The challenge:

When TPD started working with a Vancouver tech startup, the CFO recognized the company had two issues – the first was a gap in recruiting capabilities, and the second was an inherently negative company culture.

The organization had been in the e-commerce software business for over a decade. As an opportunity to switch gears presented itself, they changed the direction of business - more than once. 

As a result, employees were not confident in the company’s strategy, direction, or leadership. 

From a Recruiting perspective, several big-name tech companies (Microsoft, Amazon) were also moving into Vancouver at the same time, making the demand for top-tier tech talent incredibly high.

The startup was struggling to make traction in the market in terms of Recruitment, and had roles that remained vacant for 7-8 months.

Confirming the facts:

TPD’s team of HR consultants worked primarily with the CFO of the startup. This executive understood the organization’s shortcomings in culture and recruiting, but needed a way to ensure the other senior executives would have the same buy-in.


The first objective was to assist with recruiting efforts. A TPD HR Consultant acted as the client’s Talent Manager for Recruiting on a full-time basis. As a result, vacant positions were successfully filled, including roles in marketing, project management, and IT.

Building on the recruiting efforts, TPD focused on employer branding, working closely with the client’s Marketing team to develop content (i.e. employee videos) that would help attract top tech talent in the competitive Vancouver market.

On the culture side, TPD launched an employee engagement survey that identified a lack of trust between employees and leadership.

Overall, the employees felt they could not trust the leadership team. This was an eye opening discovery to those executives, who discovered firsthand that they needed to be more real, and more transparent, not just painting a glossy picture of the organization.

Enlightenment:

With recruiting, TPD’s results were tangible, as several positions were filled with the expertise of our team.

On a deeper level, TPD collected meaningful data from employees and managers about what makes the client an employer of choice, and why they enjoy working for them. With this information, TPD helped the client attract top talent using real value propositions.

With the information gathered from the employee engagement survey, TPD helped the startup develop a leadership program, and eliminate the top-down leadership style that was causing culture issues within the organization.

Moving forward:

TPD continues to partner with this client build an open and positive company culture, while also ensuring the organization stays competitive in the recruiting market by improving its employer brand.

In addition, TPD is implementing a performance management system for the client, where employees set quarterly objectives to guarantee clarity around the top priorities for each quarter. When each individual understands their contribution to a company's strategic objectives, there tends to be greater cohesion and trust throughout an organization.

Interesting in learning more about TPD HR Solutions - View ours right here!