HR consulting · Burlington, VT

The Northfield HR Almanac

A year of HR, handled.

Handbooks, onboarding, training, leave, pay and interim leadership — laid out month by month, the way a Vermont year actually runs. Take a single project off the menu, or keep us on retainer from January to December.

Six services, à la carte
Monthly retainers
Serving Burlington employers
Plate I — Lake Champlain & the Green Mountains Vol. I

Almanac calendar

The year at a glance

Twelve months, twelve pieces of HR work. Moons mark the months that carry a hard deadline; the rest are simply best done in season.

Deadline month Best in season A quieter month
January

Handbook builds

A new year is the natural moment to draft, review and republish the employee handbook.

February

Onboarding systems

Set the welcome sequence in place before the spring hiring season opens up.

March

Harassment prevention training

The annual session, run live or online, with new hires folded into the same window.

April

Leave administration

Spring absences arrive early. Paperwork, tracking and return-to-work plans, in order.

May

Compensation benchmarking

Market data gathered before mid-year offers go out the door.

June

Interim HR director

Coverage for the weeks your HR lead is on the lake and the work still needs a hand.

July

Policy audit

A mid-year read-through of what is actually working and what has quietly expired.

August

Onboarding systems

Build the fall intake before the September wave of new faces arrives.

September

Harassment prevention training

A second window in the year for new hires, seasonal staff and refreshers.

October

Handbook builds

The policy questions that pile up in open enrollment season, answered on the page.

November

Compensation benchmarking

Next year's bands, gathered and written down before the budgets close.

December

Leave administration

Year-end balances, carryover questions and records that close out clean.

Retainers

Year-Round Almanac

For employers who would rather not hold the whole calendar in their head. We keep the seasons and bring the work to you before it is due.

Plan the first

The Monthly Almanac

One seasonal project each month, plus a standing line to us for everything in between.

  • The month's project, scheduled and delivered
  • Policy, leave and handbook questions answered as they come
  • Training dates held before they arrive, not after
  • A short written summary at the close of each season
Start a retainer

Plan the second

The Full Almanac

Everything in the monthly plan, with interim HR direction and the annual cycles carried for you.

  • Interim HR director cover when the chair is empty
  • The compensation cycle gathered and written up each year
  • The handbook rebuilt and republished annually
  • Onboarding and training kept current as the team changes
Ask about the Full Almanac

Both plans begin with a short call about your year — what is coming, and what has been waiting.

The HR forecast

Weather for the working year

Patterns we see across Burlington workplaces, season after season. Read it the way you would read the sky over the lake.

A wide view of Lake Champlain with the Green Mountains behind it in low light
Looking west across the lake

Begin

Begin with one project

Tell us what is waiting — a handbook that has not been touched in years, a training date slipping past, an onboarding that never quite took. We will tell you which month it belongs in and what it takes.

  • À la carte projects
  • Monthly retainers
  • Burlington, Vermont

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