Questions,
answered plainly

Full-scope support across nine disciplines: talent acquisition and workforce planning, compensation and pay equity, benefits and leave, employee relations and performance, compliance and policy, global workforce and mobility, leadership development, HR technology and operations, and labor relations, M&A and transitions.

Yes. Most companies start with one thing, a classification review, a handbook, a termination plan, and expand only if it is useful.

Yes. When the work runs past roughly fifteen to twenty hours a month consistently, fractional HR or HR advisory costs less than repeated projects and I will say so. It is the same role other firms sell as a fractional HR director or outsourced HR.

Small businesses, startups, minority-owned businesses and nonprofits of 10 to 150 employees: growing companies that run on revenue rather than venture money, at the point where HR outgrows the owner's desk. I work with employers in Oakland, San Leandro, Berkeley and the rest of the East Bay, in San Francisco and San Jose, and remotely across California. I also support larger organizations on defined projects.

Around 15 to 20 employees you need dedicated HR support, usually fractional; a full-time HR hire generally makes sense around 75 employees, or sooner if people issues are constant.

Career tiers and templates have fixed prices. Fractional HR runs $5,000 to $10,000 a month, and HR advisory runs $2,000 to $4,000 a month. Single company projects have no set price. Each engagement is scoped to the question and quoted in writing as a fixed fee before work begins, because a handbook rewrite, a pay equity audit and a reduction in force are different pieces of work.

2026 rate guides put experienced HR consultants at $125 to $200 an hour, with San Francisco and other major metros carrying a 20 to 40 percent premium. I price by the engagement instead: fractional HR runs $5,000 to $10,000 a month, HR advisory $2,000 to $4,000, and a single project is a fixed fee quoted in writing. The HR price estimator shows typical ranges by headcount.

Career tiers, fractional HR and HR advisory prices are published on this site. A single project has no rate card because a flat rate either overcharges the simple work or undercharges the complex work. Scoping first means you know the total before you commit, and there are no hourly surprises.

Describe the problem in a sentence on the scoping call. You get the scope, the fee and the timeline in writing after the call.

Some engagements reserve a start date with a deposit. It is credited in full against the final fee, and the amount is stated in your written quote before you commit. Refund terms are on the Terms page.

A PEO co-employs your staff and bundles payroll and benefits at a per-employee monthly cost. I do not co-employ. You keep your own payroll and benefits and buy only the expertise you need. For a company that already runs its own payroll, that makes fractional HR the usual PEO alternative.

An attorney gives you legal advice and represents you in disputes. I build and run the HR function so fewer disputes happen, and I bring in your counsel when a legal opinion is required.

No. Urban Human Resources is an HR consulting practice. The founder holds a J.D., which is used for risk identification and strategy: not as legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created.

The founder scopes and leads every engagement personally. When a specialist is brought in for a piece of the work, you are told who is doing what before it starts.

No. Every engagement runs under its own confidentiality terms, and nothing learned in one is shared in another.

Six stages: scoping call, document and data review, findings and risk register, the build, rollout and training, then a 30/60/90 review.

Because most of the answer is usually already in the handbook, the job descriptions or the pay data. Recommending before reading produces generic advice.

Every issue found, ranked by legal and financial exposure rather than by how easy it is to fix, with the reasoning stated so leadership can decide what to fund.

Both. Programs are designed against learning objectives, manager fundamentals, onboarding, mandatory harassment prevention, and delivered live, on site across the Bay Area or by video.

Yes. Selection, configuration, data migration and rollout on platforms such as Rippling, Gusto, BambooHR and Workday, including manager training.

Yes. I prepare managers for the meeting, write the plan and the script, and check California final-pay timing so nothing triggers penalties. The best time to call is before the meeting is on the calendar.

Yes. I build the comparator groups, run the analysis controlling for tenure and performance, identify statistically significant unexplained gaps, and deliver a phased, budgeted remediation plan with the methodology documented.

Yes, against the federal duties tests and the applicable state salary thresholds. Titles prove nothing; I look at what people actually do.

Yes: drafted or rewritten for your jurisdictions, with the reasoning behind each policy explained so your managers can apply it.

Yes, including out-of-state remote work policy, tax and registration considerations, and reconciling one handbook across several states.

Yes: selection criteria, WARN Act analysis and notice timing, severance structure, communications, and outplacement support for departing staff.

Yes, on both sides: HR due diligence on a target's liabilities and benefit gaps, then post-close integration of salary bands, titles, benefits and policy.