If you’re the entire HR department at your company, you already know that doing every routine yourself doesn’t make for a great show. It just makes for one exhausted performer. 

And you’re not the only one. HR as a solo act has become the norm for a lot of organizations, especially as remote and hybrid work have added new policies, new compliance guidelines, and new ways for things to fall through the cracks. It’s a lot to carry solo, and “surviving” often feels like the best-case scenario. 

That’s exactly where The Hayes Approach comes in. 

Since 2007, we’ve been helping companies solve this exact problem. We step in as a full-service HR department so no one person has to carry it all alone. Employee relations, payroll, benefits, performance reviews, handbook updates, and staying compliant in an HR landscape that never stops changing — we’ve got it, transforming the way you feel about your work and helping get you back to the parts of your job you actually enjoy. 

If this sounds like your setup (or your stress level), let’s talk. We’ll help you trade the solo act for a full lineup. Because here’s the thing: a show always looks better with some backup, especially when it’s a team of HR pros with over two decades of experience. 

Give us a call to learn more about what we can do for you.

Contact Us – The Hayes Approach

Your Fractional HR Partner Isn’t a Vendor For Your Small Business Anymore

How the role moved from cleaning up paperwork to steering strategy, and why it matters for the businesses we serve.

A decade+ ago, hiring a fractional HR consultant usually meant something had gone wrong. A handbook was out of date, some audit was looming, or a messy termination needed to be handled. Companies needed to call someone in to fix an immediate problem, and then they left. This relationship was transactional by design.

That model is more and more a relic of the past. The fractional HR role has changed more in the last ten years than most people realize, even those inside it.

And the businesses getting the most value today are the ones that understand the shift.

2015: The Fixer

10 years ago, fractional HR was a stopgap used to “get through this.” Engagements were project-based and narrow. Fractional HR was brought in to produce a deliverable like a handbook, a policy, or a corrected I-9 file. And then the engagement ended. Fractional HR was viewed as not much more than a vendor. Useful, yes…but interchangeable and kept at arm’s length. The work was valuable, but it lived at the very edge of the business rather than inside it.

2020: The Resource

COVID (bad word, I know) changed relationships. Instead of calling when something broke, forward-thinking clients started keeping HR expertise on standby for whatever the month brought (aka on retainer). Remote work, pandemic-related personnel guidance, multi-state compliance, shifting leave rules, and a wave of people questions made it obvious that HR could not be an occasional purchase, but it had to be ongoing.

The most-valued fractional HR consultants became available and reliable, and a trusted resource handling day-to-day HR operations and compliance. This was a genuine step up from the fixer model, but still a largely reactive engagement. The phone rings, we respond.

2026: Strategic Ongoing Direction

The best fractional HR relationships today, and the ones we have with our clients at THA, look almost nothing like they did 10+ years ago.

We are not just parachuting in for a monthly check-in. We are in the ownership/leadership conversations connecting people strategy directly to where the business is trying to go. We have, and proactively provide, context on the culture, the comp philosophy, the growth plan, and the personalities. This is because we work as part of the team rather than just another line item.

Two things have defined this era for THA:

1^st – the work is strategic. Clients want, and need, a partner who can help them build compensation bands, design a manager training rhythm, plan headcount, and think about retention before it becomes a problem, not just keep them out of legal trouble.

2^nd – the tools have changed and continue to rapidly change. Modern fractional HR is AI-augmented and data-informed. We move faster on the routine work and spend our judgment where it actually matters, like the sensitive employee situations, the strategic calls, and the decisions that carry the most risk.

How THA delivers it: HERO on a bicycle

This is where our approach at The Hayes Approach is built to strengthen our clients.

We run the full employee lifecycle through a simple, yet immensely impactful, model we call HERO:

• Hire the right people through smart hiring and job design
• Engage them with strong onboarding and training
• Retain them through thoughtful compensation and benefits
• Offboard and separate cleanly if the time comes.

Our model covers the whole arc of the employee life cycle, not just the piece that happens to be on fire.

In addition, we frame our HERO as riding a “bicycle”. The parts only work if they are working together. On our bicycle…

• The front wheel is strategic direction – aligned with where the organization is actually trying to go.
• The back wheel is tactical power – the processes that make things move day to day.
• The handlebars are legal compliance – keeping the whole thing on the road.

A business that only has the back wheel of its bicycle gets motion without direction. One that only has handlebars stays compliant but goes nowhere.

THA delivers all three at once, and that is exactly what the HERO model is designed to do.

Why this matters for your business

If you are using fractional HR the way you used it 10+ years ago, you are leaving most of the value on the table.

The word “fractional” was always a little misleading. At THA, it has never been about giving you a fraction of the expertise or a fraction of the services.

It has always been about putting concentrated, senior-level HR expertise exactly where your business needs it, without the overhead of a full-time hire.

What has changed, and where we continue to excel at THA, is how deep that partnership goes. That depth is the difference between reactive HR and proactive HR that moves your business forward.

Contact Us Today

Wondering whether your HR support is keeping up with where your business is headed? That’s the conversation The Hayes Approach is built for. Let’s talk.

Do you prefer a doctor who is board-certified in your specific need?  In choosing a mechanic, will you select one certified in your vehicle or HVAC system? 

A credential is a mark of credibility.  It demonstrates quickly that you are qualified, invested in your field, and you are committed to delivering the very best product. 

If you’ve spent decades in business, you may have developed the pattern recognition to understand root cause, the skill to sit with someone working through a difficult situation, and the practical knowledge the comes from delivering results and navigating failures again and again.   

A program won’t bring you that experience – but experience alone won’t bring your clients the results they need.  Lightning is far more powerful than the electricity flowing through your home, but it isn’t helpful in running your refrigerator.  For experience to make a difference, it needs a conduit – a proven process and tools that turn power into functional electricity. 

A strong credentialling program, helps you channel your unique experience into a process you can customize to fit your client base, support your clients in achieving sustainable results, and develop a thriving practice with a reputation that does your selling for you.  You move from being an experienced mentor who does some coaching, to a highly skilled coach who can be counted on to produce results. 

That’s the work the Registered Corporate Coach™ (RCC™) credential does. It’s the foundational credential from the Worldwide Association of Business Coaches™, and unlike most coaching certificates, it’s built specifically around coaching in business and organizational settings rather than coaching in general. It also requires a minimum of seven years of business and organizational experience — which is worth pausing on, because it means the credential is designed for people with a career behind them. You’re not starting over. You’re translating what you already know into a form the market recognizes.  

Here’s the part I’d most want you to hear if you’re still employed: certifying now, while you’re still in the job, is a great way to build skills that you can use now and in the future.  A steady paycheck means you won’t be pricing your first engagements under financial pressure, which is the fastest way to anchor a new practice too low. Many employers will fund the training as professional development. And you have something no newly retired coach has: a live environment full of real leaders, real stakes, and real coaching hours, where you can build the case studies and references you’ll want on day one of working for yourself. Treat the last few years of a corporate career as the runway, not the waiting room. 

None of this makes certification a magic key. It won’t fill your calendar, it won’t do your business development for you, and it won’t make you an expert the day the certificate arrives — the credential opens a door you still have to walk through. What it will do is give you a floor to build on: a defined approach, a credential a buyer can check, and a cohort of peers who refer work to one another. That’s a considerably better place to start than sand. If that’s the practice you’re picturing for yourself, The Coach’s Road™ is our WABC-accredited program designed to get you there — it prepares you for the RCC™ credential, includes DISC certification, meets virtually, and keeps you connected through monthly peer group calls for a full year after the program ends. 

If it feels like the compliance space is ever-changing, it’s because it is! Between new procedures, updated guidance, and shifting enforcement priorities, there is too much for a hiring manager or small business owner to manage – especially with everything you already juggle every day.  You need a HERO to help you Hire, Engage, Retain, and Offboard securely.  Enter us: The Hayes Approach (THA)! 

We flex our “compliance muscles” every day.  Every. Single. Day. We put in the effort and do the research, so you can focus on growing your team and your business. Most recently, we attended Mitratech’s session on remote hiring and I-9 risk — specifically, how to get the DHS alternative procedure right. A few things stood out enough that we wanted to pass along. 

The biggest one: a sharp rise in ICE Notices of Inspection (NOIs). This is an increase of roughly tenfold from 2024 to 2025 which signals that I-9 audits are becoming significantly more common. Importantly, the presenters noted that many of the compliance issues being identified aren’t intentional violations. More often, they’re procedural errors tied to changes made to the remote I-9 verification process in recent years. That said, some errors, even unintentional ones, are now immediately finable, which makes getting the process right more important than ever. 

A lot of that risk centers on the DHS-authorized alternative procedure for remote I-9 verification. This isn’t as simple as completing an I-9 over Zoom or Teams — employers must follow four specific steps every time the process is used, and missing any one of them can create a compliance issue: 

1. Receive copies of the employee’s documents before step two.
2. Conduct a live, interactive video review.
3. Complete the required Section 2 alternative procedure checkbox. 
4. Retain front-and-back copies of the documents presented. 

It’s also essential to remember that active E-Verify enrollment is required to use the alternative procedure, and that it must be applied consistently across each hiring site. Selecting some employees for remote verification while requiring others to complete the process may create anti-discrimination concerns. 

Common Pitfalls to Avoid 

• Using the alternative procedure without active E-Verify enrollment 
• Failing to check the required Section 2 alternative procedure checkbox 
• Receiving document copies after the video review, rather than before 
• Retaining only the front of documents
• Treating a general onboarding call as the document examination 
• Applying the process inconsistently across employees at the same hiring site 

Action Items to Consider 

• Confirm E-Verify enrollment before using remote I-9 verification procedures 
• Review your remote I-9 process to make sure all four required steps are being completed, in order 
• Audit remote I-9s completed since August 2023 to confirm the Section 2 alternative procedure checkbox was properly completed 
• Continue maintaining consistent document retention practices, including retaining front-and-back copies where required 
• Make sure anyone involved in I-9 completion or onboarding has been trained on the alternative procedure requirements and applies them consistently 

The Bottom Line 

So…if that felt like a lot of information to take in, you’re not alone. The alternative procedure can feel like something you’ve got down, until the requirements shift again. The good news is that it doesn’t have to fall entirely on you as a hiring manager or HR professional. THA can step in to help train your team, review your process, or support you through your own audit. And if this recap gave you a clearer sense of what compliant I-9 practices should look like, even better — that’s always the goal: confidence in compliance, from our business to yours.

Most importantly, it is important to know that kindness doesn’t cost a thing.  It can be a sincere compliment on a job well done.  Share a smile and a greeting to start the day.  And without a doubt, unkindness, such as harsh words, dismissiveness, and a lack of appreciation in all its many forms, cannot be tolerated.  While this sounds easy, 67% of employees report that they have experienced unkind behavior at work, at least once a week. (Civility in America Report, 2022).  As leaders, we must lead by example and publicly praise others when we witness simple acts of kindness; we set the tone.

Studies show that it isn’t just the right thing to do, it is the practical thing to do.  Gallup has reported that workplaces with a strong culture of kindness can see a 23% higher employee engagement and a 25% lower turnover.  Kindness is reported to contribute to a 51% increase in mental clarity (APA study, 2020).  Finally, companies with higher levels of workplace kindness report a 16% increase in profitability due to better teamwork and fewer conflicts. (SHRM, 2020).   That’s a real ROI that you can feel good about while making others feel good!

#5. Too many policies.

Policies provide guidelines, but it can be easy to let policies run the company at the expense of creativity, people, and even common sense. They fall in the same category as warning labels and directions on products – they can be helpful but are often overdone. I remember a comedian talking about the warning label on Preparation H, and his line was, “You realize, this means that at some point, somebody turned to his friend and said, ‘I wonder how this would taste on a cracker!’” Managers are often the culprits of too many policies because it is much easier to say, “the policy says that you can’t have personal things on your desk,” than to talk specifically to George about the questionable memento of his Las Vegas trip on his shelf.

#4. Too few policies.

Most leaders relate to feeling ‘hamstrung’ by a particular rule in a prior organization and, as a result, many let the pendulum swing too far to the other side and give up policies all together. When that happens, employees can become confused about exactly how to operate on very basic things (like vacation, working from home, taking an outside job) and productivity is lost to guessing. Additionally, federal and state governments require businesses to address some issues, and businesses that fail to do so become non-compliant.

The answer?

The solution to both #5 and #4 is to work with the team (or a subset of the team) to create some general operating guidelines. Be sure to define and communicate the overarching principle or belief behind the policy, rather than simply stating the ‘rule.’ Then, when situations come up in the future that are unclear, the principle can help management make decisions about when to bend and when to hold fast.

#3. Improperly evaluating risk.

One of the primary jobs of HR is to manage risk, but not all risks are equal, and the real issue lies in the costs and complexities of mitigation. Big or little, if the risk is easy to mitigate, then, by all means, mitigate! But sometimes, mitigation of the risk comes at a cost to the culture of the organization or the business goals. For example, there is a risk to providing different levels of pay to people doing the same job; however, especially in a small organization, it may be critical to retain people who perform at varied levels in the job while being inadvisable to give them separate titles. In this case, it may make very good business sense to pay the same position differently.

The answer?

1. Be crystal clear on the potential for the risk to occur. People typically do not sue us because they were treated illegally – they sue because they perceive that they were treated unfairly. Are we treating people unfairly? Or fairly but differently?

2. Be certain there is a business reason to undertake the risk. It’s a good idea to bounce that business reason off of a confidential, objective third party. Do they see the situation in the same way?

3. Understand the consequences if the risk does occur. For example, many companies take risks in the area of exempt vs. non-exempt classification either because they do not understand the issue or they think none of their employees would ever “do” anything. My advice to these companies is uniformly that the potential of the risk to occur might be small, but the consequences are huge. Wage and hour issues can eliminate profits and even shut companies down. In this case, however small the likelihood, the consequence is simply too great to take the chance.

#2. Separating “HR” from the business.

Some business leaders I talk with view HR tasks almost as a stand-alone island and don’t consider how the HR practices support or hinder the business model. Even something as simple as a payroll cycle can be considered within the context of the business. For example, how will our chosen cycle impact our cash flow? What kinds of skills do we need for the business we do, and how do those people prefer to be paid? What is our likely turnover rate? If we have a high-burnout position, do we need specific pay practices to mitigate the administrative issues? As we move from payroll cycle questions into more strategic issues, it is critical to integrate HR questions into the mix. What kinds of bonus plans will help reward the behavior we seek? How will employees know they are succeeding…or not?

The answer?

When small to mid-sized businesses do not have an HR executive on the leadership team, the responsibilities typically fall to someone who already is wearing many hats. It is critical for that individual to take the HR component of his or her job seriously and seek out assistance to make sure he or she is asking the right questions and helping align the people initiatives with the business plan. Organizations like www.shrm.org can provide helpful insight.

#1. Refusing to treat employees as adults.

To paraphrase Col. Jessup in A Few Good Men, most of us can handle the truth, but we’re afraid to talk about it. We know when we’re not performing or when business is down but actually telling someone that he is not performing or that she is going to lose her position if we don’t see an increase in business is very painful. Often, we “ostrich” and attempt to ignore the problem in the hope that it will go away. Maybe business will pick up? Maybe George will improve his performance? Maybe aliens will kidnap us so we won’t have to have the conversation?

The answer?

Life is not for the faint of heart. There are tough messages to deliver and sometimes situations don’t work out the way we’d like, but ignoring or sugar coating the situation never works. Instead, share as many of the facts as you can and encourage employees to participate in the solution. Sure, some of them may dissolve into puddles like the Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West, but most of them won’t… and you may find they have answers to questions you didn’t even know to ask.

About the Greenville Chamber’s Small Business of the Month Program

The Greenville Chamber recognizes an extraordinary small business at each monthly board meeting. The Small Business of the Month is chosen by a selection committee from nominations provide by Greenville Chamber members. The Chamber’s annual small business of the year is selected from the year’s small businesses of the month. The Small Business of the Month presenting sponsor is Charter Business. Nominations can be made at http://www.greenvillechamber.org/small-business-of-the-month.php.

About the Greenville Chamber

The Greenville Chamber, now in its 125th year of operation, is the largest business organization in Upstate South Carolina. The Chamber’s vision is to build one of the premier business communities in the world by driving economic growth and prosperity, serving as an advocate for business interests, training future leaders and facilitating the workforce of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.greenvillechamber.org or call 864-242-1050.

Now, to this image of the surfer, add a stick in each hand and one on her nose upon each of which rests a spinning plate. Her job is to ride the wave while balancing the sticks and keeping the plates – family, career, children, education, health, financial management — spinning. Now you have a good metaphor for a woman in the housing market and, perhaps, a fear that as that woman, you are headed for a wipe out! How, then, does anyone make it work successfully? The truth is that there is no one right answer, but the seemingly –dissimilar acts of surfing and plate spinning have three principles in common that point us in the right direction, focus, balance and the ability to let go.

Focus. A successful surfer must block out everything except the feel of the board under her feet and the rhythm of the water. You can do anything but you cannot do everything, and you can do many things, but you cannot do them all at the same time. Last Thursday, when driving down a city street in Dallas, Texas, I happened to glance into the cars on either side at the stop light. On the left, was a man, with earbuds in his ears, doing – I am not making this up – a Sudoku puzzle book with a pen. On the right was a woman, earbuds in her ears, talking rapidly into the phone and putting on makeup. Oh, and both of these people were allegedly also driving! In a world where multitasking has risen to an art form, focus seems archaic – but it is the only way anything actually gets done.

1. Make a list of the top three things that you must do professionally tomorrow. Now make a list of the top three things you must do personally.
2. Schedule in those items for tomorrow tonight. Write or type them into your calendar with times for getting them done – and block off those times for other meetings or phone calls. Close out email and turn off text notifications. And consider doing the one you dislike the most first.

Balance. Plate spinning is an art. Ask any circus performer how she keeps all of the plates spinning simultaneously while perched precariously on tall slender sticks, and she’ll tell you, “It’s a delicate balance. Each plate must spin fast enough but not too fast, and you have to pay enough attention to all but not too much to any particular one.” What does this mean for you?

1. Start slow. Successful plate spinners don’t start out with five or six plates. First they practice with one, and then add another, and another. In our lives, the plates we spin are things like jobs, clients, children, partners, bosses, health challenges… the list goes on.
2. Shift intensity. While we cannot usually put one on hold to manage another, we can balance the intensity we have with each one. Work piling up? Schedule two long days in the next five and reward yourself by working reasonable hours the other three. Family dinner impossible? How about picking one meal a week and focus on creating a ritual (homemade pancakes, DIY sandwiches) for that one? Friends giving you guilt trips because you haven’t gotten together? Set up a quarterly lunch and try to send a quick text once a week.

Let Go. Try too hard at surfing and you’ll become rigid, overcorrect and fall. Gripping those sticks under the plates too firmly will upset the momentum and they’ll crash. Sometimes the best thing you can do is simply relax and let go.

1. Traffic jams, planes get delayed, people get sick and clients cancel. The next time something changes your schedule, rather than scrambling to fix things, consider whether an opportunity has just opened up. Does the traffic jam give you time to plan out a marketing approach you hadn’t considered? Is there someone in the airport you should meet?
2. You can only control two things – how you invest your time and how you choose to react. You cannot even control your own thoughts! (Don’t believe me? How many times today did a thought run through your mind without your permission?) Despite popular phrases, you cannot save, buy or make time. You can only spend it. How can you make the most of this minute at this time – regardless of where you are or what circumstances surround you?

Surfers love the waves, the water, the challenge and the feeling they get when it all comes together. Circus performers spin plates to entertain and fascinate and their reward is the amazement and applause the audience gives back when they do the “impossible.” What about you? Remember why you’re in “the game” in the first place then focus, balance, let go … and listen to the cheers from your fans!

Disclaimer – my company provides outsourced HR services. However, I’ll be the first to tell you that outsourcing is absolutely NOT the right answer for every company; and, even when it DOES make sense, considering carefully which outsourcing firm with whom to partner is essential.

Size matters. Companies between ten and fifty employees are perfect candidates for outsourcing the entire HR function while those over fifty employees may want to consider having a generalist in house and outsourcing additional support. Good services – whether in-house or external – come with a price; but the services (and billing) of an outsourcer are typically less expensive per employee per service and come with greater flexibility.

Want it your way? Remember the old Burger King commercials touting customized burgers? (I never understood why “holding the pickles” was so special!) The outsourcing model depends on economies of scale which implies lower levels of customization than might be available in house. For many businesses, this situation is perfect because there is little need for routine customization, but if this description doesn’t fit you, you will not be happy with most outsourced models. Of course, all HR outsourcers work to please their clients, and many firms offer levels of customized service, so if you think HR outsourcing might work for your company, be sure to interview several companies and ask specifically about how much individual attention you will receive.

Think local. Technology seduces us into thinking all businesses can be global, but your HR outsourcer needs to be nearby. My company handles global clients in its education and coaching practice areas, but our HR business is limited to companies with headquarters in South Carolina and, preferably, concentrated in the Upstate. Why? We established this limit through experience. We attempted to serve clients several states away and were reminded of something very important. People do business with, for and through the efforts of other people — who need communication. Not just an email, text or phone call, but face-to-face communication.

What are you solving for? If you are considering outsourcing your HR functions, clarify what you hope to gain? Do you want to reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase compliance, eliminate headaches or something else? Remember the old adage, “Faster, Better, Cheaper – Pick Any Two?” The same thing applies to HR outsourcing. There are trade-offs in any situation, so it is crucial that you and the potential outsourcer understand your hot buttons well before any agreements are signed.

Is HR Outsourcing in your future for 2015? One thing needs to be true – if you are going to DIY, be prepared for a lot of reading this year, starting with the next column!

Even if you think HR is exciting, job descriptions could never been described as sexy or exotic documents! However – especially in 2015 – well-written, accurate job descriptions that are actively used are key to navigating upcoming regulatory changes. Job descriptions are definitely the new black – something every organization really needs to have.

One key regulation with proposed new rules is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA is the regulation that determines which positions are entitled to overtime and the minimum amount a salaried person must make to be exempt from overtime. In March of 2014, President Obama requested that this regulation be updated to consider current wage levels and types of white collar positions – heralding the most dramatic changes to the law in 40 years. Regardless of your industry, it is likely that the results of these regulation changes will affect you and your business.

Your best preparation? To ensure you are doing no more or no less than you need to, it is crucial to document both the essential functions and the key results expected of a particular job, along with the approximate percentage of time spent in these essential functions and the physical requirements necessary to perform them.

What steps should you take?

1. Make sure you have a job description for each position and that it accurately reflects what someone performing that job does all day (or night).

2. Clearly define what kinds of decisions the job incumbent expected to make and what key results he or she must produce.

3. Revisit the number of hours it takes to perform the job correctly – especially if you currently do not pay overtime for this position. While the proposed new rules are not published at time of this writing, it is likely that more positions will be eligible for overtime, not fewer. If you are expecting a position to work more than 40 hours per week on a routine basis, you may be looking at significant overtime pay if you do not restructure the position.

4. Include physical requirements of the job including attendance. In an age where telecommuting and virtual work are common, if your position requires attendance during specific hours or at a specific place, be certain that those requirements are clearly defined and supported expected results.

5. Don’t procrastinate. Much like cleaning closets, fundamental HR tasks do not get easier when you put them off. Schedule time to dust off those job descriptions and get them into shape this spring. When the new proposed rulings come out, you’ll be able to relax and know that your HR style is completely compliant!