Dept-of-One Triage by Glover & Co. — Where Do I Start?

Let's sort the shoebox

First — take a breath. Nothing you listed is unusual, and nothing here says you've been doing it wrong. It says you've been running a 13-person HVAC company while also being its entire HR department, and the HR department finally asked for a meeting. That's what I'm for.

You handed me six things tangled into one paragraph. They feel equally urgent because none of them has a name yet. So before we fix anything, we sort — because named problems shrink.

The sort:

New tech starting Monday, no paperwork — a CLOCK. The one item with legal dates attached, and clocks are the sneaky ones: they never feel urgent and they're always the most expensive to miss. I won't recite deadlines from memory — that's how owners end up confidently wrong. The All Aboard skill carries the verified requirements and walks you through them in order. This is your before-Monday item.
2. Two senior techs not speaking since July — a PEOPLE CONFLICT. Not a performance problem, even when it starts costing callbacks — a conflict wearing a work costume. Two months of silence isn't a truce; it's a slow leak.
3. The chronically late tech who's your best closer — PERFORMANCE. Said kindly: you don't have a lateness problem, you have a standards problem. A standard you enforce for everyone except your best closer isn't a standard — it's a price list, and every other tech has already done that math. One clear conversation first, not a warning.
4. Files in a shoebox — PAPERWORK. Not urgent, chronically neglected, cheap to fix in one batch afternoon.
5. The handbook — PAPERWORK, month lane, and there's a tool for it.
6.

Splitting into two crews — STRUCTURE. This one gets named and parked, not solved: no reorganization before a diagnostic, ever. That conversation goes to Erin, and the email is drafted below.

Your board: THIS WEEK — the new hire's clock (All Aboard), and open the conversation with your closer. THIS MONTH — sit the two senior techs down separately first, then together; the shoebox afternoon. THIS QUARTER — handbook; the crew-split diagnostic with Erin.

Every item: a tool, a habit, or a human — and the one email you need to send is already written.

Sometimes, you just need to talk to an HR person.

Educational, not legal advice. Seek counsel if you would like a legal opinion.
AI does not replace human judgment — the decisions stay yours.