Jake Dufour, SHRM-SCP
Not sure which piece to start with?
Tell me what's keeping you up at night and I'll tell you honestly where I'd start. Thirty minutes, no charge, no pitch.
Book a 30-minute conversationThe termination that turns into a legal threat. The promotion that stalls because nobody can explain what separates one level from the next. The new hire who quits in month two because onboarding was a laptop and a shrug.
HR Foundations work builds the missing infrastructure properly: policies people can actually understand, compliance that holds up under scrutiny, role structures you can explain, and onboarding that keeps the people you worked hard to hire.
Every deliverable is written for your business specifically. No recycled templates with your logo swapped in, because a handbook nobody recognizes as their own is a handbook nobody follows.
Foundations work is typically project-based. Pick the piece you need, or sequence several into a full build-out. Built in advance, each one costs a fraction of what the same problem costs to fix later.
A handbook written in plain language that reflects your culture and how your business actually operates, current with federal, state, and local requirements. Policies your managers can apply consistently and your employees can actually understand.
A structured review of your entire people function: classifications, files, pay practices, policies, and processes. You get a clear findings report, a prioritized fix list, and straight answers about where your real exposure sits. The best time for an audit is before someone else thinks you need it.
Ongoing or project-based help staying on the right side of federal and state employment regulations, from wage and hour questions to leave administration to required postings and training. Compliance handled before it becomes a costly crisis.
Clear job descriptions, defined levels, and a structure that shows how roles relate to one another and where someone can go next. The result is a framework you can hire against, promote against, and explain out loud without improvising.
Restructures, reductions, and reorganizations handled properly. Most of the lasting damage from a reduction comes from how it was carried out rather than from the decision itself. These difficult situations should be handled with the care and attention that they deserve.
Two periods of time that are hectic for everyone involved. A first ninety days designed to keep the people you hire, and an exit process that protects the business and treats people with dignity. Both documented so they happen the same way every time.
Many managers are promoted without being given the tools to lead people effectively. Practical training for the people who create most of your HR risk and most of your culture. Documentation, difficult conversations, legal basics, and how to handle issues before they escalate.
Nonprofits carry a layer of people work that most businesses do not, from governance and board structure to executive succession. All of the Foundations work above applies, with those additional projects covered on the nonprofits page.
Most Foundations engagements are defined projects: a scope we agree on up front, a timeline, and a finished deliverable you own outright.
Businesses that want the infrastructure maintained rather than just built can fold this work into an ongoing retainer, where policies, compliance, and role structures stay current as laws and the business change.
Tell me what's keeping you up at night and I'll tell you honestly where I'd start. Thirty minutes, no charge, no pitch.
Book a 30-minute conversation