Outsourced HR for Mid-Market Canadian Companies. Enterprise-grade HR. Without the fixed cost.
Outsourced HR for mid-market Canadian companies — compliance, ER, talent, and culture run end-to-end by a named senior lead. Onboarding timing confirmed in the written scope.
Senior HR leader in-seatFull function, not a help deskFixed monthly retainerOnboarding confirmed in a written scope
Confirmed in a written scope with inclusions, exclusions, and effective date.
HR as a team. Not a PDF library.
Outsourced HR means a senior HR leader embedded in your operations — daily ER triage, compliance, talent, and HRIS — with onboarding timing confirmed in the written scope, typically a fraction of the fully loaded cost of building every role in-house.
Senior HR leadership, specialist advisors, and operational generalists under one engagement. You stop coordinating three vendors and start using one team that covers strategy through payroll escalation.
Ontario labour law, CPP, EI, WSIB, bilingual considerations, cross-provincial hiring. Built for Canadian mid-market, not a US HRIS pretending it speaks Ontario.
In your Slack, in your cadence, in your leadership meetings. Not a ticketing portal. The function runs embedded, not administered from a dashboard.
One HR function. Not five vendors.
What does outsourced HR include? A named senior HR lead, with specialists added as the scope requires, covering compliance, employee relations, talent, and HRIS — all under one fixed monthly retainer. The CEO stops being the default head of HR.
Compliance & risk
ESA, OHSA, AODA, pay equity, human rights, and provincial employment-standards exposure mapped and managed. Policy framework, mandatory workplace violence and harassment programs, accommodation processes, and audit-ready documentation.
Employee relations
Daily ER triage on the live cases that the CEO and managers don’t want eating their week — terminations, accommodation requests, complaint intake, performance management, and investigation triage with our workplace-investigations practice if escalation is required.
Talent & comp
Job architecture, comp banding, hiring process design, recruiting partner management, onboarding, manager training, and retention diagnostics. The recurring work that builds the bench rather than just filling seats.
HRIS & operations
Selection, implementation, and ongoing stewardship of HRIS, ATS, and performance tools. Vendor management on payroll, benefits, and PEO relationships so you have one accountable HR partner rather than five tooling vendors.
The engagement reshapes as you grow.
How does outsourced HR scale with company size? From first professional HR function at 50 employees through fractional-CHRO level at 250–500, the engagement grows with your headcount — and transitions to a permanent hire when complexity justifies it.
First professional HR function. Replaces the office manager doing HR on top of their job and the founder fielding employee questions in the hallway. Focus: compliance baseline and ER triage so the leadership team stops being interrupted.
Manager training, comp framework, and performance system get built. Bench-strength conversations start being honest. Founder gets time back; CEO gets a real HR partner.
Bridge to a full in-house HR team. The senior lead is essentially a fractional CHRO, with specialists operating as the people-ops function. Engagement transitions to a permanent CHRO once revenue and complexity justify a full-time hire.
An embedded HR compliance desk.
Outsourced HR, in practice, is a senior HR function embedded inside your company — a standing compliance desk that runs your ESA, OHSA, AODA, and Human Rights Code obligations, fields daily employee relations, and operates people ops day to day. Not a help-desk portal you ticket into. A real function, in-seat, accountable to your leadership team.
ESA, OHSA, AODA, pay equity, and Human Rights Code obligations mapped, monitored, and kept audit-ready — mandatory workplace violence and harassment programs, accommodation processes, and policy framework owned end-to-end rather than rediscovered when something goes wrong.
Daily ER triage on the live cases — terminations, accommodation requests, complaint intake, performance management — handled with senior practitioner judgement so they stop landing on the CEO's desk.
Hiring process, onboarding, comp framework, HRIS stewardship, and manager training — the recurring operating work of a people function, run on a cadence instead of in firefights.
When the compliance desk encounters a matter that needs an independent workplace investigation — a harassment, discrimination, or misconduct complaint that requires independent fact-finding — that investigation is kept separate from the embedded HR and any remediation work. The team running your day-to-day people function does not also adjudicate the complaint. Before accepting an investigation, 1205 assesses whether the firm, the proposed investigator, or any current client relationship creates an actual or perceived conflict. If independence could reasonably be questioned, we recommend a separate investigator or firm.
The investigation mandate is limited to independent fact-finding and the agreed report. Any remediation, training, policy, or HR support is separately scoped after findings are delivered and only where independence, fairness, and client counsel permit it.
Independent workplace investigationsFive steps. Scoped in writing.
How quickly can outsourced HR be operational? Onboarding timing is confirmed in the written scope: intake within one business day, a structured onboarding audit, then daily ER triage and weekly leadership check-ins running from the start.
- 01
Intake & scope
Intake call within one business day to confirm headcount, pain points, and compliance exposure (ESA, OHSA, AODA, pay equity, human rights). We issue a written scope within five business days — fixed monthly retainer, a named senior HR lead, the specialists the scope requires, and the 90-day priority list.
- 02
Stand up
Structured onboarding, with timing confirmed in the written scope: audit the current state (policy, employee relations, comp, HRIS, training), interview leadership and a sample of managers, and surface the compliance exposure that’s been sitting in the background. Output: a 90-day plan signed by the CEO or COO with priorities ranked by risk and ROI.
- 03
Embed
A named senior lead, with specialists added as the scope requires: daily ER triage, weekly 1:1 with leadership, monthly compliance and metrics pack to the executive team. The full function runs end-to-end so the CEO stops being the de-facto head of HR.
- 04
Build
Every quarter we ship one durable upgrade — handbook v2, comp framework, HRIS migration, manager training, performance system — so the function gets stronger while it runs. The improvements are documented and stay with you when the engagement ends.
- 05
Hand off
When headcount or complexity justifies a full-time CHRO or VP People, 1205 defines the role, supports assessment, and manages the transition — candidate sourcing or executive search is handled by the client or a separately engaged recruiting partner. We hand off documented systems and live processes; the engagement is judged on whether internal capability is stronger when we leave than when we arrived.
Ready to stop being your own head of HR? One call starts the written scope.
We had three open HR roles and an ER fire on day one. They closed the fire in week one, the hires followed by month four, and the function never lost a beat.
What CEOs ask before they outsource HR.
What does outsourced HR include? How much does it cost? How fast can it go live? What happens when we outgrow it? How is it different from a PEO? Direct answers below.
- What does an outsourced HR engagement include?
- A named senior HR lead, with specialists added as the scope requires, running your full function: compliance (ESA, OHSA, AODA, pay equity, human rights), employee relations, talent (hiring process design and recruiting-partner management), comp & benefits, policy and handbook, training, and HRIS stewardship. We do not run payroll or act as employer of record — we manage those vendors.
- How much does outsourced HR cost per month?
- Typical monthly retainers run $8K–$22K depending on headcount (we serve 50–500 employees). Confirmed in a written scope with inclusions, exclusions, and effective date — and typically a fraction of the fully loaded cost of building every role in-house. For full pricing context across HR consulting models in Canada — project, retainer, fractional, embedded — see our [HR consulting costs in Canada guide](/blog/hr-consulting-canada-services-pricing-what-to-look-for).
- How fast can you stand up our HR function?
- Onboarding timing is confirmed in the written scope. Onboarding itself is structured: we audit your current state, prioritize gaps, and set the 90-day plan. Daily ER triage, weekly leadership check-ins, and monthly metrics start as soon as onboarding completes.
- What happens when we outgrow outsourced HR?
- We transition. When headcount or complexity justifies a full-time HR leader, 1205 can define the role, support assessment, and manage the transition. Candidate sourcing or executive search is handled by the client or a separately engaged recruiting partner. We hand off the running function with documented systems — we do not aim to be permanent.
- Is this the same as a PEO or HR software tool?
- No. A PEO co-employs and processes payroll. HR software provides tooling. We provide the actual HR function — senior practitioner judgement on live cases — and manage the tooling and PEO relationships on your behalf.
Three free tools to size the decision.
HR Cost Calculator · Ontario
Free Ontario HR cost calculator — annualized risk and opportunity cost of missing HR across turnover, compliance, productivity, and recruitment.
HR Compliance Scorecard · Ontario
Free Ontario HR compliance scorecard — score your posture across ESA, OHSA, AODA, pay equity, and human rights, with a prioritized remediation order.
Fractional vs. Full-Time Executive Calculator · Canada
Free Canadian fractional vs. full-time executive calculator — side-by-side cost, capacity, and 3-year total cost of ownership for COO, CFO, CHRO, CTO.
From the same family. Often scoped together.
HR Services
Compliance. Culture. Capacity.
HR services for Ontario employers — workplace investigations, culture transformation, and outsourced HR. Senior practitioners, one-business-day triage on active issues.
Workplace Investigations
Impartial. Rigorous. Documented.
Independent, external workplace investigations — impartial, methodical, and documented. When internal HR cannot credibly investigate a matter, we run it end to end, from conflict check and written scope to the final report.
Culture Transformation
The program, not the report.
Culture transformation programs in Canada — we lead the work, coach leaders weekly, and hold accountability until the new culture is embedded. Not a report.
A real HR function. Scoped in writing.
30-minute scoping call. We'll confirm headcount, surface the compliance exposure, and quote a transparent retainer — before you sign anything.