HR partnership built for your business right now, and designed alongside you for what's next.
Welcome
I'm Jess Zimbelman, SHRM-SCP, Principal HR Business Partner and founder of Zimbelman HR Services in Wisconsin.
I partner with owners and executives who carry HR alongside everything else, and with leaders whose lean HR team needs executive-level support behind it.
As your retained HR Business Partner, I design HR Services for what your business needs right now and scale my support as those needs change year over year.
You keep your focus on what you do best, running your business, while I stand with you on the people decisions that shape it.
HR Services
Each engagement gives your leaders the support and practices they need to lead well.
Hiring & Onboarding
Setup for Success
Are you hiring for the role you actually need, and does your new hire have what they need to succeed? I help you define the role, build the sourcing strategy, run a structured selection, and shape the offer, with your hiring managers beside me. Then I build onboarding that gets new hires contributing from the start.
Operational Practices
Retention & Results
Does every employee know what matters most, how success is measured, and how it's rewarded? I build the everyday practices that keep good people and drive results: clear priorities and purpose for every role, success measures tied to reward and recognition, feedback cycles and performance conversations your managers are ready to hold, and people data you can rely on for business decisions. Every practice is designed to meet your compliance obligations from the start.
Employee Relations & Compliance
Steady Through the Hard Moments
What's the right next step when an employee situation can't wait? I guide you through employee complaints, workplace investigations, corrective action, separations, and leave and accommodation requests, so each decision is fair, documented, and compliant. I also keep your foundation current through employee handbooks, policy development, and HR and compliance audits.
Milestone Projects
Change & Transition
How do you lead your people through what's next without losing momentum? Restructures, integrations, and selecting the right HR vendors as you grow, carried with you from plan to practice, including preparing you and your leaders for the conversations no one wants to have.
Why Work With Me
When your business is growing faster than its people practices can keep up, you deserve a partner in the room. I bring the perspective of an executive HR leader and connect your people decisions to where the business is headed.
A confidential sounding board.
From a key hire to a restructure, I sit alongside you on the decisions that matter. You bring the knowledge of your business; I bring the people strategy and the experience of having been there.
One partner, start to finish.
When you call, you reach me. I bring more than two decades in HR, partnering with executive, clinical, and operational leadership across healthcare systems, professional services firms, and non-profit and mission-driven organizations. My work spans union and non-union workforces, including workforces unified across multiple states. I hold an MS in Organizational Leadership & Administration, a BS in Human Resources Management, and the SHRM-SCP.
A retained partner who scales with you.
I stay with you from one year to the next, and my support flexes to what the business needs: hands-on through a hiring push, a restructure, or a new location, and a steady check-in when things are running well. I learn your business once and keep building on what we've put in place together.
A clear path:Understand. Align. Build.
Understand. I learn how your business runs, what's in the way, and what a good outcome looks like.
Align. Together we name where practice, structure, and strategy have drifted apart, and agree on the path forward.
Build. I put it in place and support your leaders so they can lead well.
Frequently Asked
Questions
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I'm the go-to partner you call on for a range of reasons: an employee situation, a practice you need to put in place, or a business decision you want to check from an HR perspective before you move forward. I provide consultation and practical solution options, then develop and implement the services that put them into practice. I research what each situation needs, and I tell you when other resources are needed to reach the outcome you want.
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Before you act, I help you weigh how a decision will work with your current workforce and what it means for the workforce you want to build. That way the decision is as effective as possible for the people who carry it out.
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Confidentiality is at the core of my work, and every engagement is provided under a confidentiality agreement. You have the space to evaluate every option and possibility before you make the best decision for your business.
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A retained agreement includes a set number of service hours and renews annually. When those hours are used, I continue supporting you hourly as needs arise, so my support scales with your business year over year.
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Yes. Many businesses start with a single project, such as a handbook, an HR audit, or a restructure.
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Retained partners have direct access to me personally for urgent and immediate needs.
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No. I partner with businesses that have no HR team, support existing HR teams, and help businesses build an HR team when they're ready.
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All business types, for-profit and non-profit, with union or non-union workforces.
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Most of my work is virtual, which lets me partner with businesses across Wisconsin. When on-site support is needed, I come to you, and travel is billed accordingly.
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Yes. I work alongside the partners you already rely on, including payroll providers and benefits brokers.
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It begins with a virtual call to explore the support you're looking for. From there, we have a series of conversations, based on the complexity of your objective, to gather further information and review the services and products I propose and design for you.
Let's start with a conversation.
Everything begins with The Partnership Conversation, a complimentary virtual meeting without obligation. We'll talk through how your business runs, what's taking your attention away from it, and whether we're the right fit to work together.