Seven companies in Toronto have merged under one banner to offer HR outsourcing solutions to the mid-market in the GTA.
The new entity, announced earlier this week, will be called Pivotal Integrated HR Solutions.
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seven companies were not completely unknown to each other prior to their coming together. While independently operated, they were owned by the same corporate entity, which was called Pivotal Business Solutions. Each independent firm had an area of expertise — ranging from payroll and accounting to staffing and IT — but collectively they can offer a more complete solution to customers, said one of the company’s principal.
“”We’re looking for clients who, ideally, are in a position to outsource a large portion or all of their HR services,”” said Mike Fedryk, managing partner in Pivotal’s IT resourcing solutions department. His division previously operated under the company name ITECC Consulting.
Separately, the companies catered to all sizes of customers from the smallest 20-person shops to enterprise companies. Collectively, however, the sweet spot is the mid-market, said Fedryk — companies of around 1,000 employees or less.
“”From an integrated HR perspective that mid-market is where we can provide the integrated solution in a much more viable way,”” he said. “”They’re of a significant size where they’ve got some . . . challenges that cross the whole gamut of HR.””
The mid-market is a growing concern for companies that provide outsourced HR opportunities, according to Sandra Sutton, director of product management for Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP Canada).
Sutton noted that large banks like the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce outsourced some of their HR functions several years ago, but it is a relatively new phenomenon in the mid-market. As such, there are customer opportunities out there for companies that can cater to that market.
“”We see a lot of folks getting into the business because there’s a market need,”” she said. “” It’s only recently that we’ve branched out into full outsourced HR specifically targeted at the mid-sized market.””
Sutton said mid-market customers are “”looking for a little bit more flexibility”” in their HR solutions than enterprise clients. “”They may want to maintain the strategic function of HR — for example, negotiating their own contract with a benefits provider, but wanting to outsource the administration piece. They are looking for outsourcers to pick up more of the transactional function.””
Fedryk said his company will be able to provide some or all of a client’s outsourcing, depending on individual requirements or needs. As such, each of the seven divisions that now make up Pivotal bring an important piece of the puzzle.
“”It’s important to make sure that we’re really strong in each of the areas that we deal with. They were all independent and different business practices. It’s not like we merged two IT staffing companies. They all have specialties,”” he said.
Pivotal will operate a head office out of Mississauga, Ont. It also has offices across southwestern Ontario from Kitchener to Scarborough.
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