Employee handbooks and policies
A handbook written for your business in language people can read, kept current as you grow and as the rules move.
Compliance & handbooks
Get it right now, so it is not expensive later.
Employment requirements become difficult to manage quickly, especially as you grow, hire in new states or add managers. Almost nobody gets caught on the day they get it wrong. They get caught eighteen months later, by a claim.
Handbook in plain English
Multi state covered
Audit before anyone else does
We work with your attorney
What this is for
Nobody gets caught on the day they get it wrong.
Every one of these sits quietly in a business for years and costs nothing, right up until the moment it costs a great deal.
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01
Your handbook was downloaded in 2019 and never opened since
It references policies you no longer follow and misses ones you now need. In a dispute, it becomes the document you are held to.
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02
Half your salaried staff are probably classified wrong
Paying a salary does not make someone exempt. Getting it wrong means back overtime, and the look back period is years, not months.
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03
Your I-9 file has gaps and nobody has checked
Missing forms, late completions, expired documents. It is one of the easiest things to audit and one of the most commonly wrong.
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04
Someone asked for leave and nobody knows what applies
FMLA, ADA accommodation, state leave, your own policy. Guessing at this one in the moment is how small requests turn into claims.
The goal is not more paperwork. It is better processes and fewer surprises.
What is covered
The documents, the practices and the review.
Brandi's full compliance list, grouped by what it protects.
Classification reviews
Exempt and nonexempt reviews and wage and hour practices, so the salaries you pay match the way the law treats them.
I-9 and hiring documentation
I-9 procedures run correctly from the first days of employment, plus the hiring documentation that should sit behind every offer.
Personnel files and recordkeeping
What belongs in a file, what must be kept separately, how long to keep it and who is allowed to see it.
Leave administration
FMLA process support, ADA accommodation process support and leave administration, handled as a process rather than a scramble.
Notices and documentation
Workplace notice requirements, corrective action documentation and separation documentation, done consistently every time.
Multi state requirements
Federal, state and local guidance when you employ people across more than one state, which changes more than most owners expect.
Audits and claims support
HR audits and compliance reviews, plus workers compensation coordination and unemployment claim support when something is contested.
How it works
Three steps, starting with what you already have.
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1
We audit quietly
A review of your handbook, files, classifications and practices. You get a plain list of what is fine, what is weak and what is urgent.
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2
We fix in priority order
Not everything at once. The items with real exposure first, the housekeeping after, on a schedule you can actually absorb.
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3
We keep it current
Rules change and so does your business. Policies get reviewed as you grow, add managers or hire in a new state.
This is a fit if
- Your handbook is old, borrowed or does not exist
- You have salaried staff and have never reviewed the classifications
- You are hiring in a second state or planning to
- You would rather find the problems yourself than have someone else find them
Probably not if
- You are already in active litigation and need representation
- You want a legal opinion you can rely on in court
- You want a document you can file and never look at again
We are not attorneys and this is not legal advice. When a matter requires specialised legal advice we help identify the issue and coordinate with employment counsel, which usually makes their time cheaper because the groundwork is already done.
Client stories
What changed for them.
They helped us clean up years of HR paperwork, policies, and processes and gave us systems that are actually manageable for a small business.
Their attention to detail has caught problems we didn't even realize we had. They are proactive instead of waiting until something goes wrong.
They bring structure and accountability to our HR processes without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. That balance is extremely valuable.
Questions
What owners ask about compliance.
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. We are HR practitioners. We handle policy, process, documentation and practice, and we are good at spotting the issue early. When something needs a legal opinion we say so and coordinate with employment counsel rather than guessing on your behalf.
Nobody can honestly say that, and you should be wary of anyone who does. Requirements change, businesses change and people make mistakes. What we can do is remove the known gaps, keep the documents current and make sure that when something is questioned you have a record that holds up.
Usually not a new one, but almost always a review. Most handbooks we see were borrowed from somewhere else, contain policies the business does not actually follow, and are missing the ones it needs. A handbook you do not follow is worse than no handbook at all.
It is one of the more expensive ones, because it accrues. If someone was owed overtime and did not get it, that runs back over a period of years, and it applies to everyone in the same role rather than one person. It is worth a review even if nobody has complained.
More than most owners expect. Registration, pay rules, required notices, leave entitlements and sometimes handbook addenda. Some of it has to be in place before the first paycheck, so it is a conversation to have before the offer rather than after.
Yes, and it is a common way to start. You get a written review of where things stand and a prioritised list. Plenty of clients take that list and work through it themselves, which is a perfectly reasonable outcome.
Tell us what is on your plate.
Twenty minutes, no pitch. Brandi will tell you what she would take on, what she would leave with you, and roughly what it costs. If you are not ready for us yet, she will say so.