hr consulting & coaching in tacoma, washington
HR that fits a small team. Coaching for the people in it.
Evergreen HR Co. is a two-person practice in Tacoma. We help small Washington organizations take care of the people who work for them. We also work directly with individuals on where their own careers go next.
Two services, either one on its own.
For organizations
HR Services
Compliance, policies, payroll setup, and someone to call when a question comes up. Built for teams without an HR department.
What we handle →For individuals & leaders
Coaching
Career coaching for people in transition, and management coaching for anyone leading a team for the first time.
How it works →for organizations
HR Services
Most of our clients are organizations where no one has a job title that says HR, and the person handling it is also doing payroll, scheduling, and everything else.
New employers
You've just made your first hire, or you're about to. Several Washington requirements start the moment you do.
Small nonprofits
Mostly the same rules apply, with wrinkles around volunteers, stipends, and board-versus-staff roles.
Growing teams
You've been getting by on templates and good intentions. Now there are enough people that the gaps show.
Start here
Compliance Start Pack
Fixed project fee, quoted after your discovery call
Everything a Washington employer is expected to have in place from day one, built specifically for a small team.
- Applicability audit (what actually applies at your size and location)
- Worker classification review (exempt/non-exempt, employee/contractor)
- Employee handbook, including WA Cares and Paid Family & Medical Leave sections
- Required workplace postings audit
- New-hire paperwork packet (I-9, W-4, WA disclosures, acknowledgments)
- Digital personnel file setup, built once and handed to you
Scope depends on headcount, single vs. multiple locations, and how standard your roles are.
As things come up
Hourly Advisory
Hourly, no minimum. Rate shared on your call
The most common way clients keep working with us. Bring a question, get a clear answer and the document that goes with it.
- Payroll provider selection and setup, including your L&I workers' comp account
- Benefits landscape overview (how the categories differ, and when they matter)
- Introduction to a licensed Washington broker when you're ready to shop plans
- Job descriptions, and posting review under WA's Equal Pay & Opportunities Act
- Onboarding and offboarding checklists, including final-paycheck timing
- PTO policy design and performance review templates
We don't sell insurance or run your payroll. We help you choose well and set it up correctly.
Ongoing
Monthly Retainer
Set monthly hours, chosen together after your call
For teams asking enough questions that a predictable monthly block costs less and stresses everyone less. You don't have to buy the Start Pack first.
- A baseline review first, so we're advising on what you actually have in place
- A compliance calendar with deadlines that are yours specifically
- Quarterly review when Washington employment law changes
- Handbook updates as your team and policies change
- Plain-language help communicating benefits and open enrollment
- Manager basics for your first supervisors
Hours don't roll over, and overage is billed hourly. Run over two months running and we'll move you up a tier rather than quietly billing you more.
What applies from your first employee
In Washington these start the day you put someone on payroll. There is no small-business exemption, and most founders find out late.
Showing what applies to any Washington employer. Answer both to narrow it to your situation.
- WA Cares Fund
- Every Washington employer, any size. An employee-paid payroll deduction you withhold and remit.
- Paid Family & Medical Leave
- You collect and remit from your first employee. The employer share only begins at 50+ employees.
- L&I workers' compensation
- A state account and quarterly reporting, required from your first hire.
- Required workplace postings
- A specific set of state and federal notices (physical, or digital for remote teams).
- New-hire paperwork
- I-9, W-4, new hire reporting, and Washington-specific disclosures.
General information, not legal advice. The specifics depend on your situation and will be discussed in a discovery call.
for individuals & leaders
Coaching
Booked and priced on its own. You don't need to be an HR client, and your employer doesn't need to be involved unless you want them to be.
For individuals
Career coaching
Single sessions or a package
For anyone in the middle of a transition (changing fields, returning to work, or trying to name what they actually want next). Sessions are practical, and they end with something you can use.
- Resume building (written to be read by an actual hiring manager)
- LinkedIn profile revision
- Career pathing (what you're aiming at, and the realistic route there)
- Interview coaching, including practice for the questions you're dreading
- Salary and offer conversations
For leaders & their employers
Executive & management coaching
Paid by the individual, or sponsored by an employer
For people who got promoted because they were good at the job, and now have to do a different job entirely. Also for experienced leaders working through a specific change.
- Stepping into a first leadership role
- Difficult conversations (performance, conflict, expectations)
- Leading a team through change or reorganization
- Building habits that hold up once the team gets bigger
- Delegation, and letting go of the work that got you promoted
What an engagement looks like
Coaching only works if it's honest, so here's how we run it before you commit to anything.
- A fit conversation first
- Free, and no obligation. Helpful coaching depends on the relationship, let's find out if we are the right fit.
- Sessions with something at the end
- Each session closes with a concrete next step, not just a good conversation. You leave with work to do.
- What stays private
- When an employer sponsors coaching, they hear that sessions happened, not what was said in them. That's agreed in writing before we start.
the same either way
How working together starts
Whether you're an employer or an individual, it begins the same way: one conversation, then something in writing.
i
A 30-minute conversation
You describe where things stand. We tell you what's actually true about your situation. Free, and useful even if you never hire us.
ii
Something in writing
A price, a list of what you'll receive, and a date. Nothing starts until you've read it and said yes.
iii
The work, and then it's yours
Documents, files, and the reasoning behind them all stay with you. Come back when you need to, or don't.
the people behind it
Who you'll be working with
Evergreen started with a simple observation: the organizations that need thoughtful HR support the most are usually the ones who feel like they can't get it. We have spent our careers on the other side of that gap and started Evergreen to close it. We stay deliberately small, so you work with a founder rather than an account manager and feel like you always have someone to turn to.
Kristen Martin
Founder & Principal Consultant
- Doctoral candidate, Organization Development, Penn State
- MPS, Organization Development & Change, Penn State
- MEd, Behavior Analysis and Change, Penn State
- Graduate certificates in consulting and change management
Kristen Martin
Founder & Principal Consultant
A former COO and a former teacher. Those two roles taught her, from opposite ends, what people need in order to do their best work, and how quickly that falls apart when nobody is paying attention to it.
Her focus since has been organization development, employee engagement, change management, and performance management, most recently with a specialized human capital advisory firm. At Evergreen she leads the HR practice.
Olivia Martin
Founder & Consultant
- Master of Human Resource Management, Georgetown University
- MA, Public & Nonprofit Management, Johns Hopkins University
- 15 years in public and nonprofit workforce strategy
- Executive coaching and change management background
Olivia Martin
Founder & Consultant
Fifteen years helping public-sector and nonprofit organizations understand their people better through workforce strategy, leadership development, and program management, with particular depth in using real information to guide decisions instead of guessing.
She leads the coaching practice at Evergreen, bringing executive coaching and change management experience to both the career and management tracks.
no pressure, no pitch deck
Start with a conversation.
Thirty minutes, free, and useful on its own. If the honest answer is that you don't need us yet, we will give you advice on when to reach out again.
Book directly
Discovery Call
- Where things stand today, and what's actually required of you
- Which gaps matter now and which can honestly wait
- What working together would cost, if it makes sense at all