Fractional HR

Let’s just say the quiet part out loud: appointing your ‘people person’ as head of HR is not a strategy. It’s an act of desperation. We’ve seen this play out many times. The receptionist becomes ...

“We’re like a family here.” Founders say it with pride. It’s meant to signal loyalty, care, and closeness. In the early days, it probably felt completely accurate. Five people in a room. Late nights. Shared ...

Growth changes the demands on your people function. What worked at 15 employees rarely works at 75. By 300, informal systems and shared ownership aren’t enough. Work becomes reactive. Managers spend time on issues that shouldn’t ...

If we are being honest, most leadership advice is a steaming pile of soul-sucking corporate-speak. We’re told to "leverage synergies" and "align stakeholders" until we’re all cross-eyed and checking our watches. Founders, in particular, are ...

Every founder I work with eventually hits this wall: they make a tough business decision, maybe tightening budgets, restructuring roles, or saying “no” to a request, and suddenly the team looks at them like they’ve ...

Once you realize that stability fuels agility, the next question is how to build it without losing what makes your company nimble and creative. The answer isn’t complicated, but it does take intention. Stability comes ...

Founders talk about agility like it’s the holy grail of growth. The ability to move fast, make quick decisions, and adapt on the fly is the startup dream. But somewhere between five and fifty employees, ...

Ten years ago, a workplace investigation felt like a once-in-a-career event. Something reserved for major scandals or Fortune 500 drama. Today, it's practically routine. If you're a founder, especially in a growing company, the odds ...

Your operations lead is brilliant. She gets things done. So when you handed her HR (onboarding, payroll, PTO tracking), it felt like a no-brainer. One less thing on your plate. But let's be honest. Sometimes ...

Some business challenges unfold slowly. COVID wasn’t one of them. For companies in the travel sector, conditions changed almost overnight. Regulations shifted, revenue dropped, and staffing decisions became far more complex than usual. One travel agency ...

Hiring a full-time HR manager feels like the “next step” for many growing companies. But timing matters. In this case, a scaling agency reached a decision point: bring on a full-time HR leader or explore a ...

As creative agencies grow, operational discipline often lags behind talent density. In this case, a rapidly expanding agency recognized that its HR approach needed to evolve. Policies existed. Hiring was happening. But HR was still ...

Running a small business can mean wearing a dozen hats, but HR is one area where trying to 'wing it' can lead to serious problems. HR challenges can feel overwhelming and never-ending, whether compliance confusion ...

Ah, the founder's journey. You started your business because you're great at something—building innovative software, launching the next DTC brand, or bringing a fresh approach to creative services. What you didn't sign up for was ...

In a small warehousing company, a team member files a complaint that their supervisor treats them unfairly. They feel they're being overlooked for shifts in favour of others and suspect favouritism or discrimination. The owner ...