Since its launch in 2022, the WorkplaceTech Accelerator has identified and supported high-potential startups developing technology to solve the workplace's most pressing challenges. Through a 12-week hybrid program, selected companies receive a $200,000 SAFE investment, direct access to SHRM's global network of HR leaders, tailored advisory councils, customer feedback, and opportunities to showcase their solutions before thousands of workplace decision-makers.
Earning a place in the 2026 cohort was no small feat. This year, SHRM Labs reviewed nearly 400 applications from startups around the world. 40% of founding teams included a female founder, 40% of applicants were international, and 82% were headquartered outside traditional startup hubs such as California and New York. Following a rigorous multi-stage evaluation including application screening, independent scoring, two rounds of interviews, leadership review, and due diligence, just four companies were selected to join the 2026 cohort.
Among them are two organizations addressing very different but equally critical moments in the employee lifecycle: Onwards HR and Clearbrief.
Bringing Confidence and Compassion to Employee Transitions
Few responsibilities are more difficult for HR professionals than guiding employees through layoffs, separations, or other employment transitions. These moments require organizations to balance legal compliance, operational consistency, and – perhaps most importantly – empathy.
Onwards HR helps organizations walk that fine line. The platform streamlines offboarding and severance compliance by centralizing workflows, documentation, and compliance requirements into one experience. Rather than relying on manual processes or disconnected systems, HR teams can automate critical tasks while ensuring every separation is handled consistently and in accordance with applicable requirements.
What makes Onwards HR particularly compelling is its recognition that offboarding isn't simply an administrative function; it's a defining employee experience. A well-managed transition protects the organization while reinforcing trust, preserving employer brand, and demonstrating respect during one of the most sensitive moments in the employee journey.
For organizations navigating an increasingly complex regulatory environment, solutions like Onwards HR offer a framework for reducing risk while enabling HR leaders to approach workforce transitions with greater confidence, consistency, and humanity.
Transforming Workplace Investigations with Verifiable AI
Artificial intelligence continues to reshape nearly every aspect of HR, but perhaps nowhere is trust more important than in workplace investigations and compliance. This is where Clearbrief is making its mark.
Founded in 2020, Clearbrief brings legal-grade accuracy to HR and legal investigations directly inside Microsoft Word. The platform guides organizations through conducting witness interviews, then transforms those notes, , as well as any documentation related to the investigation into hyperlinked, verifiable reports, allowing investigators and their colleagues to trace every factual finding back to its original source.
The technology addresses one of the biggest challenges facing HR leaders as AI adoption accelerates: maintaining confidence in the accuracy and defensibility of AI-assisted work, especially with investigations and employee relations responses.
Already used by Fortune 500 companies, roughly 70% of the AmLaw 20, AmLaw 200 firms, government agencies, and global in-house legal teams, Clearbrief demonstrates how responsible AI can strengthen (not replace) human judgment. Instead of asking HR professionals to trust AI outputs blindly, the platform emphasizes transparency, source verification, and always having a trail of supporting documentation behind HR writing.
For organizations managing sensitive employee investigations or regulatory compliance, that level of accountability is swiftly becoming a business necessity given increasing EEOC scrutiny and litigation risks. As HR teams continue integrating AI into everyday workflows, solutions that prioritize accuracy, explainability, and defensibility provide a realistic return on HR’s tech investments.
Innovation That Moves the Profession Forward
Although they solve very different problems, Onwards HR and Clearbrief share something important in common. Both solutions are helping HR leaders navigate increasingly complex responsibilities with smarter, more scalable technology.
One is reimagining how organizations support employees during difficult transitions. The other is strengthening the integrity of workplace investigations through verifiable AI. Together, they illustrate a broader shift taking place across HR technology, moving beyond automating isolated tasks toward building intelligent infrastructure that enables better decisions, stronger compliance, and more human-centered workplaces.
How SHRM Labs Accelerates Market-Ready HR Tech
Startups bring fresh perspectives to longstanding workplace challenges, but scaling validated solutions into enterprise-ready platforms requires more than funding alone. Emerging businesses need access to practitioners, honest feedback from customers, experienced advisors, and opportunities to test innovations in real-world HR environments. By connecting founders directly with the world's largest HR community, SHRM Labs helps bridge that gap.
The future of work will be shaped by organizations willing to rethink old processes, embrace responsible innovation, and solve problems that matter most to employers and employees alike. As the 2026 WorkplaceTech Accelerator cohort demonstrates, today's startups are helping to build the foundation for the next generation of work.
Nominate a company for the 2027 Workplace Tech Accelerator
As the workplace continues to evolve, the next breakthrough solution could come from that startup.
If you’re an HR practitioner and know a business building technology that helps organizations solve meaningful workplace challenges, this can be their chance to accelerate growth alongside the world's largest HR community. Companies can be nominated at any time.
Apply for the 2027 Workplace Tech Accelerator
As the workplace continues to evolve, the next breakthrough solution could come from your startup.
Applications for the 2027 SHRM Labs WorkplaceTech Accelerator are now open. If you're building technology that helps organizations solve meaningful workplace challenges, this is your opportunity to accelerate your growth alongside the world's largest HR community.
These are the entry requirements:
- Be incorporated as a for-profit company.
- Be an HR tech startup offering a technology product, not solely a service.
- Ideally be at the seed stage, Series A or Series B.
- Demonstrated strong market traction with paying customers.
- Have a ready-to-scale solution that is positively impacting work, workforce, and workplace.
- Can commit to the full hybrid program (March 23 - July 30, 2027).
- Attendance at kick-off events, March 23-24, 2027 at SHRM HQ in Washington, DC.
- Attendance at an additional SHRM-hosted conference (selected based on your business focus at SHRM Labs' discretion).
- Attendance at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2027, June 27-30, 2027 in Chicago, IL.
2027 Application window: September 1-November 1, 2026.
Know a startup making a real impact on work, the workforce, or the workplace? Nominate them now!
SHRM Labs is the workplace innovation lab and venture capital arm of SHRM, the world's largest HR network. Focused on inspiring innovation and solving today's most pressing workplace challenges, SHRM Labs runs the WorkplaceTech Accelerator, which since 2022 has helped growth-stage workplace technology startups scale through a $200K investment from SHRM, curated advisory councils, and direct access to SHRM's global community of HR leaders.
