Hi — I'm Tyffany.

Background

More than ten years in HR operations and people management, mostly inside multi-state and fully remote organizations — so the complicated version of HR is the version I've actually practised. That's included regulated utilities and multi-site healthcare, union environments, HIPAA, and enterprise-scale compliance and audit work.

I've built HR functions from nothing and inherited ones assembled ad hoc over years. I've handled senior-level terminations and compliance problems that had already stopped being theoretical. And I've consulted directly to owners, CEOs, and directors on those decisions — in the room while the call gets made, not writing a recommendation for someone else to interpret.

Why this practice exists

The same pattern repeated everywhere I worked. Someone makes a reasonable-sounding decision without asking anyone, and six months later it costs the company thirty or fifty thousand dollars. The question that would have prevented it would have taken four minutes. Small and mid-sized employers usually aren't negligent — they just have nobody to ask, and nobody phones an attorney at $450 an hour to check a job posting. Ask First HR is built to be the cheap question.

How I work

• Plain language. No jargon and no acronym soup. If you need a glossary to read my advice, I've written it badly.
• Real numbers. When something is risky I'll tell you what it could cost, not that it's "a significant exposure."
• Calm. Most things are more fixable than they feel at 9pm.
• Clear boundaries. I'm not a lawyer, an accountant, or a benefits broker, and I'll tell you when you need one.
• Backed by a bench. I work with other experienced HR professionals and bring them in when scope or timing calls for it. You get one point of contact and more than one person's capacity.

Systems I work in

• HRIS and payroll platforms: Workday, BambooHR, ADP, Gusto — enterprise down to small-team.
• Regulated environments: HIPAA and multi-site healthcare, utilities, union agreements and documentation.
• Compliance: FMLA, state paid leave, OSHA, wage and hour, and multi-state labor law across distributed workforces.
• Operations: SOPs, ATS and recruiting workflows, audit readiness, HR metrics and reporting.

One note on payroll: I've run payroll operations for years, which is exactly why I don't offer payroll processing as a service — I know how much liability sits in it. What it does give you is someone who understands where the handoffs between HR and payroll break, and can fix them.