants accountable through go-live

The Zalaris carve-out model

Three phases. One partner.

Pre-deal preparation

HR infrastructure scoping, separation blueprint, compliance mapping across all countries of operation. Before the deal closes, not after.

Day-one readiness

Operational payroll, compliant employment contracts, working HR administration. Live on the date the separation completes. No Transition Services Agreement (TSA) dependency.

Stable managed operations

Ongoing HR administration, integrated payroll, and on-demand HRBP support. Transitioning to a scalable, SLA-governed operating model.

The future of work9 strategic HR shifts you should prepare for by 2030

What Zalaris delivers in a carve-out

What separated organisations can achieve when HR and payroll run as one managed service from day one.

Day 1 Operational payroll

Compliant payroll running from the date of legal separation. No Transition Services Agreement extension required.

80% less internal HR capacity consumed by operations

Your HR leaders focus on building the new organisation and we run the day-to-day function.

Global reach One service model

Multi-country HR and payroll with in-country compliance expertise built in.

“This transformation is a key step in strengthening SUSONITY’s independent operating model globally. Our goal is to create HR and payroll processes that are reliable, consistent and employee-friendly across countries - so our teams can focus on what they do best. With Zalaris, we have chosen a partner that combines strong implementation expertise with a service mindset.”

Petra Gerweck

Head of HR & Communications, SUSONITY

We are very pleased with the successful implementation of Zalaris as our new payroll vendor in Sweden. The project was a great success due to excellent collaboration of dedicated and professional colleagues in IT and Services organisations from both sides. The global project team worked tirelessly and fully remotely to secure all required deliverables for such an important and critical milestone on payroll vendor change. We look forward to a fruitful partnership in the years to come.

Janne Pedersen

Nordic Head of HR Services and IT Lead People Tribe , Danske Bank

The challenge is how we digitalise and enhance our processes so that we’re delivering consumer grade systems for our people across our expansive network, as we continue to grow to 800 aircraft and 300 million passengers over the next decade.

Michael Guerrini

Human Resource Information System Manager, Ryanair

What sets Zalaris apart from traditional HR technology and service providers?

Day-one operational capability

Zalaris deploys HR and payroll operations from the date of legal separation. No ramp-up period. No dependency on the parent company's TSA. Your employees get paid correctly on the first payroll cycle under the new entity.

Multi-country compliance from the outset

In-country regulatory expertise across all European countries, built into the service model. Employment law, works council obligations, and statutory reporting requirements, all managed without your team having to build the local knowledge from scratch.

Single point of accountability

One contract, one relationship, one partner accountable for HR administration and payroll across all countries. No coordinating between your HRIS vendor, your payroll provider, and your compliance consultant. Zalaris carries the accountability for all of it.

Built for scale, not just day one

HRaaS is a long-term operating model, not an emergency fix. Once the separation stabilises, the same service scales with your new organisation. Adding countries, entities, and service pillars as the business grows, without rebuilding the HR infrastructure.

Embedded HRBP expertise, not just delivery

Experienced HR Business Partners are available on demand, for the markets you are separating into, for the employee relations complexity a carve-out creates, and for the organisational design work the new business needs from its HR function.

Payroll and HR on one data model

HR administration and payroll run on the same data model. Separation between these two functions is the most common source of payroll errors in a newly independent organisation. Zalaris eliminates that risk by design.

What organisations ask before engaging Zalaris for a carve-out

Yes. Most carve-outs that start with Zalaris HRaaS stay with us long-term. Why? Because outsourced HR is more efficient and cost-effective than building your own in-house capability of equivalent standard. Plus, we guarantee compliance across all your countries.

Innomotics and Susonity both began at the point of separation and continue as ongoing HRaaS engagements. They stayed because the value kept working.

That said, we offer flexibility. If you want to build your own Global Capability Centre later, we can set that up for you based on a BOOT model - Build, Operate, Optimise, Transfer.

Your corporate separation has a short window to set up HR the right way. Use it well.

The decisions made in the first 90 days of a carve-out determine whether the separated organisation runs reliably or spends the next two years in stabilisation. Book a 30-minute call with a Zalaris carve-out HR specialist to map your situation and identify the highest-priority actions before day one.