HR Consulting Services · Orlando, Florida
HR consulting for Orlando businesses, built on Florida law.
Most HR advice is written for somewhere else. Florida has its own minimum wage schedule, its own E-Verify mandate, and its own thin layer of state protection where other states have thick ones. The gaps are where small businesses get hurt.
We're an Orlando HR consulting firm. We work on Florida employers, in Florida, under Florida statute.
Why Orlando businesses end up here
Orlando runs on hospitality, healthcare, construction, and the small professional firms that serve them. Those are four of the hardest industries in the country to staff: high turnover, heavy seasonality, tipped wages, shift work, and a labor market that turns over every summer.
They're also four industries where a single mishandled termination, a missing I-9, or a handbook that hasn't been touched since 2019 turns into a claim you spend a year and five figures defending.
Most owners we meet aren't careless. They're busy. HR is the thing that gets handled at 9 p.m. after everything else, using a template pulled off the internet that was written for California.
That's the gap we close.
Florida compliance
What Florida employers actually have to get right
The minimum wage clock runs on September 30, not January 1
Florida's minimum wage rises to $15.00 an hour on September 30, 2026, up from $14.00. Tipped employees move from $10.98 to $11.98 in direct cash wage, with the $3.02 tip credit unchanged.
This is the final scheduled step of Amendment 2, the constitutional amendment Florida voters passed in 2020. After it, increases are tied to inflation rather than a fixed dollar figure, which means the predictable part is over, and employers who only check wage rules each January will start missing them.
Three things this requires of you: payroll updated so the change lands in the correct pay period, your minimum wage poster replaced, and, if you run tipped staff, your tip credit math re-checked against the new cash wage floor.
E-Verify is mandatory at 25 employees
Since July 1, 2023, private Florida employers with 25 or more employees must run every new hire through E-Verify. Two details catch people out: the 25-employee threshold counts your total headcount, not just your Florida staff, and using a PEO does not transfer the obligation. You're responsible for verifying it happened.
You also certify compliance annually on your reemployment tax return. Employers found to have skipped verification face probation, quarterly reporting, and and, after three failures in a 24-month window, fines that accrue daily until cured.
Florida gives you less cover than you think
Florida is an at-will state with a thin layer of state-level employment law sitting under the federal floor. There's no state requirement for meal or rest breaks for adults. No state family leave statute. No state overtime law beyond the FLSA.
Owners hear that and conclude they're exposed to less. The opposite is closer to true: with fewer bright-line state rules, more of your risk lives in documentation, consistency, and whether you can show a decision was made for the reason you say it was. Which is a paperwork problem, and paperwork problems are solvable in advance.
The Florida Civil Rights Act reaches further than Title VII on one point
The FCRA applies at 15 employees, like Title VII, but it includes marital status as a protected characteristic, which federal law does not. Handbooks copied from a national template routinely miss it.
Rules change. This page is reviewed quarterly; last reviewed . Nothing here is legal advice. For your situation, book a consultation or talk to employment counsel.
What an Orlando HR consultant actually does
Not a software subscription. Not a call center. A certified HR consultant who knows your business and picks up the phone.
Foundations
- HR Audit A thorough review of current HR processes and needs, closing with a complete report and prioritized recommendations.
- Policies & Procedures From a single new policy to a full employee handbook, documented to best practice to reduce your risk.
- Job Descriptions Clear qualifications for managers and clear responsibilities for employees, written to hold up in practice.
- Organizational Structure Detailed analysis to shape a department and company structure that fits how the business actually works.
People
- Recruitment Understanding the roles you need filled, then attracting and hiring the right people for them.
- Employee Relations Guidance on sensitive situations and investigations, resolved properly to limit lawsuits and unemployment exposure.
- Performance Appraisals Reviews that actually gauge performance, drive improvement, and set SMART goals: 90-day through annual.
- Training & Development Soft-skills and leadership curriculum for current and future leaders: change management, negotiation, time management, harassment awareness.
Money & change
- Compensation Company and industry analysis to build a plan that is fair to your people and stays inside your budget.
- Employee Benefits Guidance through broker selection and plan research so you land a cost-efficient benefits package.
- Employee Recognition Programs that lift morale and engagement. Built to whatever budget you have, including none.
- Change Management Growth, restructuring, and new leadership sequenced so your team stays productive through the change.
Every engagement starts the same way: an HR Audit that tells you what's actually exposed, ranked by what it would cost you. You decide what gets fixed and in what order. See how the engagement works →
Every service in detail, including what is included in the monthly: our HR consulting services →
Or the questions employers ask most often: the HR answers library →
Who we work well with
A good fit if you:
- Employ somewhere between 10 and 150 people in Central Florida
- Have grown past the point where the owner or office manager can run HR off instinct
- Have no HR department, or one administrator carrying more than the role should
- Want the exposure closed before it becomes a claim, not after
Probably not a fit if you:
- Need a single document and nothing more, in which case we can point you to a template
- Want someone to sign off on a decision you've already made
- Are already in active litigation, where you need employment counsel first; we work alongside them afterward
You get Dawn, not a rotating account rep
Dawn Colangelo, MBA, SHRM-SCP has served Orlando business owners as their outsourced HR department for over fifteen years: agency audits, internal investigations, documentation, unemployment hearings, and the ordinary work of building policies that hold up.
Larger firms sell you a “dedicated” HR representative and then rotate them. That was the gap Human Asset Consultants was built to close: a certified HR professional inside your leadership team, who knows your business well enough to answer in one call instead of five.
Serving Orlando and Central Florida
On-site across Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, and Brevard counties, covering Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, Altamonte Springs, Lake Mary, Oviedo, Winter Garden, Kissimmee, Sanford, and Clermont. Remote engagements anywhere in Florida.
Human Asset Consultants, LLC
1969 S Alafaya Trail, #136, Orlando, FL 32828 (407) 375-2592 · help@humanassetconsultants.com Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM EasternOrlando, FL 32828 Open in Google Maps → Opens in a new tab
Common questions
How much does an HR consultant cost in Orlando?
It depends on the model. Human Asset Consultants prices a one-time HR audit at $495 and ongoing outsourced HR from $1,500 a month as a flat fee rather than a block of hours. For comparison, an experienced certified HR professional in Central Florida costs six figures in salary before benefits and payroll taxes.
When should a small business hire an HR consultant instead of a full-time HR manager?
When you have enough HR risk to need certified expertise but not enough volume to keep a full-time professional engaged. That's most businesses between roughly 10 and 150 employees, and below about $10 million in revenue.
What's the difference between an HR consultant and a PEO?
A PEO becomes co-employer of your staff and bundles payroll, benefits, and workers' comp. You buy administration and give up some control. An HR consultant stays advisory: you keep your employer status, your vendors, and your culture, and you get expertise on top. Businesses that want to keep their culture and their vendor relationships generally want a consultant. Note that a PEO does not take your E-Verify obligation off your hands.
Does my Florida business need an employee handbook?
No statute requires one. But the handbook is where you establish that policies were communicated consistently, which is the single most useful thing you can have when someone claims they weren't. In an at-will state with thin statutory protection, documentation is most of your defense.
Does my business have to use E-Verify in Florida?
Private Florida employers with 25 or more employees must run every new hire through E-Verify, for hires since July 1, 2023. The threshold counts your total employees rather than only Florida-based staff, and using a PEO does not transfer the obligation. Compliance is certified annually on your reemployment tax return.
How fast does Florida's minimum wage change?
It rises every September 30, not January 1. It reaches $15.00 on September 30, 2026, after which increases are indexed to inflation. Tipped employees move to $11.98 in direct cash wage on the same date.
Do you work on-site or remotely?
Both. On-site across the five Central Florida counties, remote anywhere in Florida.
Free 30-minute consultation
Tell us what's keeping you up at night.
Thirty minutes, no obligation, no script. You'll get a straight read on where you're exposed and what it would take to fix it, whether or not you hire us.
Book a free consultation