Fractional HR & Business Advisory

Senior HR leadership, without the full-time overhead.

For small business owners, entrepreneurs, and growth-stage operators who've outgrown ad-hoc HR — but aren't ready for a full-time CHRO. I bring 20+ years of People & Culture leadership from Walmart, Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, and LCBO, deployed on a retained, flexible basis.

Free 30-min consultation See how I help

20+ years enterprise HR MBA, CHRL CA · US · UK

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Sal Mazzarelli

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Currently Engaged

Dentalook · TOMORROW

Healthcare & global digital retail · 2025–Present

“

I bring the judgment of someone who has done it — at Walmart, Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, and several nationwide operators — and the agility to deliver in your context, at your scale.

Sal Mazzarelli · HR & Business Advisory

The Opportunity

You've outgrown ad-hoc HR. You're not ready for a full-time CHRO.

Most of the small businesses, founders, and growth-stage operators I work with share three patterns. Sound familiar?

You're hitting scale friction

Roles blur. Hiring is reactive. Your leaders are stretched thin and decisions stall because no one owns People with a strategic lens.

People risk is rising

Engagement is dipping. Turnover in key roles. An ER complaint that landed on your desk last month. No one is owning the response or building the system to prevent the next one.

No senior HR in the room

You have a coordinator, recruiter, or office manager — but no one translating people strategy into business outcomes, sitting at the leadership table.

YOUR PHOTO HERE

Hi, I'm Sal

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About

20+ years building HR for household-name operators.

I've led People & Culture at Walmart, Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, LCBO, Loblaws, and several nationwide multi-site operators — the common thread is scale, complexity, and people risk.

I specialize in building HR infrastructure from zero, transforming engagement, mitigating ER & LR risk, and designing the organizational structures that let growing businesses scale without losing control. Now I deploy that capability on a retained, fractional basis for the businesses that need senior judgment — without the full-time overhead.

"Senior outcomes without the full-time overhead — deployed in your context, at your scale."

MBAQueen's CHRL DiSC & LSIFacilitator Workplace Investigations Culture ShapingSenn Delaney

What I Do

Six areas where a fractional HR executive moves the needle.

Senior HR that drives business results — built for the specific pressure points growing companies face.

Organizational Design

Structure, spans, role clarity, decision rights — built to scale the business, not just the org chart.

ER & LR Risk Advisory

Active campaign response, investigations, playbooks. 20+ years without a union vote reaching ballot.

Engagement Strategy

Listening, segmented action plans, leader coaching. Double-digit score improvements, repeatedly.

Compensation Design

Market benchmarking and incentive design that aligns rewards to performance and retention.

HR Infrastructure

Policies, processes, documentation, governance — built from zero to audit-ready, across CA, US & UK.

Talent & Succession

Leadership bench strength, internal mobility, and practical succession planning for key roles.

How I Work

Three ways to engage — sized to your business.

Whether you're a founder figuring out your first hire, a 50-person company without senior HR, or a multi-site operator scaling fast — there's a way to work together that fits.

Tier 01

Starter

For small business owners and entrepreneurs who need senior HR judgment, fast.

Hourly rateFlexible scope, billed by the hour

90-min Strategy Session
HR Foundations Audit
Handbook & policy starter pack
Hiring & onboarding playbook
Comp benchmarking (1–5 roles)
One-off ER investigation support
Contractor vs. employee classification review

Free 30-min consultation

Advisor

Monthly retainer for ongoing senior counsel.

Retainer · 2 days / monthBi-weekly cadence with leadership

Bi-weekly leadership touchpoints
On-call ER/LR case consultation
Org design & compensation input
Strategic advice on hiring & performance
Policy & governance refresh
Quarterly business reviews

Free 30-min consultation

Tier 03

Embedded

Acting Head of HR for growth-stage and mid-market operators.

Retainer · 3–4 days / monthWeekly leadership presence, owns the roadmap

Weekly leadership presence
Owns HR roadmap & priorities
Manages in-house HR team
Direct to board / CEO reporting
Engagement strategy & transformation
Active ER/LR risk management
Org design & comp redesign

See if this fits

Plus: Transform Projects

Fixed-scope, fixed-fee project work that any tier can buy: comp review, HRIS implementation (Deel specialist), org redesign, engagement turnaround, handbook overhaul, workplace investigations. Typically 8–16 weeks with executive-ready outputs and a clean handover.

Scope a project

The Value Case

VP-level HR without the full-time load.

You get the judgment of someone who has done it — at scale, in complexity, in industries that don't forgive HR mistakes.

Full-Time VP of People

Fractional HR Advisor

Full salary + bonus + equity load

Retainer-based, scoped to need

6–9 month hiring cycle

Operational in 2 weeks

Single individual, single skill set

20+ years across 6 enterprises

Fixed commitment, hard to exit

Flexible scope, monthly cadence

Ramp-up before value

Senior judgment from day one

The First 90 Days

What the first quarter together looks like.

A proven cadence: listen first, prioritize ruthlessly, deliver measurable early wins.

Days 1–30

Listen & Diagnose

Leadership and team interviews
Review of structure, roles, and policies
ER/LR risk assessment
Engagement and retention data review

Days 31–60

Synthesize & Prioritize

Themes, gaps, and opportunities
Prioritized people roadmap
Quick-win execution begins
Alignment with CEO and leadership team

Days 61–90

Build & Deliver

Org design recommendations
Compensation and role clarity outputs
HR process and policy foundations
Measurable early outcomes in motion

A Few Things I'm Proud Of

Senior HR that drives business results.

A small sample of outcomes from 20+ years of leading People & Culture teams. None of these were solo wins — each one was delivered with the leaders and teams behind it.

$20M+

Compensation Rollout

Led a tiger team behind a national hourly wage redesign — completed ahead of schedule. Recognized with the President's Bell Ringer Award.

27.7M

Packages Delivered

Led people strategy through peak season at a national logistics operation — +18.7% YoY across 35 stations and 6 provinces. The team ranked #1 in North America.

2×

Sam Walton Award

Back-to-back years recognized for the highest engagement improvement in a major North American retail network — turnaround built shoulder-to-shoulder with the store team.

500+

Stores Trained

Designed and rolled out a Labour Risk curriculum to 500+ stores across Eastern Canada. Partnered closely with operations to mitigate active campaigns.

300

Stores Restructured

Partnered with the operations leadership team through a 300-store portfolio review — workforce planning, separation criteria, and execution that exceeded business targets.

70+

Clinics Stabilized

Built the first national engagement and labour-risk dashboard for a multi-site healthcare network — with the leadership team behind it. Red clinics fell from 15 to 5.

FAQ

Common questions.

I'm a small business — am I too small for fractional HR?

Probably not. The Starter tier is built for businesses with 5–50 employees who need senior HR judgment on a specific problem — a hire, a handbook, a comp question, a tough employee situation — without committing to an ongoing retainer. We start with a 30-minute call to figure out if you need an hour, a week, or a year of help.

How is this different from hiring a recruiter or HR coordinator?

A recruiter fills open roles. A coordinator runs HR operations. A fractional HR executive sits at the leadership table and translates people decisions into business outcomes — org design, comp strategy, engagement, ER/LR risk, succession. It's the difference between owning the function and executing inside it.

How long do engagements typically last?

Starter packages are scoped from a single session to an 8-week project. Advisor and Embedded retainers typically run 6–12 months, with quarterly checkpoints. Transform Projects are 8–16 weeks with clean handover. Most clients renew; some scope down or transition to a successor — both are fine outcomes.

Do you work outside Ontario or Canada?

Yes. Active engagements span Canada, US, and UK. I've handled cross-border compliance, contractor misclassification, and multi-jurisdictional comp design. Remote-first by default, on-site as the engagement requires.

What industries do you serve?

Multi-site operators (retail, healthcare, logistics), professional services, and growth-stage consulting and digital firms. My background spans Walmart, Apple, Starbucks, Amazon, LCBO, Loblaws, and several nationwide operators — so high-volume, distributed-workforce environments are home turf.

How does pricing work?

Pricing is tailored to scope and cadence and shared in the intro conversation. Starter packages are flat-fee. Advisor and Embedded retainers are monthly. Transform Projects are fixed-fee against a defined scope. No platform markups, no hidden fees — straightforward terms in a 1-page engagement letter.

What does the intro call look like?

A 30-minute conversation. You tell me what's going on. I tell you whether I can help — and if I can't, who I think can. Both outcomes are useful. No pitch deck, no follow-up sequence. Start with the intake form and I'll come prepared.