HR Consulting · Portsmouth, RI & Boston

Human resources, rehumanized.

Two decades of HR leadership distilled into honest counsel, ethical guardrails, and people practices that hold up under pressure. Specializing in AI-era workforce strategy and the full HR operating system for growing companies who want to do this right.

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Portsmouth, RI · Boston 20+ years in HR leadership SHRM-aligned practices
Why SouthShore HR exists

I've spent twenty years inside the room where people decisions get made.

I've sat with new hires on their best day and with team members on their worst. I've shed real tears for people I started out calling strangers. And along the way, I've watched too many leaders I was supposed to trust make choices that didn't match the values they printed on the walls.

I kept telling myself there would be a better seat — a better company, a better leader, a better culture just one job away. For a long time, that hope was enough to keep me going. But the deeper truth caught up with me: the kind of HR I believe in doesn't fit neatly inside org charts that quietly reward the opposite.

So I made a decision I'd been circling for years. HR is what happens when an HR leader stops waiting for permission to do this work the right way — and starts offering it directly to the companies who actually want it.

If you're building a company where people matter — not as a tagline, but as the actual operating system — I'd love to help you do it well.

Where I go deep

Two flagship practices. One operating philosophy.

Most HR consultants sell generic "HR support." I solve two of the most expensive problems growing companies face — AI-era workforce decisions and the full people-operating system — and back the rest of your HR function with two decades of senior judgment.

Flagship · 01

AI Workforce Strategy & Governance

Turning AI from a buzzword into hiring, retention, and org-design decisions — with the human-in-the-loop guardrails most companies don't realize they're missing. Not "we use AI." We help leadership decide what to automate, what to re-skill, and what headcount should change.

What I deliver

  • Workforce automation strategy — what to automate, re-skill, or redesign
  • AI-ready HR policy & workflow audits
  • AI governance for HR: bias review, model risk, vendor due diligence
  • Human-in-the-loop controls for AI-assisted recruiting
  • People analytics setup & workforce scenario planning
  • Executive workforce dashboards — HR translated into business language

Outcomes

Lower bias & compliance risk Faster, fairer hiring Defensible AI decisions Workforce visibility for leadership Reduced manual HR work
Flagship · 02

The HR Operating System

Built for companies who've outgrown DIY HR but aren't ready for a full internal team — a complete, productized people-operations system with fixed phases, named owners, and measurable deliverables. The whole stack, repeatable and ready to scale.

The full stack

  • Hire — role architecture, hiring playbooks, structured interviews
  • Onboard — first-90-days experience that actually retains
  • Document — handbook, policies, classifications, compliance
  • Manage — performance, comp bands, feedback systems
  • Develop — manager training & learning pathways
  • Retain & offboard — engagement, exits, knowledge transfer

Outcomes

Lower time-to-hire Higher retention Cleaner role design Manager effectiveness Audit-ready compliance
Plus the supporting practices every team needs

Fractional HR Leadership

Senior HR partnership on a part-time retainer — for companies who need the expertise of a Director or VP without the full-time cost. I sit alongside your leadership team and own the people function with you.

Compliance & Policy Audits

A grown-up review of your handbook, classifications, postings, leave practices, and policies — written in plain English with prioritized fixes, not a 40-page doc that scares everyone into doing nothing.

Employee Relations & Investigations

Confidential, neutral support for the conversations that matter most — performance issues, complaints, conflicts, and investigations handled with care, fairness, and full documentation.

Talent Strategy & Onboarding

From your job descriptions to your first-90-days plan — building hiring practices and onboarding experiences that attract the right people and make them want to stay.

Manager Coaching & Training

Most "people problems" are actually manager-skill problems. I work directly with your team leads — privately or in workshops — to build the confidence, language, and structure to lead well.

Culture & Engagement

Honest pulse surveys, listening sessions, and values work — not the watered-down kind. The goal: a culture you'd actually describe accurately to a friend over coffee.

How engagements work · what gets measured

Built for outcomes — not advice by the hour.

Leadership pays for reduced risk and visible business impact — not for broad HR opinions. So every engagement is structured to move the metrics your CFO and CEO already care about, in language they can defend to a board.

We measure
Time-to-hire
Cycle days · pipeline conversion · offer-accept rate
We measure
Manager effectiveness
Direct-report sentiment · 1:1 cadence · feedback quality
We measure
Retention
Regrettable attrition · 90-day & one-year stay rates
We measure
Compliance risk
Open gaps · policy currency · investigation cycle time
We measure
Headcount efficiency
Span of control · role clarity · automation candidates
We measure
Decision velocity
From "we have a people problem" to a documented call
The SouthShore approach

Four principles that shape every engagement.

These aren't slogans — they're the lines I won't cross and the standards every client gets, no matter the scope.

01

Ethics is not negotiable.

If a decision protects the company at the cost of treating someone unfairly, I'll say so — clearly and on the record. You're not paying me to tell you what you want to hear. You're paying me to keep you out of trouble and on the right side of the people you employ.

What honest counsel looks like

Pushback when something feels offAlways
Decisions documented for clarityAlways
"Whatever the lawyer says" autopilotNever
Quiet retaliation strategiesNever
02

People before process.

Policies exist to serve people — not the other way around. I'll absolutely write the handbook, run the audit, file the right paperwork. But the goal is never the binder on the shelf. The goal is a team that trusts the people running it.

What this looks like in practice

Plain-language handbooks Real listening sessions Manager 1:1 coaching Documented decisions No "gotcha" policies No surveys without follow-through Always: dignity first
03

Twenty years of "I've seen this before."

Most of the situations leadership teams describe to me aren't new — they just feel new to the person living them. Experience means recognizing the pattern early, naming it without panic, and offering a path that won't make tomorrow worse.

I'd rather have one honest conversation now than ten difficult ones in six months.

A real working principle

04

Right-sized, not over-sold.

You shouldn't pay for what you don't need. Some clients need a weekly check-in, some need a quarterly audit, some need help one Tuesday afternoon with a hard conversation. The engagement gets sized to the work — never the other way around.

How engagements typically run

Project-basedFixed scope & fee
Fractional retainerMonthly · capped hours
Advisory hour-packOn-demand, pre-paid
One-off intensiveFor a specific moment
Who I work with

Small and growing companies who care how this gets done.

If you're the founder, COO, or operations lead of a 10–250 person company in New England — or wherever your team happens to be — and the people work has outgrown what one inbox can hold, we should talk.

Founder-led companies

You've built something real and the team has grown faster than the HR foundation underneath it.

Operations & Finance leaders

You've been wearing the HR hat alongside your real one — and it's time to hand off cleanly.

Healthcare & clinical practices

Regulated, high-stakes, people-heavy work. You need HR that understands the operating reality.

Professional services firms

Your people are the product. The hiring bar, the culture, the offboarding — all of it matters.

Nonprofits with real teams

Mission-driven doesn't mean policy-light. You deserve the same caliber of HR as the for-profit world.

Companies in transition

New funding, a reorg, a tough departure, a culture inflection point — moments where outside judgment helps.

Ready when you are

If something in here sounds like your company — let's have a conversation.

A 30-minute call. No pitch deck, no pressure. Just an honest look at what you're carrying and whether I'm the right person to help.

Schedule a discovery call
Get in touch

Tell me a little about your team.

Send a note and I'll be back to you within one business day. If we're a good fit, we'll set up a discovery call. If we're not, I'll happily point you somewhere better — that's part of the job too.

  • Based in
    Portsmouth, Rhode Island · serving Boston & remote
  • Response time
    Within one business day

Thank you — I've got your note.

I'll be back to you within one business day. In the meantime, feel free to email me directly at meredith@southshorehr.com.

Everything you send is confidential. I'll never share, sell, or add your email to any list.