SHRM-Led HR.
Built for Small Business.
Without the Big-Vendor Markup.
Launch Industries is a Seattle, Washington HR consultancy for small and mid-sized businesses. Our practice lead is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) with 20+ years in the field, and across our team we've supported more than 1,100 organizations through hiring, handbooks, compliance audits, terminations, and the day-to-day reality of running a workplace.
We're fractional, vendor-neutral, and implementation-focused. From a one-time HR audit to a full replacement for your bundled HR-and-payroll provider (the all-in-one services that typically charge 10 to 15% of your payroll), we meet you where you are and leave you with policies, systems, and managers your team can actually rely on.
SHRM-SCP Practice Lead
Our owner and practice lead holds the SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) credential, the senior credential for HR practitioners. She signs off on every major engagement (handbooks, audits, termination decisions), so what leaves Launch carries the credential a board, attorney, or EEOC investigator expects. Our broader HR team supports the work under her direction.
What HR Consulting Covers
Nine focus areas, one team. Pick the engagement that fits, or combine them into a full fractional HR retainer.
HR Audits
A full review of your employment files, policies, classifications, and pay practices. You'll get a written risk inventory and a prioritized remediation plan, usually within two weeks.
Employee Handbooks & Policies
Custom handbooks reviewed against current federal law and your state's specifics, not a generic SHRM template. Sick leave, PTO, harassment, remote work, social media, all written to actually be followed.
Hiring & Onboarding
Job descriptions, structured interview guides, offer letters, I-9 collection, and a new-hire workflow that runs from offer accepted to first paycheck without anyone dropping a step.
Employment Law Compliance
Wage and hour, classification (exempt vs. non-exempt, employee vs. contractor), required postings, leave laws, and the patchwork of local ordinances. We track changes so you don't have to.
Employee Relations & Investigations
Conflict mediation, harassment and discrimination complaints, performance disputes, and internal investigations conducted with the documentation rigor an EEOC investigator expects.
Performance Management
Goal-setting, review cycles, performance improvement plans, and the documentation trail that supports a clean termination if it comes to that. Driven by us, owned by your managers.
Terminations & Offboarding
Separation planning, final paychecks (state-compliant timing), benefits termination, equipment retrieval, references policy, and unemployment response. The hardest day of HR, handled correctly.
Multi-State & Remote Workforce
Once you hire across state lines, your compliance burden multiplies. We map state-by-state requirements, set up registrations, and write policies that flex per jurisdiction.
HRIS Selection & Implementation
Gusto, Rippling, BambooHR, ADP, Paychex, Justworks, Deel. We help you pick the right platform, migrate your data, configure workflows, and train your team.
How We Approach HR Engagements
A four-step engagement that's transparent at every stage, with deliverables you can hold us to.
HR Audit
We start by reading what already exists: your handbook, employment files, classifications, pay records, and required postings. You'll get a written audit with risks ranked high, medium, and low, plus an estimate to fix each one.
Policy Foundation
Before any other HR work, we get the foundation right: a current handbook, accurate job descriptions, clean I-9s, correct exempt/non-exempt classifications, and the required state and federal postings. This is where most quiet liabilities live.
Implementation
We help you roll out new policies if needed, configure or update your human resources information system (HRIS) (or create one if you don't have one!), and document the workflows. Adoption is the goal, not deployment, so we stay involved through the first quarter of live use.
Ongoing Support
Most clients move to a monthly retainer for new-hire reviews, employee relations issues, handbook updates as laws change, and the inevitable 'how do we handle this?' calls. Managed service agreements or hourly pricing available.
Managed HR Service Plans
For clients who want a fixed monthly scope, we package the core HR work into four bundles. Mix and match, or take the whole stack.
Onboarding & Offboarding
- Complete onboarding process management (from hiring decision through first day of work)
- Complete offboarding process management (notice, final paycheck, benefits termination, equipment return)
- Employee orientation slide decks
- Welcome packets
- Checklists
- Software seat management
- Background check support
- Exit interviews
HR Compliance & Policy Support
- HR compliance audits
- Performance management (we drive the process)
- Employee handbook creation and maintenance
- Job description creation and maintenance
- Strategic HR consulting
- Employee relations
Benefits Administration
- Launch compliance training
- Employee training planning
- Comp analysis
- Employee engagement support
HR Training for Managers
- Monthly meeting with owner / HR manager
- Dedicated HR manager
- Manager skill-up training (interviewing, documenting, having hard conversations)
Not Included
- − Recruiting (we refer trusted partners)
- − Training development (curriculum design)
- − Direct legal advice (we partner with employment attorneys)
Add Payroll Services
Payroll is available as an add-on to HR Managed Service Plans, or through Dynamic Hourly or Monthly Flex Plans.
Learn more about payroll →Common HR Use Cases
The HR moments that bring clients to Launch, by business stage or triggering event. If one of these is on your near horizon, we've shipped it before.
First-Hire Setup
You're about to hire your first W-2 employee. We set up payroll, write the offer letter, prepare the I-9 and W-4, draft a starter handbook, and walk you through what to do on day one.
Scaling Past 10 Employees
New laws apply once you hit certain headcounts (FMLA at 50, ACA at 50 FTE, OSHA reporting). We map which laws you're about to trigger and get you ready before the audit risk arrives.
Scaling Past 50 Employees
ACA reporting, EEO-1 filings, FMLA leave administration, expanded harassment training requirements. We build the systems for compliance at this stage, including affirmative action plans where they apply.
Going Multi-State
Hiring your first employee outside Washington (or California, or wherever HQ is). We register you in the new state, update the handbook with a state addendum, and adjust payroll.
Handbook Refresh After L&I Changes
Washington L&I rules change every year (PSST, pay transparency, captive audience, non-compete limits). We do annual handbook reviews so your policies match current law, not 2018 law.
Terminating a Problem Employee
We coach you through documentation, the termination conversation, final pay timing, and the unemployment claim that's likely to follow. When done right, you reduce the chance of a wrongful termination claim.
Building a Performance Review System
From scratch or rebuilt: quarterly check-ins, annual reviews, goal frameworks (OKRs or simple SMART), and a PIP process that actually leads somewhere instead of dragging on for a year.
Navigating a Harassment Complaint
When a complaint lands, the first 48 hours matter most. We help you preserve documentation, conduct a fair investigation, and decide on outcomes with an attorney looped in when warranted.
EEOC Charge Response
If a charge is filed, we help you assemble the position statement, gather records, and coordinate with employment counsel. The goal is a clean, well-documented response that closes the matter at the agency level.
M&A Due Diligence
Buying or selling a company. We review the HR side of due diligence: employee files, misclassification exposure, pending claims, benefits liabilities, and what needs to happen at close.
Industries We Serve
HR is never industry-neutral. The compliance edges, staffing realities, and pay rules shift dramatically by vertical. Four where we have deep reps.
Cannabis Operators
Washington I-502 and California licensees. Cash-heavy payroll, banking complications, METRC-related shift documentation, and the staffing realities of regulated retail and processing. We've shipped HR systems for cannabis since 2017.
Food & Hospitality
Tip credit and tip pooling under FLSA, predictive scheduling (Seattle's Secure Scheduling Ordinance), service charges, minor work permits, and the high-turnover documentation reality of restaurants and cafes.
Professional Services
Knowledge worker policies: remote work, equipment stipends, IP assignment, confidentiality, non-solicitation (within enforceable limits in Washington), and performance frameworks for billable and non-billable staff.
Nonprofits
Exempt vs. non-exempt under the unique salary-test issues 501(c)(3) orgs hit, board governance overlap, volunteer vs. employee classification, and grant-funded position compliance.
Compliance Frameworks We Know Inside Out
The alphabet soup of employment law, by category. If you've been wondering whether a given law applies to you, we've probably answered that question this week for someone else.
Federal
Washington State
Multi-State We Handle Regularly
Industry-Specific
HR Systems We Configure
Don't see your state, system, or industry? Ask. We've quietly done work in most of them.
What We Replace, And With What
A few before-and-after patterns we see in nearly every new engagement. If any of these feel familiar, there's a same-quarter fix.
All-in-one HR-and-payroll bundle that takes 10 to 15% of payroll
Direct payroll on Gusto or Rippling, plus an insurance broker for benefits and Launch for HR support. Typically 40 to 60% less expensive at any meaningful headcount.
Handbook from a free online template
Custom handbook written for your state and industry, reviewed by our SHRM-SCP practice lead, and re-reviewed annually as laws change.
Manual onboarding email + paper I-9
Automated onboarding workflow in your HRIS: offer letter e-signed, I-9 collected with USCIS-compliant document review, W-4 and direct deposit captured, equipment ordered, all before day one.
Performance reviews once a year (or never)
Quarterly check-ins with a documented goal framework, manager training so reviews are consistent, and a PIP path that's actually defensible if termination follows.
Terminations decided by gut, executed by email
Documentation-first separations with state-compliant final pay timing, COBRA notice, unemployment response strategy, and a paper trail that holds up.
Independent contractor agreements with W-2 work
Proper classification audit, contractor-to-employee conversions where required, or contractor agreements that survive an IRS or state misclassification challenge.
Security & Confidentiality, Built In
Employee data is some of the most sensitive information your business holds: SSNs, medical accommodations, wage history, performance documentation, complaint records. We treat it that way. Personnel files live in your HRIS (Gusto, Rippling, BambooHR) with role-based access, two-factor authentication, and audit logs. We never email PII, and we never copy your employee data into our own systems beyond what's needed for an active engagement.
For sensitive matters (investigations, complaints, terminations), we keep a clear separation of duties between HR and finance. The person investigating a complaint isn't the person cutting paychecks, and the person making termination recommendations isn't the person setting compensation. That separation protects you in audits, depositions, and unemployment hearings.
When a situation needs legal review (active EEOC charge, pending litigation, complex separation, unusual leave accommodation, M&A activity), we coordinate directly with employment counsel. We don't practice law, and we don't bluff the line. We work regularly with several employment firms in Washington and California and can refer you to one if you don't already have a relationship.
Why Small Businesses Choose Launch for HR
Four reasons clients keep us on retainer after the first project ships.
SHRM-Certified Practice Lead
Our owner and practice lead is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), the senior credential for HR practitioners. She signs off on every major handbook, audit, and termination decision, and the team stays current through SHRM, the WA SHRM chapter, and ongoing employment law CLE.
Cannabis-Fluent
We've been doing HR for Washington I-502 cannabis since 2017 and added California in 2022. We know the staffing realities, banking workarounds, and regulator-facing documentation requirements of the licensed industry.
Fractional, Not Headcount
You pay for the HR work you need, not for a full-time salary plus benefits plus seat. Senior expertise at a fraction of the cost of an in-house director, with no long-term lock-in.
Implementation, Not Decks
We don't write strategy memos and walk away. We write the handbook, configure the HRIS, run the manager training, and stay on through the first quarter of live use. Adoption is the goal.
Employee Wellness & Benefits
Beyond compliance, help your team thrive with affordable wellness and benefits options.
24/7 Telehealth via Doctegrity
Offer your employees access to licensed medical and mental health professionals, available 24/7. Affordable rates starting at $15/month per employee, no insurance plan required.
Learn About Doctegrity →Benefits Strategy
We coordinate health insurance, retirement plans, wellness programs, and stipends with independent brokers (we don't sell insurance, so there's no commission shaping the recommendation).
Explore Payroll & Benefits →HR Service FAQ
What does fractional HR cost?
When should I hire in-house vs. fractional HR?
Can you replace our all-in-one HR and payroll provider?
Do you handle terminations directly, or coach us through them?
Do you offer employment law advice?
How do you handle multi-state workforces?
Do you manage benefits enrollment?
How do you use AI in HR work, and where won't you?
How fast can you ship a handbook?
Do you work with companies under 5 employees?
Meet the Team
The experts behind this service, ready to support your business.
Human Resources Capabilities Statement
Download our one-page PDF overview to share with partners, clients, or your team.