The Philadelphia obligation almost nobody knows about
Employers with 50 or more covered Philadelphia employees must offer a commuter benefit. It applies whether or not you are headquartered in the city.
Fractional HR, done properly
You didn't sign up to run HR
Somewhere around 15 employees, HR stops being a folder of PDFs and starts being a job. It lands on whoever is closest to it — the founder, the COO, the controller. We take it.
Most companies don't buy HR. They get it thrown in.
It arrives as an add-on from a payroll provider, a PEO, an insurance broker, a CPA firm — bundled alongside the thing you were actually buying. And because it was never the point, it gets staffed like it was never the point. One representative covering a hundred companies. A ticket queue. A callback window.
That model isn't badly intentioned. It's built to support a different sale. Which is fine right up until the Tuesday you have a problem that won't fit in a ticket.
We do HR as the whole job.
What we take on
Take one piece or the whole function. We scope to what you actually need rather than selling a package.
Embedded HR
A working HR function without a full-time hire. Embedded fractional HR for companies from 0 to 150 people, on a monthly retainer with 30 days' notice.
Multi-State Compliance
One remote hire in a new state can trigger leave, pay and notice obligations nobody planned for. Multi-state HR compliance for companies from 0 to 150 people.
Employee Relations
Conflict, complaints and performance problems arrive without warning and rarely wait. Employee relations support for companies from 0 to 150 people.
Leave Management
FMLA, state and local leave rules stack in ways that catch growing companies out. Embedded leave administration for employers from 0 to 150 people.
Recruiting & Onboarding
Your first hires set the culture you live with later. Structured hiring and onboarding for companies from 0 to 150 people, without a recruiting agency.
Performance & Compensation
Pay set deal by deal stops working around 40 people, right as pay transparency laws make it visible. Comp bands and review cycles that fit your business.
Manager Training
Your best individual contributor is now running a team with no training. Practical manager development for companies from 0 to 150 people.
Engagement & Retention
People leave managers and unclear expectations, not fruit bowls. Retention and engagement work for companies from 0 to 150 people, without the survey theater.
AI & Employment
Scheduling tools, applicant ranking and performance flags are already making employment decisions. We audit where AI touches yours, and what needs a human.
Benefits & PEO
Keep the PEO pricing and lose the service queue. We sit between you and your PEO, or run the exit when you have outgrown it, and handle benefits day to day.
How this works
We plug into what you already have
No payroll migration. No change of benefits broker. No system to implement before we're useful. The first month goes on your problems rather than on a transition.
One retainer, no clock
Monthly, based on the bandwidth the work actually needs — $2,000 to $6,500 depending on scope. Not hourly, not by project. Nobody on your side should be weighing whether a question is worth the six minutes.
30 days' notice, always
No annual lock-in, no exit penalty, no paperwork built to make leaving expensive. If we're worth keeping, you'll keep us.
We'll help you replace us
We took one client from 0 to 200 employees across multiple states, then helped them hire the HR Director who took over. We counted that as a win. We still do.
Two worlds, and we work in both
Salaried, exempt, equity-heavy — SaaS, pharma. Classification, remote hiring, offer structure, equity communication.
Hourly and operationally complicated — restaurants, retail, auto dealerships, youth sports, private schools. Scheduling, overtime, multiple locations, seasonal swings, and the specific care required when part of your workforce is under eighteen.
Most fractional HR people come out of one of those worlds and quietly hope the other never calls. A handbook built for a software company will not survive contact with a Saturday shift.
The Human Element
Recent writing
Practical HR guidance for companies growing without a full-time HR team.
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Start with a question, not a contract
Bring us something you're stuck on and we'll answer it. If we can help, we'll say how. If you need someone else, we'll say that too.