Fractional & interim HR leadership

The CHRO seat, covered for as long as it needs covering.

Whitfield Crane Group puts a sitting Chief Human Resources Officer into your HR leadership seat — fractional or interim. Below is exactly how that works, and what Garrett does at each step.

Start a conversation Who does the work

From the first call to the handover, Garrett does the work himself.

Step 01 · The call comes in

Something in the HR function cannot wait.

You send a few lines on what is happening — through the form at the foot of this page, or by email.

Garrett’s work

Reads every inquiry himself — there is no intake desk
Replies within two business days
If it is plainly not a fit, says so and names who to call

Step 02 · Thirty minutes, no charge

A scoping call, and a straight answer on fit.

Thirty minutes on what the seat has to cover, who it reports to, and what is already on fire.

Garrett’s work

Runs the call himself and asks the hard questions early
Names the first problems he would take on
Tells you whether this is the right shape of help — including when it is not

Step 03 · Before any work starts

A written scope and rate, quoted against the work.

Fractional runs on a standing schedule, typically ten to fifteen hours a week. Interim runs full-time for a defined term.

Garrett’s work

Writes the scope himself: hours, decision rights, deliverables with dates
Prices it against the work, not from a price list
Holds it there — nothing changes without a written change

Step 04 · The first weeks

A read of the function as it actually is.

Before anything is changed, the first weeks go to finding out what is really there.

Garrett’s work

Works through the people data, payroll and HR systems line by line
Reviews open employee-relations matters and multi-state compliance, including EEO-1, AAP and VETS-4212
Sits down with each leader, then hands you a written read ranked by risk

Step 05 · The engagement runs

The seat is covered, week in and week out.

It is the job he holds today, as a sitting Chief Human Resources Officer.

Garrett’s work

Runs the HR function: employee relations, investigations, compensation and hiring decisions
Works weekly with the chief executive and leadership team
Reports on the workforce to the board when the board expects it

Step 06 · Built to hold after

Handed back documented and transferable.

The measure of the work is that it holds after the engagement stops.

Garrett’s work

Writes the processes down and leaves the systems configured cleanly
Briefs the successor or internal owner in person
If a permanent HR leader is next, can run that search from the seat — see Recruiting

Garrett Lawson, Founder and Chief Executive of Whitfield Crane Group

Garrett LawsonFounder & Chief Executive
CHRO · MHA · USMC

Who does the work

One operator, and he has held the seat he is covering.

Garrett Lawson is Chief Human Resources Officer for a multi-state healthcare platform — 11 to 20 sites across seven-plus states, 750+ W-2 employees and roughly 1,000 total workforce, with monthly workforce reporting to the Board. He built that function from about 20 employees, reduced labor cost roughly 30% through standardized compensation banding, ran HR due diligence and workforce integration across three acquisitions, and executed both a reduction in force and a site consolidation. United States Marine Corps veteran.

Twelve years at Director level and above, entirely inside multi-state healthcare organizations
Multi-state employment-law compliance, including EEO-1, affirmative action plans and VETS-4212
EOS® (Traction) implemented and run at two multi-state healthcare organizations; facilitates the weekly Level 10 leadership meeting
Workday · ADP Workforce Now · Paylocity · Paycom · Dayforce — run or implemented across five employers and three acquisitions
Master of Healthcare Administration, George Washington University · Bachelor of Business Administration, James Madison University

Every result above is Garrett Lawson’s individual record as an employed executive. Whitfield Crane Group is the firm through which he now contracts; the firm does not claim that work as its own corporate past performance.

When organizations call

Four situations, and what the engagement covers in each.

Engagements are scoped to a situation, not to a job description. If what you need sits under one of these four and nothing else, that is the engagement.

The seat is empty

A CHRO or VP-HR has left, or is about to. A permanent search runs six to nine months, and the function still has to report, comply and pay people on Friday.

What the engagement covers

Interim CHRO or VP-HR coverage
Employee relations, investigations and litigation-risk management
Workforce reporting to a board

The function does not exist yet

Headcount has outgrown the founder, the office manager, or the payroll vendor. The HR function has to be built, not bought.

What the engagement covers

HR function build-out for a multi-site platform
HRIS selection and implementation
EOS® (Traction) rollout — the people side of Rocks and Level 10

A transaction is moving

Two pay structures, two benefit plans, two cultures, and a deadline that does not move.

What the engagement covers

Workforce due diligence before close
Post-close workforce integration
Compensation architecture, banding and labor-cost restructuring

Something has to contract

A reduction, a closure, or a compliance exposure that has to be fixed before it becomes litigation.

What the engagement covers

Reduction in force
Site closure and consolidation
Multi-state employment-law compliance remediation

EOS® is a registered trademark of EOS Worldwide, LLC; Whitfield Crane Group is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by EOS Worldwide.

Next step

Tell us what the seat has to cover.

This is step one. Garrett reads it himself.

Contracted on a 1099 basis through Whitfield Crane Group LLC. Remote nationally; hybrid on-site within thirty miles of Annapolis, Maryland, and by arrangement beyond it. Whitfield Crane Group is service-disabled veteran-owned.