Practical HR guides for US teams
Plain-English guides to the work HR teams do every day, from first payroll to workforce planning. Each one is fact-checked against federal sources and comes with a free checklist.
Featured guide
Employee onboarding: the complete guide for US employers
Everything that happens between a signed offer and a fully productive employee, written for HR teams that want new hires to stay.
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How to run payroll in the US: a step-by-step guide for employers
Setup, gross to net, tax deposits, quarterly filings, and year-end, explained in the order you actually do them.
Employee benefits: what US employers must offer and what actually attracts talent
Required benefits, the ones candidates compare, and how small companies compete with big ones.
Exempt vs non-exempt employees: how to classify under the FLSA
The salary test, the duties test, state rules, and the mistakes that lead to back overtime claims.
Employee vs independent contractor: how to classify workers correctly
The three tests that matter, why they disagree, and how to avoid a costly reclassification.
FMLA for employers: eligibility, notices, and managing leave
Who qualifies, what you have to send and when, and how to run leave without stepping on a landmine.
Form I-9: a complete guide to employment eligibility verification
Deadlines, documents, remote hires, E-Verify, and how to fix mistakes before an auditor finds them.
Performance reviews: how to run reviews employees and managers trust
Cadence, criteria, ratings, bias, calibration, and the conversation itself, written for HR teams redesigning reviews.
Employee retention strategies that work, and how to measure them
Why people really leave, how to measure turnover properly, and the retention moves that pay off first.
Employee engagement: what it really is, how to measure it, and how to improve it
Survey design, anonymity, eNPS, and the follow-through that decides whether employees answer honestly next time.
Salary bands and compensation strategy: how to build a pay structure
Job levels, market data, ranges, merit matrices, and pay equity, explained for teams building their first real pay structure.
Pay transparency laws: a state-by-state guide for US employers
Which states require salary ranges, how remote postings are treated, and a compliance process that works everywhere.
The recruitment process: a step-by-step hiring guide for US employers
From the first intake meeting to a signed offer, with the compliance steps that trip employers up.
How to write an employee handbook: what to include and what to avoid
The policies every handbook needs, the language that creates risk, and how to keep it current across states.
HR compliance for small businesses: what applies at every headcount
The federal laws that switch on at 1, 15, 20, 50, and 100 employees, plus the state rules that sit on top.
Employee offboarding and terminations: a complete guide for HR
Resignations, terminations, and layoffs handled cleanly, with the final pay, benefits, and legal steps that are easy to miss.
PTO policy guide: accrual, unlimited PTO, and state sick leave rules
Separate banks or one PTO bank, accrual or unlimited, and the state sick leave rules every policy has to meet.
Managing a remote and hybrid workforce: the HR guide
Payroll nexus, expense rules, remote paperwork, policy design, and keeping remote people from being overlooked.
HR metrics and KPIs: what to track, how to calculate it, and how to use it
The metrics that answer real questions, the formulas behind them, and how to present them to leadership.
Workforce planning: how to plan headcount and skills for the next three years
A practical process for HR and finance to plan headcount, skills, and cost together, with scenarios for when the plan changes.
Building an HR department from scratch: a guide for growing companies
When to hire your first HR person, what they should fix first, and how the function grows from one person to a team.
Learning and development: how to build an L&D program that changes performance
Needs analysis, compliance and manager training, career growth, and measuring whether training actually worked.
Workplace harassment prevention: policies, training, and investigations
What the law covers, the policy and training you need, and how to investigate a complaint fairly.
How to build an HR tech stack: what to buy at each stage of growth
Which systems to buy first, how they connect, and how to avoid the expensive mistakes most growing companies make.
AI in HR: practical uses, legal risks, and how to govern it
Where AI genuinely saves HR time, where it creates legal risk, and a governance framework you can put in place this quarter.
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