Getting started
From first call to first invoice.
Four steps, no lengthy proposal process, and no obligation until an engagement letter is signed by both parties.
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The first conversation
An initial conversation, at no charge and with no obligation. You describe the situation; you get a direct answer about whether it is urgent, what it probably involves, and whether this practice is the right help. Sometimes the answer is that you need an employment lawyer, or a payroll provider, or nothing at all. There is no charge for that answer either.
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Scoping
For anything beyond a single question, a short review of the relevant material: the handbook, a sample of files, a payroll register, whatever the matter turns on. This is how a real quote becomes possible. Where the review is substantial it is quoted as a small fixed-fee project of its own.
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Engagement letter
In writing, before work begins: scope, deliverables, who does the work, response times, fees and how they are calculated, confidentiality, data handling, the boundary with legal advice, and how either side ends the arrangement. If something is not in it, it is not agreed.
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The work
Ongoing engagements run on a published cycle with a monthly written report of what was done and what is outstanding. Projects run to a schedule with named deliverables. You are told when something slips, before the deadline rather than after it.
Fees
How this is priced.
Three structures, chosen to fit the work rather than to maximize billable hours. The governing principle is that you should never hesitate to make the call that would have prevented the problem.
| Structure | Used for | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | Ongoing HR and payroll administration; fractional HR leadership | A defined scope and defined response times for a fixed monthly fee. Work outside the scope is quoted separately before it starts, never billed as a surprise. |
| Fixed-fee project | Audits, handbooks, classification reviews, compensation structures, training programs, reductions in force | One price for a named deliverable, agreed in advance, with the assumptions it rests on written down. If the scope genuinely changes, it is re-quoted rather than absorbed silently. |
| Hourly | Advisory work of unpredictable shape; overflow support alongside an internal HR team | Billed against a written estimate, with a cap you set. You are told when the estimate is at risk, before it is exceeded. |
Commitments
Five things you can hold this practice to.
The people who scope the work do the work
Nobody is sold a senior consultant and delivered a junior one. Where a specialist is brought in, you are told who and why before it happens.
Bad news arrives early
A finding you will not like, an estimate at risk, a deadline that will slip: you hear it at the point it becomes known, not at the point it becomes unavoidable.
The boundary is respected
Legal questions go to your lawyer. You will not be given an opinion on the law dressed up as practical guidance, and you will not be charged for the referral.
Nothing is sold on commission
No payment is accepted from any payroll platform, insurance broker, benefits carrier, or software vendor recommended to you. Recommendations are worth what their independence is worth.
You keep everything
Every document produced is yours, in an editable format, held in your systems. Ending the engagement does not leave you locked out of your own handbook or your own records.
Practical questions.
Is there a minimum commitment?
Retainers run month to month after an initial period long enough for the arrangement to be worth judging, typically a single quarter. Projects end when the deliverable is delivered. Nobody is held to a year because they signed in a difficult week.
How is our information handled?
Personnel data is confidential and is handled as a service provider handles it: used only to perform the engagement, never sold, never used to train anything, kept in defined systems with access limited to the people doing the work, and returned or deleted at the end of the engagement on your instruction. The detail is in the engagement letter and in the privacy policy.
Do you work with our existing lawyer, broker, and accountant?
Yes, and it is usually the most efficient way to run the relationship. Counsel bills for judgment rather than for organizing documents, and an HR function that hands over a clean record reduces what you spend on legal advice rather than adding to it.
Can you work with our board or our funders?
Yes. Board reporting, personnel committee support, and documentation prepared to survive a funder’s audit are ordinary parts of nonprofit work here.
What if we only need one thing?
Then buy one thing. A handbook, a training program, a classification review, a compensation structure. There is no requirement to take an ongoing arrangement, and no attempt will be made to convert a project into one where the project was the right answer.