For small business owners, managing HR can mean navigating everything from hiring and employee policies to compliance, benefits, and difficult workplace situations, often without a dedicated HR professional on staff. That’s where Cascade HR comes in. 

Based in Puyallup and serving businesses throughout Gig Harbor, Tacoma, Sumner, Lakewood, and beyond, Cascade HR provides fractional HR support tailored to the individual needs of each business. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, their team gets to know the people, culture, and day-to-day operations behind each organization to provide HR guidance that truly fits.

For Cascade HR, supporting small businesses goes beyond policies, paperwork, and compliance. It starts with listening, understanding how each business operates, and building HR support around the people behind it. As the team continues building connections throughout Gig Harbor, they look forward to learning more about the local business community and helping employers confidently navigate the HR needs that come with running and growing a business.

Get to know Cascade HR, what sets their approach apart, and why they’re looking forward to becoming even more connected with the Gig Harbor business community.

What does your business do, who do you serve, and what inspired you to start it?

Cascade HR is a fractional HR firm for small businesses. Most of our clients don't have anyone in-house handling HR. We step into that role for them. Everything from handbooks and policies, hiring, investigations, benefits, compliance, and everything else related to HR. We work with restaurants, construction and painting companies, nonprofits, veterinary practices, churches, senior care, and a lot of other businesses in Pierce County and around Washington.

Cheyenne Schaefer started Cascade HR because she saw small businesses needing expert HR help from someone who knows their business. We get to know our clients, work within their culture, and fine tune what we do to fit what they actually need.

What sets your business apart, and what is something people might not already know about it?

What sets us apart is that we don't use templates. Everything we write is built for that specific client. For example, a coffeehouse in Port Orchard is going to end up with a different handbook than one in Gig Harbor, because they're different businesses with different people running them. We bring the HR expertise and knowledge of HR law, and then we shape it around how the client actually operates.

Something people might not know is how much of our work is just listening. Before we do anything, we spend time learning how the business runs, who's on the team, and what the owner is concerned about.

What are your main products or services, and is there a signature offering you are especially known for?

Our main service is ongoing HR support. Clients bring us on as their HR department, and we handle whatever comes up, like handbooks and policies, hiring, investigations, benefits, compliance, and everyday questions. Once we've been working together for a while, owners stop reacting to problems and start getting ahead of them. They can make decisions about growing, restructuring, or letting someone go knowing they have the backup to do it right.

Why did you join the Chamber, and how do you stay involved in or support the local community?

Cascade HR joined the Chamber to get involved and learn more about the businesses in Gig Harbor. We work with small businesses every day, and we really enjoy getting to know the people running them.

Staying involved is mostly about where we spend our money. We make a point of going to locally owned businesses as much as we can, rather than a big box store.

What do you love most about your work, and can you share a favorite customer story or proud moment?

What I love most is getting to know clients beyond the HR side of things. Hearing how they're doing and watching their business grow is exciting for our whole team.

One of our proudest moments was when one of our smaller clients hired their first employee. We helped them write the job description, figure out where the role fit in the company's growth, find the right person, and get them onboarded. It was a win for everyone.

What’s next for your business, including any goals, upcoming events, or promotions you would like us to highlight?

What's next for us is getting to know Gig Harbor better. We want to learn what businesses here are dealing with on the HR side and where we can help. One of our team members is local to the area, so we're already close by and looking forward to meeting more of the business owners.

For anyone curious whether HR support makes sense for their business, we offer a free Discovery Call. It can be booked right on our website at cascade-hr.com.

Get in touch with Cascade HR

Website: cascade-hr.com

Instagram: instagram.com/cascade.hr/

Email: karissa@cascade-hr.com

Free Discovery Call: Available to book directly at cascade-hr.com