How Starting Point Turned an HR Gap into a Consistent, Sustainable HR Function
Starting Point is the leading expert in quality child care, early education, and out-of-school time resources in Northeast Ohio.
Snapshot
Starting Point faced an HR leadership transition just as open enrollment approached, all while forms, policies, and recordkeeping needed to be audited and assigned owners so they were done properly.
Starting Point brought in Lisa Grisafo, one of ERC’s fractional HR consultants, to keep day‑to‑day HR moving, run a practical HR audit, and set up a clean handoff so the incoming HR leader could start confidently.
“It was so important to have a seasoned professional come in and calm the waters and help me bring order back to the Human Resources department…”
Nancy Mendez
President & CEO, Starting Point
“We needed our HR function focused on compliance, talent acquisition, and training.”
Nancy Mendez
President & CEO, Starting Point
Background
Starting Point began working with ERC as open enrollment was approaching, right as the organization was going through an HR transition. ERC’s first job was to keep benefits, employee relations, and leave administration moving on schedule, with no coverage gaps and no data errors. Then we needed to map who owns what between HR and Finance so HR can focus on compliance, talent, and training.
- Leadership transition during open enrollment: Employees were choosing plans and expecting accurate, on‑time coverage; even small mistakes can mean gaps in benefits.
- Gaps in required HR records: Items like I‑9s and required paperwork for FMLA needed to be reviewed and updated to prevent avoidable issues later.
- Inconsistent processes: Day-to-day tasks made it hard to step back and set up clear, repeatable processes for leave, policy updates, and recordkeeping.
- Role clarity: The organization needed clearer definitions of who owned what between HR, Leadership, and Finance, so each team could focus on the work where they add the most value.
Our Approach
ERC’s Fractional HR consultant, Lisa, joined the Starting Point team for 16 hours per week (2 full days onsite) to assist with open enrollment administration process open enrollment changes, answer employee HR questions, coordinate leaves, complete new hire and separation paperwork, and handle sensitive employee issues.
To support Starting Point during their open enrollment period, Lisa even set up a benefits fair to help employees better understand the organization’s 401(k), medical benefits, and supplemental insurance options.
Once the HR function was stable, we could focus on auditing Starting Point’s HR practices and set a foundation for the future. That included:
- HR audit of I‑9s, leave, policies/handbook, and records to spot issues and fix them.
- Set up leave and records tracking tools and templates to avoid missed approvals, coverage lapses, and payroll errors.
- Define who owns what between HR, Leadership, and Finance so each team focuses on the work where they add the most value.
While Starting Point was between HR leaders, Lisa acted as the organization’s HR representative, fielding employee questions, clarifying policies, coordinating leaves, and addressing sensitive issues with discretion.
Lisa then led the process of scoping and finding the next HR leader. She outlined the role, wrote a clear job description, built a sourcing plan, helped screen resumes, and joined the final selection.
After the offer, Lisa spent two weeks side-by-side with the new HR leader walking through the audit findings, active projects, and tools so they could hit the ground running.
“Bringing in a professional to evaluate, to audit… I felt like I was starting from a place of honesty with the next person coming in and providing them a roadmap.”
Nancy Mendez
President & CEO, Starting Point
“It was extremely valuable because I could focus on key things in my first weeks. She [Lisa] handed off a full audit and practical trackers. I knew exactly where to start.”
Akila Greenfield
Senior Director, Human Resources, Starting Point
The Results
From day one, managers and employees had an HR representative that they could go to with questions or concerns. During the project, HR moved from reactive to stable, proactive, and structured. Benefits stayed on track, recordkeeping was cleaned up, and the new HR leader stepped in with a plan, tools, and clear first moves.
What changed for the organization
- Compliance clarity: Starting Point went from unsure to clear: ERC audited files, flagged items that could cause compliance issues, and corrected them.
- No missed benefits coverage during open enrollment: Staff benefits choices were processed on time.
- More focused hiring process: With HR running smoothly, the organization didn’t have to make a rushed hire, and selected the right leader with confidence.
- Faster time‑to‑impact: The new HR leader began with a prioritized roadmap and ready‑to‑use tools; early wins in weeks, not months.
- Leadership clarity: Our audit and project plan made the status and next steps clear throughout.
If this hadn’t been addressed…
Without being addressed, the organization risked compliance, cost, and even potential turnover issues.
- Benefits risk: Coverage errors and issues with employee benefits.
- Manager burden: Supervisors become the default “HR people,” making ad-hoc calls on absences, working from home, and time off requests, leading to inconsistent decisions and errors.
- Rushed hiring: Higher mis-hire risk and longer onboarding.
- Compliance issues: Incompliant records and corrective work would drain leadership resources.
- Operational issues: Unclear responsibilities without proper delegation and team resources.
“Had we not engaged, some people wouldn’t have had benefits. Stabilizing HR meant we could take our time and choose well.”
Nancy Mendez
President & CEO, Starting Point
