For HR professionals and consultants
HR and employment copy editing and proofreading
HR writing carries weight. People act on what your policies say, and errors in a document get noticed. Your handbooks and policies should be as polished as anything else you put your name to. I copy edit and proofread HR and employment writing so it reads clearly and stays consistent before it reaches your people. Every project is edited by me, personally.
I’ve spent 25+ years editing HR and employment writing, and I’ve held editorial roles on occupational-health and workplace titles at a specialist professional publisher.
Editing for every kind of HR and employment work
Your work might be a staff handbook, a dissertation, or an industry report. Here's the editing that fits each one.
Whatever service you need, the care behind it is the same. Every project comes with both copy editing and proofreading, together with practical advice in the document. I also provide aftercare: once you've made your changes in response to my edits, I'll recheck those changes at no extra cost.
Who you’re working with
I’m Tara, and I’ve spent my career as a copy editor and proofreader. My HR and employment work has ranged from employee handbooks and workplace policies to occupational health and safety content and employee-benefits research. A lot of it has meant holding a whole suite of documents to one house style, so they stay consistent no matter who wrote them or how long they took to come together. That’s exactly what a handbook or a set of policies needs.
You deal with me directly the whole way. There’s no team to brief and no one to chase. If you have a question, you ask me, and I answer.
If you’d like to know more about me and the work I do, you can read about my background and experience.
What’s included
Here’s what you can expect when I edit your work:
Both copy editing and proofreading, on every project
Two full reads of your work
Comments and practical advice in the document
A tracked-changes version and a clean final version
Editing to your house style, and any special instructions
If you don’t have a style guide, I can note the choices I make so your other documents match
Aftercare on every project
I edit and proofread work you’ve already written. I’m not a ghostwriter, and I don’t write or create content from scratch.
See how my editing process works.
Your expertise stays yours
You’re the expert on your organization and your people, and that’s where I start. My job is to make your writing as clear and consistent as possible. I’ll make sure your meaning is clear to whoever reads it. I don’t check your facts, and I don’t verify whether your policies meet your legal obligations, because that’s yours to stand behind. If an edit might change your meaning, I’ll flag it and check with you first. When your work comes back, it still reads like you, just clearer.
What my clients say and the type of work I’ve completed
“An extremely thorough job. Tara not only found errors both subtle and egregious, but enforced a level of consistency of format and punctuation that raised the professionalism of the entire document.”
“The topic I had was rather complex, and the focus of my engagement with Tara was to help simplify the message I was presenting. She went above and beyond to help me rework my document.”
Employee handbooks and workplace policies
Employee handbooks, staff manuals, and the policies and procedures that govern a workplace, including grievance, disciplinary, and conduct content, held to one consistent house style.
Occupational health and safety
Occupational health and workplace safety content, including process-safety management documents and health and safety policy.
Employee benefits and workforce research
A multi-year run of industry research on voluntary employee benefits, including employer and broker survey reports, enrollment and participation analyses, and workforce demographics studies.
Vocational qualifications and assessment
Qualification specifications and assessment materials for vocational awarding bodies, prepared to their style guides and editing briefs, plus vocational training and instruction manuals.
Recruitment, careers, and workplace wellness
Recruitment and assessment content, employability and careers materials, and workplace-wellness writing for employers and their people.
What it costs
Pricing is simple and all-inclusive, with no add-ons or surprises.
Questions people often ask
Can you edit to our house style, or help us keep our policies consistent?
Yes. Send me your house style guide and I’ll edit to it, from preferred terms and capitalization to how you refer to roles and teams. If you don’t have one, I’ll keep everything consistent across the document and note the choices I make, so your other policies and handbooks can match. Holding a whole suite of documents to one consistent voice, across many authors, is exactly the kind of editing I’ve done throughout my career.
Do you check whether our policies are legally compliant?
No. I edit the writing, not the law. I don’t check whether your policies are accurate or compliant with current employment law, because that’s for you and your legal advisors to stand behind. What I do is make sure the writing is clear and consistent, and that it says exactly what you intend. If something reads in a way that contradicts itself, I’ll flag it for you to check, but the accuracy stays with you.
Is our work kept confidential, and can you sign an NDA?
Yes. Your work, and the fact that you’ve worked with me, stays private unless you tell me otherwise. HR documents often contain sensitive material, from personal details to policies that aren’t public yet, and I treat all of it in confidence. I’m happy to sign a non-disclosure agreement if you or your organization need one.
Can you take on a full handbook or a whole set of policies?
Yes. A full handbook or a large set of policies is exactly the kind of project I take on, and I’m comfortable working through a long document from front to back. Because I edit everything myself, the whole document stays consistent, with the same choices applied throughout. I’ll give you a clear timescale before I start, and the flat per-word rate is the same whatever the length.
Ready when you are
Your HR and employment writing covers a lot of ground, from policies and handbooks to reports, training material, and research. All of it is read and relied on across your organization, so it should be as clear and consistent as you can make it. I’ll give your work a final, careful read before it reaches your people. Whenever you’re ready, I’d be glad to hear what you’re working on.
If your work runs into employee benefits or other financial writing, see my finance copy editing. For marketing or brand content, see my marketing copy editing.