HR Consultant in Colorado Springs

I work with owners and office or operations managers all over El Paso County, from the Springs itself to Monument, Fountain, Falcon, Security-Widefield and Manitou Springs. Maybe you're hiring your first employee, or you're facing a hard people situation like a complaint or a performance problem.

You don't have to have your HR figured out before you reach out. If you know you need help with the people side but can't yet picture what that help looks like, you're exactly who I'm most interested in working with.

Who's behind HRish

I'm Allisha McCartney, Founder & HR Consultant at HRish Solutions, based in Colorado Springs. I bring over 16 years in HR and a bachelor's degree in business management, with a concentration in HR management. You can read more about me on the About page.

HR support for Colorado Springs businesses

How do I handle this? Do I need a policy for that? Am I doing this right? Many small businesses don't have an HR department, so questions like these fall on an owner or manager who already has a full plate. HRish is your HR department, externalized: I get to know how you operate and what you actually need, then put the right amount of HR in place, without a full-time HR hire before you're ready.

I stick to businesses of 150 team members or fewer, though I may consider slightly more for the right fit, and owners tend to see the most value between 25 and 100. At the small end, owners just starting out, or running a team under 15, are some of my favorite people to work with, and nonprofits are welcome too.

One client had a 95-page handbook from a large HR and legal services company, and I cut it down to 26 practical pages that still covered everything needed, a version the owner liked far more. Usually, work with me starts with one flat-fee project like that and moves into more over time.

What's different about HR in Colorado Springs

Pay is the first place local rules show up. State law allows local governments, including cities, counties and towns, to set their own minimum wage, and CDLE, the state labor department, posts the local rates in an annual table. The version I checked in October 2026 listed Denver and a handful of other Colorado cities and counties but nothing for Colorado Springs or El Paso County, so the statewide minimum is generally the floor here. Rates adjust every year, so look up the current figure on CDLE's labor standards page whenever you set a wage. The statewide rules are laid out in my Colorado wage and hour post.

Keep in mind that a local minimum wage covers anyone doing four or more hours of work a week inside that local government's borders, so a Springs team member who regularly works jobs in Denver may be owed Denver's higher rate for that time.

For public hiring help, CDLE's workforce center directory lists the Pikes Peak Workforce Center on Garden of the Gods Road, serving El Paso and Teller Counties. Its employer services page describes a First Wednesday Job Fair for up to 15 employers each month, postings on Connecting Colorado at no direct cost to your company, and an on-the-job training program that partially reimburses employer wages for a hire who needs additional skills. It also provides local labor market data for businesses, and veterans have priority for all of its services. The center widens the pool of people who see your opening, and the hiring process they meet is the part I help you build.

Colorado Springs is also home to five military installations, according to the City of Colorado Springs: Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base and the United States Air Force Academy. For a local employer, that can mean applicants leaving the service, military spouses who arrived with a posting, and team members in the National Guard or Reserve. For those team members, the federal law is USERRA, which the U.S. Department of Labor says protects civilian job rights and benefits for returning service members of both the Active and Reserve components. Employers also have to give covered workers the "Your Rights under USERRA" notice, and I write leave policies that fit your business.

This isn't legal advice. When a question needs an employment attorney, I'll work with one on your behalf. The local rules on this page were last checked in October 2026.

HR services in Colorado Springs

Every engagement starts with a conversation, so I learn how you work before suggesting anything. If compliance is the worry, I start with a compliance and risk assessment and a review of your HR policies and documentation, and you get a short, practical list of fixes ranked by priority through my HR Foundations & Compliance work. When there's a complaint, a conflict on the team or a termination that needs care, I can serve as the neutral investigator or the mediator through Employee Relations & Engagement.

Growth brings its own questions. One client had a single job title, admin, that numerous people held as a catch-all role with no clear responsibilities, and I broke it into clearly defined roles with clear ownership. The result was a better understanding of who was doing what, and more productivity in the new roles. That planning sits in my Workforce Strategy work, and for steady help, Fractional HR gives you HR leadership for 15, 25 or 40 hours a month.

Hiring support for Colorado Springs employers

I'm not a recruiting or staffing agency, and I'm not a full-time permanent recruiter either. My part is designing your hiring process and supporting it, from job descriptions and postings to interview guides and a first 90-day onboarding framework. I can sit in on or conduct interviews, and when you need background checks or drug screens, I set them up and coordinate them after a job offer has been made and accepted, never before.

Colorado's Equal Pay for Equal Work Act requires employers to disclose compensation in all job postings and notices, both internal and public, so pay goes into every posting, including one on Connecting Colorado. When a veteran applies, a job description that spells out the real duties makes it easier to see how their military experience fits. On a monthly partnership, I may pitch in on recruiting itself for a short time, and my Hiring & Onboarding page has the full list.

Team building and leadership training in Colorado Springs

Managers often get promoted for being good at the work, not at leading people, and that second skill can be taught. Through Training & Development, I offer first-time manager training, coaching for the conversations nobody wants to have, harassment-prevention training and team building workshops. If you own the business or sit on its leadership team, my one-on-one coaching starts with what you're dealing with now and what you want to handle differently.

Workshops usually run one, two or four hours, sometimes as a lunch-and-learn, with questions throughout and always takeaways. Virtual is my first choice, and whether a session happens in person comes down to group size, timing, location and topic. In team building, I make room for quieter people to have a say, and afterward I follow up, looking at what the owner notices and what the manager now does differently.

Payroll and HR administration support

To be upfront, I don't process payroll, and HRish isn't a PEO, so your team stays yours and paychecks keep running through your own payroll provider. If you're searching for someone to run payroll in the Springs, I can help you choose a provider, and the HR work around payroll is where I come in: wage and hour compliance, new-hire paperwork such as Form I-9, the federal W-4 and Colorado's DR 0004, clear workflows for new hires, departures and time-off requests, and employee files and documentation kept in order.

I'm not a benefits broker either, so I help you find one, choose plans and help with enrollment. My Record Retention Toolkit sets out federal and state requirements by type of record with what I recommend, and all of this is part of HR Operations Support. Not sure whether it's a payroll question or an HR one? Send me a message.