Work-Life Survival Center LLC
Senior HR leadership for companies that have outgrown their people systems.
I’m Michael Baumgartner. I’ve spent 25+ years in HR, including Amazon and AWS, and I started this practice to do the work directly. I don’t sell a packaged program. I help CEOs and people leaders fix what’s actually in the way — then leave it in your hands.
25+ years in HR leadership, including Amazon Air, Amazon Japan Operations, and AWS Japan
Founder and Principal Consultant, Work-Life Survival Center LLC (founded September 2024)
Work with growth-stage and global teams, including EarnIn, ProScore, and Centific
The problem
Companies rarely stall because they lack HR theory. They stall because hiring, the employee lifecycle, compliance, and culture were never built to scale — or were built for a company they have already outgrown.
That often looks like this:
- A founder, office manager, or busy executive is still carrying people operations
- Handbooks, policies, and systems don’t match how the company actually works
- A new country, a financing event, or a compliance deadline arrives before the infrastructure does
- Teams are capable and stretched, with no shared way of working
If that sounds familiar, you’re not behind. You’re at the point where informal systems stop being enough.
How I help
I come in as a fractional HR leader or a focused transformation partner. The work is hands-on: operating models, policy, HRIS, talent processes, and team effectiveness — including MBTI sessions when that’s the right tool. I’ll tell you what I see, including if I don’t think you need me.
Three ways to work together
Fractional HR leadership.
A Head of People or CHRO-level partner for companies that need senior judgment and execution, without a full-time seat yet.
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HR transformation.
Diagnose and rebuild employee-lifecycle processes, policy, and systems so they can scale across sites or countries.
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Team effectiveness & MBTI.
Practical work with leaders and teams — including MBTI sessions — on how people decide, disagree, and deliver.
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Selected work
- At Amazon Air, I led HR across 15 sites supporting 17,000 employees and reduced attrition 4.8% in 12 months.
- At AWS Japan, I built and scaled the HR function through a 40% workforce expansion for more than 4,000 employees.
- At Amazon, I cut time-to-hire from 23 days to 3 by deploying a global talent platform and assessments.
- At ProScore, I served as Fractional Head of HR & Compliance, standing up HR from zero and leading the company’s first ADP payroll and core HR launch.
- For a U.S. fintech, I lead multi-country handbook and policy work and deliver MBTI sessions with internal teams.
- For a global technology services company, I am leading a Lean/Six Sigma assessment of employee-lifecycle processes across seven countries.
About, briefly
I work remotely with teams in the United States and internationally, and I’m based in Spokane, Washington. Before founding Work-Life Survival Center LLC, I led HR for Amazon Japan Operations and Amazon Air, and held senior HR roles at Amazon and AWS. I am an MBTI Certified Practitioner through The Myers-Briggs Company.
I started this work because work takes up too much of a life to leave the people side unexamined — or to paper it over with slogans.
If your people systems need to catch up with the business, let’s talk.
A 30-minute call is usually enough to tell whether fractional leadership, a focused transformation, or team effectiveness work is the right starting point. If there is a fit, we’ll discuss scope, timing, and pricing then. If there isn’t, I’ll say so.