Interim Strategic Advisor – HR - Workforce Transition & Transformation

IMMEDIATE INTERIM OPPORTUNITY

Interim Strategic Advisor – HR - Workforce Transition & Transformation

Reports to: Chief Human Resources Officer

Location: Greater Toronto Area

Duration: Approximately 3-6 months

Hybrid working

The Opportunity

A large, complex public-sector organization is undertaking a significant organizational transformation involving the transfer and divestiture of certain services to other organizations.

This transformation will impact a substantial employee population across multiple phases. The organization is seeking a highly experienced senior HR leader to partner with the CHRO and executive leadership team to develop and initiate a best-in-class workforce transition strategy and program.

This is not simply an executional restructuring role. The mandate is to create the overarching strategy, roadmap, operating framework and employee transition experience that will guide the organization through the first, second and third waves of change.

The Interim Senior HR Leader will establish the approach, help lead the initial phases of implementation and build the tools, processes and internal capability required for HR leaders and project resources to successfully execute the program over time.

At the centre of the mandate is a commitment to treating employees with dignity and transparency while helping individuals understand their options, identify new opportunities and prepare successfully for the next stage of their careers.

The Mandate

Working closely with the CHRO, senior executives, HR leadership, labour relations, communications and project resources, the Interim Senior HR Leader will develop and initiate an integrated workforce transition program covering:

• Workforce transition strategy and roadmap
• Employee segmentation and transition pathways
• Redeployment and internal mobility
• Retooling, reskilling and career development
• Career transition and coaching
• Retention of critical talent through the transition
• Employee engagement and wellness
• Leadership education and change readiness
• Labour and union considerations
• Communications and employee engagement
• Transition support for employees moving to other organizations
• Respectful offboarding and career transition for employees leaving the organization
• Governance, implementation planning and measurement

Key Priorities

1. Build the Workforce Transition Strategy

• Develop a comprehensive 12-month workforce transition strategy and implementation roadmap aligned with the timing of service transfers and restructuring.
• Establish the framework for managing multiple waves of employee transition, including clear decision points, responsibilities, governance, timelines and measures of success.

2. Define Employee Transition Pathways

Create a structured methodology to assess impacted employees and determine potential pathways, including:

• Redeployment into other areas of the organization
• Transfer to receiving municipal organizations
• Internal mobility into available or emerging roles
• Reskilling or upskilling for different opportunities
• Career transition into opportunities outside the organization
• Respectful separation where redeployment or transfer is not possible

The objective is to look beyond positions and assess the capabilities, experience and potential of employees to determine where talent can be retained or successfully repositioned.

3. Develop a Redeployment, Reskilling & Career Transition Framework

• Build a practical framework for identifying transferable skills and matching individuals to future opportunities.
• Determine where targeted reskilling, development or coaching could enable employees to move successfully into new roles.
• Establish the tools and processes HR leaders will use to assess employees consistently and fairly.

4. Employee Engagement, Retention & Wellness

• Develop strategies for maintaining engagement, productivity and organizational commitment during a prolonged period of uncertainty.
• Identify critical talent and roles where retention will be particularly important to maintaining operations through the transition.
• Establish approaches to employee wellness and psychological support throughout the change process, recognizing the personal impact that organizational restructuring can have on employees and their families.

5. Communications & Change Management

Partner with Communications and executive leadership to establish a thoughtful, sequenced communication and engagement strategy.

Determine:

• What employees need to know and when
• How transition options will be communicated
• How leaders should communicate with impacted employees
• How uncertainty and misinformation will be managed
• How the organization maintains trust through successive waves of change
• How receiving organizations and other stakeholders should be engaged

Ensure communications are transparent, empathetic and consistent while balancing employee needs with organizational and labour considerations.

6. Equip Leaders to Lead Through Change

• Provide executives, people leaders and HR leaders with the frameworks, education and coaching required to manage difficult conversations effectively.
• Develop leader toolkits, talking points, FAQs, escalation processes and decision frameworks so leaders can provide employees with accurate information and a consistent experience.
• Personally support senior leaders through particularly complex or sensitive workforce situations.

7. High-Touch Employee Transition

• Help establish an employee experience that goes beyond traditional outplacement.
• Ensure impacted individuals understand their options and have access to appropriate career coaching, skills assessment, reskilling opportunities and transition resources.
• For employees ultimately leaving the organization, establish an approach that enables individuals to exit with dignity, confidence and the tools required to succeed in the next chapter of their careers.

8. Launch the Initial Waves

• Take an active role in the strategy's initial implementation.
• Work directly with executives, HR partners, labour relations, communications, project management resources and affected groups to test and refine the approach through the first waves of transition.
• Capture lessons learned and continuously improve the model before subsequent phases.

9. Build Sustainable Internal Capability

• A key measure of success will be leaving behind a program that can continue effectively after the interim leader's departure.
• Develop the governance structure, playbooks, processes, templates, decision frameworks and leadership capability required for internal HR leaders and project resources to manage subsequent waves successfully.

Ideal Candidate Profile

This mandate requires a seasoned and credible HR executive who combines enterprise-level strategic thinking with the willingness and capability to operate hands-on.

The successful individual will likely bring:

• 15+ years of progressive HR leadership experience, including significant experience at the executive or senior leadership level
• Deep experience working within large, complex and highly unionized environments
• Demonstrated leadership of significant workforce transformation, restructuring, divestiture, downsizing, integration or organizational redesign initiatives
• Experience managing workforce implications affecting hundreds or potentially thousands of employees
• Strong knowledge of workforce planning, redeployment, organizational design, talent management, employee engagement and change management
• Practical experience developing retention strategies during periods of significant organizational uncertainty
• Experience with career transition, reskilling, internal mobility and employee transition programs
• Strong understanding of labour relations and the complexities of implementing workforce change in unionized environments
• Experience partnering effectively with labour relations specialists, legal counsel, communications and HR business partners
• Exceptional executive presence and the confidence to advise the CHRO, executive leadership team and other senior stakeholders
• Strong change leadership and communication capability
• The ability to move comfortably between strategy, program design and hands-on implementation
• A high degree of emotional intelligence, empathy, judgment and discretion
• Experience within municipal government, broader public sector, healthcare, education, utilities or another large unionized and highly regulated environment would be particularly relevant.

What Success Looks Like

By the conclusion of the assignment, the organization will have:

• A clearly defined workforce transition strategy and 12-month roadmap
• A repeatable model for managing the first, second and third waves of organizational restructuring
• Clear employee pathways covering redeployment, transfer, reskilling, career transition and separation
• A defined strategy for retaining critical talent through the transformation
• A comprehensive employee engagement, communications and wellness approach
• Leaders who are better equipped to manage difficult workforce conversations
• Practical tools and resources to support impacted employees
• A high-touch transition experience that treats employees fairly, respectfully and consistently
• Internal HR leaders capable of continuing the program after the interim executive exits

PLEASE SEND YOUR CV (AS A WORD DOC) TO: [email protected] (Subject: Job Title)

LHH Knightsbridge Interim Management is a service to help our clients address a wide range of scenarios including leadership support due to sudden departures, driving key change initiatives or leading transformation projects. Our interim executives step in with minimal downtime to meet specific objectives and deliver results. All have held senior positions in the past and have now chosen to offer their unique depth and breadth of experience to organizations on a limited engagement basis.

Follow the LHH Knightsbridge LinkedIn page and set up a job alert to learn about new Executive Interim opportunities.

Lee Hecht Harrison Knightsbridge Corp. is committed to providing equitable treatment and accommodation to ensure a barrier-free recruitment process. In accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and our AODA policy, a request for accommodation will be accepted as part of the hiring process. If you require accommodation to apply or if selected to participate in an assessment process, please provide your accommodation needs in advance to the Recruitment Lead for this opportunity.

We thank all interested candidates in advance; however, only individuals selected for interviews will be contacted.

November 2026