Your People Operations, Handled With Care
Growing your team is exciting. Managing everything that comes with it — benefits, leave compliance, ADA accommodations, workers' compensation, documentation, and the hundred details in between — is a different challenge entirely.
ClearPath is your external People Operations partner: HR-informed, compliance-grounded, and steady — so your people processes run the way they should, and you stay focused on leading.
What I Do
People operations is everything that happens between hiring someone and their last day — and everything that keeps your team supported, informed, and protected in between.
As your external People Ops partner, I bring 20+ years of HR experience to the structure your team needs to function well — including deep expertise in California and multi-state employment law, leave of absence programs, and ADA compliance. You make the decisions. I bring the HR knowledge, the organized workflows, and the steady follow-through to help you implement them.
That looks different for every team, but it typically includes:
New hire onboarding and contractor documentation
Benefits administration and open enrollment coordination
Leave of absence management — FMLA, CFRA, PDL, ADA, and state-specific programs — from intake through return to work
ADA accommodation coordination and interactive process support
Workers' compensation coordination and return-to-work planning
Employee file organization and documentation maintenance
Multi-state employment law compliance coordination — with particular depth in California
HR inbox and internal communication workflows
SOP creation and process documentation
Wellness and engagement program coordination
Hybrid and remote team support
This is not task-based assistance. It is consistent, embedded partnership — designed to reduce operational strain and give your people the support they deserve, without adding a full-time hire to your payroll.
Who I Support
ClearPath partners with small teams and growing businesses that want their people operations handled with structure, consistency, and professional care — without the overhead of a full-time HR leader.
You might be a strong fit if:
You don't have an internal HR department and you're managing people processes yourself
A founder or office manager is handling HR responsibilities alongside everything else
Your team is growing and the informal systems that worked at five people aren't holding at fifteen
You have employees in multiple states and need someone who understands the compliance complexity that comes with it
You have an HR lead who needs operational reinforcement so they can stay focused on strategy
In every case, the dynamic is the same: you remain in full control of your decisions, culture, and direction. I step in as the organized, HR-informed partner who makes sure the operational side of your people processes is structured, consistent, and compliant.
How I Fit Into Your Team
There's no single version of what people operations support looks like — because every team is different. My role adapts to the structure you already have in place.
If you don't have an HR department: I become your go-to People Ops resource — helping you build the systems, processes, and compliance documentation your team needs as it grows. You set the direction. I make sure the operational side keeps up with it.
If HR is handled by a founder or office manager: I take the people operations tasks off their plate — or yours — so they can focus on what they're actually there to do. You stay in charge of the decisions. I handle the coordination, compliance tracking, and follow-through.
If you have an HR lead: I work alongside your HR leader as an operational support partner — managing execution, documentation, and process coordination so they can focus on strategy, culture, and the higher-level work that actually needs their attention.
Regardless of your setup, my role is always the same: to support your people processes with structure, care, and compliance confidence — while you lead your business with confidence.
About Erica
I'm Erica Winterburn, founder of ClearPath and a People Operations professional with 20+ years in the HR field, including 15+ years of hands-on corporate experience supporting growing teams.
Before launching ClearPath, I worked in HR and People Operations roles spanning benefits administration, leave of absence management, ADA accommodations, workers' compensation, onboarding, employee documentation, wellness programming, and internal communication systems. I've partnered with teams across the U.S. in industries including manufacturing, wine and hospitality, and solar energy.
I built ClearPath because I know what it looks like when growing teams don't have the people operations support they need — and I know what's possible when they do. My role is to bring that structure to your business: not to make decisions for you, but to make sure the operational foundation supporting your people is organized, consistent, and built to grow with you.
PHR & SHRM-CP certified — recertification actively in progress.