HR Automation Consultant: What to Hire (and What to Skip)
If you're a small or mid-sized business in San Diego trying to stop drowning in onboarding paperwork, PTO emails, and payroll prep — here's what an HR automation consultant actually does, what it costs, and how to hire one who won't lock you into a platform you don't own.
Quick answer
- What they do: map your HR workflows (onboarding, time-off, reviews, offboarding), then build automations in tools you already have — Gusto, Rippling, BambooHR, Google Workspace, Slack — so the paperwork runs itself.
- What to pay: $100–$250/hr for a solo consultant; avoid agencies quoting $5K+ retainers for a 10-person company. Most SMB HR automation projects run 8–20 hours total.
- What to automate first: new-hire onboarding (offer → I-9 → payroll → Slack → equipment request), PTO approval chains, and recurring compliance reminders (CA sick leave accruals, handbook acknowledgments).
- What to own: the automation logic, the documentation, and the accounts. If a consultant builds it on their Zapier or n8n instance, you're renting — not owning.
What an HR automation consultant actually builds
- Onboarding sequences that trigger offer letters, tax forms, payroll setup, and Slack invites from a single form
- PTO request routing with manager approval and calendar sync
- Automated handbook delivery + acknowledgment tracking for CA compliance
- Offboarding checklists that revoke access across 8+ SaaS tools in one click
- New-hire 30/60/90 check-in reminders pushed to managers
Red flags when hiring one
- Monthly retainer before scoping the actual work
- "Our proprietary platform" — means you can't leave
- No documentation deliverable at the end
- Won't touch your existing HRIS (they want to resell a new one)
- Can't name 3 automations they'd build in your first week
How a project actually runs
First call (free, 20 min): you describe the HR tasks eating your week. I tell you which are worth automating and which aren't. Second session: I sit with your ops lead and map the current workflow — the real one, not the one in the SOP. Then I build. Most small businesses are up and running in 2–3 weeks of part-time work, not 6-month "transformation engagements."
Tools I build on
Gusto, Rippling, BambooHR, Deel, Justworks, Google Workspace, Slack, Notion, Airtable, n8n, Make, Zapier. If you're already paying for it, I'll use it. I don't resell software and I don't take kickbacks.
I've built HR automations for San Diego companies from 4 people up to 80 — the stuff that makes onboarding a 15-minute task instead of a 2-day scramble. Text me what's slow and I'll tell you straight up whether automation fixes it or whether you just need a better checklist.
Ready to stop doing onboarding by hand?
$100/hr. No retainer. You own every automation, account, and doc we build.
Text 858-461-8054