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Renee Thompson

Fractional HR for companies that have outgrown winging it

About Me

Most HR support helps companies feel more organised. I help them figure out why their people systems aren't keeping pace with their growth, and fix it before it becomes a crisis. I'm Renee Thompson, Managing Partner at Tandem People Partners, a fractional HR consultancy serving startups and scaling companies across Canada and North America. I work with leadership teams between 20 and 200 people who are moving fast and starting to feel the friction of it. My thesis is simple: people infrastructure is a revenue enabler, not an administrative overhead. When it's built right, it accelerates execution. When it's not, it quietly taxes everything else. My background spans 15+ years and 125+ organisations across high-growth tech, professional services, and regulated industries. I hold a post-graduate HR designation and an undergraduate degree in sociocultural anthropology, which turns out to be surprisingly useful for understanding why people do what they do inside organisations under pressure. In practice, that means hiring architecture, compensation frameworks, manager capability, retention risk, workforce planning, and the occasional crisis intervention when things have already gone sideways. I work in sprint formats, retainer arrangements, and embedded fractional engagements, and I'm usually pretty clear about what's going on after the first real conversation. I work best with founders and COOs who've started to understand that their people function is either enabling revenue or quietly taxing it. If you want to build the version that does the former, I'd love to connect.

Jurisdiction

United Kingdom | Ireland | Australia | Canada | United States

Notable Employer

  • HR Consultant at PEO Canada

Experience

Seniority LevelExecutive
Years of Experience15-20 years
Current StatusActive
Managing PartnerTandem People Partners
2025 - Present

Fractional HR consultancy serving startups and scaling companies across Canada and North America. I partner with founders and executive teams to diagnose the people constraints blocking execution and build the systems that remove them. My work sits at the intersection of organisational design, people infrastructure, and revenue enablement, typically engaged at the 5-200 employee stage when companies are moving fast enough that winging it starts costing real money.

Director, HR & People OperationsAKG Canada
2021 - 2025

National HR leader for an $85M+ government services provider with distributed, multi-site teams across Canada. Contributed directly to 70% YoY revenue growth and a $3.4M EBITDA gain through HR-driven performance and continuity strategy. Led a national rightsizing initiative that cut labour costs by 20% while the business simultaneously achieved 112% revenue growth. Directed a full HRIS transition including a 12-week payroll deployment, delivering 56.5% cost savings. Enhanced the benefits program while reducing annual spend by $100K+.

Human Resources Business PartnerGoodFood Markets
2019 - 2020

HR lead for 350+ employees across Western Canada during a period of rapid operational scaling. Reduced turnover by 20% through a targeted recruitment overhaul and built performance and leadership systems that connected KPIs directly to incentive structures.

HR ConsultantNotablePEO Canada
2018 - 2019

Strategic HR consulting across 125+ client organisations spanning multiple industries and company stages. Managed workforce planning through a post-acquisition growth representing a 400% increase in group size, executive severance processes up to $1.07M, and multi-province compliance audits. Built HR functions for SME clients from the ground up, including policies, performance frameworks, and compliance programs. This role is the direct predecessor to my current fractional practice.

HR ConsultantVoxter Communications (now Ooma, Inc)
2016 - 2018

Embedded HR support for a growing technology firm. Built scalable culture, performance, and people systems from scratch and advised leadership through restructuring, terminations, and talent strategy.

Manager, People ServicesBoys and Girls Clubs of Calgary
2016 - 2017

Delivered $125K in savings through benefits redesign, reinvested into more flexible employee plans. Improved retention by 12% and rebuilt performance and compensation strategy across the organisation.

Human Resources GeneralistCalgary Alpha House Society
2014 - 2016

Reduced turnover by 11% and cut new hire training costs by 50%. Implemented an organisation-wide competency framework and psychosocial support programming for a frontline social services workforce.

HR GeneralistSterling Western Star Trucks
2012 - 2013

Workforce expansion and retention improvements in a trades and industrial environment through strategic benefits redesign.

HR CoordinatorIris the Visual Group
2007 - 2012

Early career HR coordination in a national retail environment. Foundation in HR administration, recruitment, and employee relations.

Education

Degree of AnthropologyUniversity of Calgary
2004 - 2007
Diploma of Human Resources ManagementUniversity of Calgary
2007 - 2010

Certification

Total Certifications1

CPHR

CPHR Alberta

2013 - 2019

Credential ID: 30339

Skills

Core skills10
Interests8
Languages1

Skills

Fractional HR Leadership
Organizational Design
People Systems & Infrastructure
Workforce Planning
Total Rewards & Compensation Strategy
HR for High Growth Companies
Change Management
HRIS Implementation
AI Implementation
Strategic Planning

Interests

People Infrastructure as Business Asset
Revenue Enablement via HR
Founder & COO Partnerships
AI and the Future of People Functions
Management Debt
Organizational Intelligence
Startup Scaling Dynamics
Truth and Reconciliation at Work

Languages

English