When businesses think about HR, they often think about compliance, paperwork, or handling difficult employee situations. Katie Tansey, Chief Human Resource Officer and Founder of HR Resolved, believes the bigger opportunity is creating alignment between employees and leadership.
During her conversation on The Fractional Operator, Tansey explained how fractional HR helps small and growing businesses build the systems, structure, and clarity they need long before HR becomes a crisis.
Founded in 2013, HR Resolved provides outsourced and fractional HR services designed to help organizations establish the people infrastructure typically reserved for much larger companies. As Tansey put it, the goal is “helping ensure that our clients’ employees are aligned with the business so that they know what success looks like.”
Why HR Resolved Focuses on Alignment First
While employment law and compliance remain an essential part of HR Resolved’s work, Katie Tansey said those responsibilities are only one piece of the puzzle. The firm’s primary objective is making sure employees understand both the company’s vision and how their individual roles contribute to it.
“What does it mean to be aligned?” Tansey asked during the interview before answering her own question. “To understand what the vision of the business is and how my role contributes to the vision of the business.”
That process begins with organizational design. Rather than immediately writing policies or employee handbooks, HR Resolved works with leadership to understand the company’s structure, define roles, and establish clear job descriptions.
“We would start with an organizational design initiative,” Tansey explained. From there, the team develops organizational charts, role expectations, and documentation that provides employees with clarity while also reducing compliance risk.
For growing companies, that foundation helps prevent confusion as responsibilities evolve and teams expand.
Building the HR Infrastructure Growing Companies Need
Tansey’s background spans large corporations, startups, and more than a decade leading HR Resolved alongside her husband and business partner, Bill Tansey. She credits that combination of HR expertise and organizational leadership with shaping the firm’s fractional model.
“He felt that my background, along with his background in organizational change and leadership, was something that we would be able to bring to smaller businesses in a fractional way.”
Instead of waiting until a company reaches 100 employees and hires a full-time HR executive, HR Resolved helps businesses establish the operating system they’ll eventually need.
“The idea behind bringing somebody like HR Resolved on is to establish the infrastructure and the operating system so that when a company does hit 100 and then continues to grow beyond, they have people processes in place.”
That proactive approach also prevents future HR leaders from inheriting disorganized systems, inconsistent documentation, and unclear expectations.
Why AI Makes Fractional HR More Valuable
As AI continues transforming professional services, Tansey doesn’t see it replacing experienced HR professionals. Instead, she believes it increases the value of experts who know how to apply the technology correctly.
After recommending an HR software platform with AI capabilities to a prospective client, she was asked why she would suggest something that appeared to reduce her own workload.
Her answer reflected her philosophy on fractional expertise.
“You have to know how to query AI to make sure that you’re getting a decent response or a correct response back from it.”
Rather than competing with technology, HR Resolved uses AI alongside years of HR experience to help clients build better systems, make better decisions, and avoid costly mistakes. For small business owners already juggling sales, operations, finance, and customer service, Tansey argues HR shouldn’t become another full-time responsibility.
“I’m surprised that you want to continue to even think about HR when there are so many other pieces of your business that you do need to think about.”
Today, HR Resolved offers both comprehensive annual fractional HR partnerships and flexible ad hoc consulting for businesses that simply need trusted guidance when complex employee situations arise. Looking ahead, Katie Tansey says the firm’s future isn’t about serving every client—it is about finding the right ones. “We’re not going to force a client to work with us in the way that we work. This is how we work. If this aligns with you, if this feels good, then great. Let’s explore it.”
