HR consulting with the law built in.

Most legal problems at work start as HR problems: a manager nobody trained, a job description nobody updated, a bonus plan nobody could explain, a top performer who left because nobody noticed. The firm’s philosophy applies here first. Deal with small problems while they are still small, before they end up in court or in a toxic culture. Merit has to be the forcing function in your business, not office politics.

Who it is for

• Growing companies without HR. An owner, founder, or office manager is handling people issues on the side and needs a senior partner to call.
• Companies with an HR team that need help on a project, a second opinion on a hard call, or capacity they do not have in-house.
• Leaders after a hard lesson. An investigation, a charge, or a wave of resignations showed that something in the culture has to change.

Engagement: communication, recognition, development, and servant leadership

Engagement comes down to four things. The firm builds two-way communication tools that hear from every level, recognition programs that celebrate real wins, catch the quiet ones that would otherwise go unnoticed, and do not look like favoritism, development plans that work for both the employee and the company, and the servant-leadership habits that tie them together. That includes the ten-minute engagement check-in, a living engagement survey that runs all year instead of an annual survey nobody trusts. Read: the four keys to employee engagement.

Pay and performance

Incentive plans, milestone programs, and pay for performance at every level, built on output metrics and checked against wage, tax, leave, safety, and labor law. Performance tiers and earned-autonomy programs that treat your stars like stars and give low performers clear structure, defensibly. Start with a pilot and grow it as results prove out. Read: incentive pay done right. Read: is it illegal to treat high performers better?

Jobs, career paths, and classification

Job descriptions that match the real work, exempt and contractor classifications checked against current law, and visible career paths that show people what it takes to get to the next level. The firm audits once, then keeps them current on a schedule you choose. Read: the hidden legal risk in a job description. Read: why job descriptions need ongoing updates.

Policies and the programs behind them

Handbooks people can follow, a discipline and coaching system that is specific and consistent, an organized accommodation process with one front door and a follow-up calendar, conflict of interest programs with disclosures and annual certifications, and solicitation and messaging policies with an exceptions process. The firm writes the policy and can run the program behind it. Read: modern discipline in an at-will state. Read: conflicts of interest at work. Read: solicitation policies in the age of Slack. Read: a sustainable accommodation system.

Hiring on merit

Structured interviews, job-related selection criteria applied the same way to everyone, and outreach that fishes in more ponds for qualified candidates. The firm does not recommend general aptitude or IQ tests. See EEO and outreach.

Leadership training

Servant-leadership training for supervisors and every layer of management, from new team leads to senior leaders, plus the legal essentials every manager needs. See the trainings.

Programs the firm can run for you

Why HR consulting from a lawyer

Good HR programs and sound legal judgment are usually bought separately, and the gaps between them are where claims come from. Here they come from the same person: Andrew M. Crawford spent more than ten years in HR and labor relations at Deere & Company, The Boring Company, and Activision, part of Microsoft, before opening the firm. When a people question turns into a legal one, you do not have to start over with someone new. More about Andrew.