FAQ

We know how you feel. Feeling uncertain about an organization you know very little about is normal. We know that building trust takes time. That’s why relationships are important to us. And that’s why we offer you a 30-minute free consultation to get to know each other. We want to learn about your HR problems and what we can offer as a solution. We’ll never try to push a sale on you. We provide best practice advice on how you can solve your HR problems with or without our help. We invite you to take a look around our website to learn more about who we are, our values, what we do, what others say about us, and the social impact we’re making in the world. Whenever you’re ready, we’ll be happy to hear from you.

be the change HR is a woman- and person of color-owned (MBE/WBE Certified), conscious company and social enterprise providing HR support for small-to-medium sized businesses in any facet of HR. We’re a team of diverse HR Consultants from the Black, Latino, Asian and LGBTQ+ communities. Our collective experience as consultants involves decades of working with many organizations and diverse people including, LGBTQ+ individuals, people from the Black, Asian, and Latino communities, and those involved in the sex industry and sex trafficking. We believe that together we can “be the change” and do awesome HR work while making an impact in our communities. We dedicate about 2% of our topline revenue to providing job readiness classes and one-on-one job coaching to sex trafficking survivors and those transitioning out of homelessness. We partner with various nonprofits across the United States and offer this program for free.

First, you’ll get a sincere thank you for reaching out to us. Then, we’ll tell you more about our company and the type of clients and HR issues we usually work on with clients. Then, we’ll listen to you. You’ll have an opportunity to inform us about your unique situation. We’ll ask a few questions to confirm understanding, then we’ll offer up some free advice or a complementary tool you can immediately use. If you’re interested in getting more specific information about a solution, and you’d like to consider hiring us, then, we’ll send you a proposal. We promise, we’re fun to talk to and we won’t make you feel like you need to buy anything from us.

You’ll speak with an HR Pro who has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the work. And they will also walk you through our services, capabilities, and purchasing process. We are HR Pros first – committed to our profession and help you decide on purchasing our services. No sleazy salespeople here (yes, I know, they get a bad rap!).

We know how you feel. It’s kind of scary: you signed a contract, we made a promise, and now comes the time for us to deliver on that promise. We’re HR Pros and Consultants with decades of experience in delivering results. We have a reputation for providing value and being transparent. When you enter into a monthly retainer relationship, you’ll have a dedicated HR Pro working for you and you’ll have access to their time entries to see what they’re working on. We work together to set up regular meetings to ensure you have access and say in how things are progressing and what results are delivered.

We can start as soon as the contract is signed. So it depends on how quickly you sign the contract and tell us when you’d like to start.

We meet virtually to go over the proposal we initially sent to you. Once you approve the proposal, we create a contract and send it to you for review and signing. Once you return the signed contract to us, we will introduce you to your dedicated HR Pro | Consultant. The HR Pro will initiate the first meeting with you to establish a plan. Your HR Pro will be your point of contact, working with you on delivering the results we’ve promised in the contract. If you ever have any questions regarding our services or your HR Pro, you always have access to our Founder and CEO, LeiLani Quiray.

Our collective experience as consultants comes from decades of experience working with all types of orgs, including working with private, for-profit companies and non-profits, in California, Texas, New York, and throughout the nation. Generally, you will learn more about our experience through the following:

• Discovery Convos – engaging in conversations to discover the nature of your HR problems, sharing our experience with solving similar problems, and making recommendations based on real-life situations.
• Specialized Abilities – sharing the abilities of key personnel with specialized knowledge and experience solving a specific problem (such as starting a new DEI initiative, implementing a DEI Audit, diversity training, or compensation analysis).
• Success Stories – sharing success stories about solving a similar issue for other clients.

During our initial conversations, you’ll become more confident in our abilities because we’ll demonstrate that we have a deep understanding of your unique HR problems and what solutions we propose will be based on experience, HR best practices, and industry standards. We’ll offer you free advice on solving a specific HR problem without any expectation of buying anything.

We feel you! We get that question a lot because we know that having direct employees (W4s) takes a lot of your time to manage and be compliant with employment laws. And knowing all the ins and outs of the laws that regulate independent contractors is no fun (unless you’re obsessed with employment laws like we are)! So, no, it’s not a good idea just to hire 1099s. You need to follow strict guidelines and tests, and these guidelines may vary from state to state and federal regs. So, our best advice is to learn what laws apply to your State and business, and under what circumstances or situations they affect the employee-employer relationship. Then, get the help of an HR Pro or an attorney to help you make the best decisions. 

Yes! The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and many states establish overtime and minimum wage requirements you must follow. When you don’t track the attendance and time of your employees, you are more likely to have inaccurate records and violations of legal requirements. So, our best advice is to move away from paper timesheets and use an online or intranet system that tracks time and attendance to ensure accuracy. After all, your job (as regulated by law), is to ensure that everyone is fairly compensated and paid for all hours worked.

Yes! The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) allows eligible employees to take up to 12 weeks off from work due to medical or family reasons without losing their jobs. It only applies to employers with 50 or more employees. And many states have laws that apply to small businesses and are more generous than the FMLA. So, our best advice is for you to have a dedicated person who follows a written policy to administer your leave policies so that you ensure that everyone is treated fairly as provided by whatever law applies and interacts with your unique situations.

Yes! It just depends on whether or not you need to have a written plan, training, etc. – and that requirement is determined by many factors such as business size, industry, state safety regulations, etc. Generally, the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) mandates that all employers must provide safe working conditions for their employees. Under OSHA, everyone has the right to safe and healthy working conditions. Our advice is to have a dedicated “safety” person responsible for ensuring that you follow the applicable industry, local, state, and federal safety regulations, keep an eye on ongoing developments and adhere to reporting and record-keeping requirements.

You must follow the requirements of US Immigration laws, which state that you must only hire employees who are eligible to work in this country. So, we advise you to make sure you know what is required to comply including recording keeping and record retention requirements. You also must ensure that there’s no discrimination against applicants who are aliens. So, review your selection and hiring process to make sure it is fair and in compliance with immigration laws.

There are State and Federal laws that protect the civil liberties of applicants and employees, and they also come into play when making any employment decisions including termination. So you need to have a dedicated person who is familiar with applicable laws to make sure that everyone is treated fairly without regard to, for example, age, gender, race, national origin, sexual identity, etc. We encourage you to take these laws seriously because it’s not only a moral issue, it can be a costly issue, especially if someone files a lawsuit for discrimination.