ISN Canada Group Inc.

Head of Human Resources

Acuity Brands

Senior Human Resources Manager (North America) 

Alphanumeric Systems

• Work proactively with global stakeholders utiilizing HR data and analytics to provide insights and recommendations on HR strategies and initiatives. 
  Conduct data-driven analysis of workforce trends, turnover rates, and employee engagement to inform 
  decision-making.
• Spearheaded the development and leadership of the Organization's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 
 program.
• Keep abreast of employment legislation, regulations and health and safety best practices. Ensure 
   compliance with legal requirements and mitigate human resources risks.
• Play a pivotal role in defining company culture/values, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
• Utilized extensive employee relations experience to create and implement sustainable solutions.
• Provided thought leadership and training in areas such as complaint handling, escalation, and conflict 
  resolution.
• Develop, implement, and update human resources policies, procedures, and programs, ensuring 
   compliance with legal requirements and industry best practices. Review and revise policies in light of 
  emerging trends or changing organizational needs.

Human Resources Manager

Amazon

Partnered with operational leaders and employees, providing HR guidance to improve working relationships and enhance productivity.
Served as the main point of contact for employees on HR-related matters, such as benefits, WCB, and policies.
Managed complex employee relations issues, conducting internal investigations and implementing resolutions.
Analyzed trends and metrics, generating reports to identify areas for improvement.
Collaborated with Health and Safety to ensure compliance with employment laws and regulations.
Participated in various HR projects to enhance employee engagement.

Human Resources Generalist

Home Care Assistance

Conducted full-cycle recruitment for hourly and office personnel, actively participating in job fairs and recruitment events.
Coordinated orientation and onboarding sessions, maintaining employee files and tracking performance reviews.
Addressed employee inquiries related to work schedules, pay increases, and system-related matters.
Maintained relationships with candidates and generated recruiting metrics.

Human Resources Specialist

Oxygen Development

HR  & HSE Manager

Hi I'm Mariel,

With 10+ years in HR, I've honed a leadership-first approach that enables scalable, people-centered practices for startups, scale-ups, and global organizations (including Amazon):

I help you solve these problems:

1. Preventing top‑talent loss, I uncover hidden retention risks and implement proactive strategies before resignations escalate 

2. Managing layoffs with care, I design humanized offboarding frameworks so transitions are handled with dignity, empathy, and structure. 

3. Aligning HR with business growth, I structure compensation and career pathways that attract + retain driven professionals, supporting your organizational scaling goals 


➡️ Results clients have achieved:

Saved over $50K in lost output from high-performer departures 

Maintained team morale and engagement even during restructuring 

Scaled HR operations to support rapid growth, with clear retention metrics and performance outcomes 

Next step:

Curious how I can bring the same clarity and accountability to your team?

Let’s connect. Book a 15‑minute call with me below, and I’ll share a customized retention snapshot for your organization.

If HR can’t challenge leadership, it’s not HR. 
It’s damage control.

Too often, HR is pulled in after the fact, expected to reframe, smooth over, or absorb leadership’s mistakes. 

That’s not strategy. That’s cleanup.

And it’s burning out the very people who care most about protecting culture and trust.

 Here’s what real strategic HR requires:

1️⃣ Authority to push back
      HR needs the mandate to say No when decisions will break trust.

 2️⃣ Freedom to name hard truths
      It’s not just about policies; it’s about surfacing what’s unsustainable.

 3️⃣ Backed by leadership, without executive support, HR is just a shield, not a     
      partner.

 4️⃣ Early involvement, HR should be at the table before decisions are made. 
      not after.

 When HR is silenced, culture suffers.

 When HR is heard, trust grows.

 What’s one step your HR team could take today to move from “damage control” to being truly strategic?

Mariel Peralta, CRHA

Head of HR | CRHA | I help SMEs build HR systems that protect growth and reduce risk | Manager Coaching & Strategic HR”

HR isn’t a birthday calendar.

It's the reason your company works when things get messy.

Here’s what skipping strategic HR can cost you:

• A firing gone wrong that ends in a lawsuit
• $22K in legal and consultant fees
• Months spent fixing a leadership gap

You thought HR was about events, surveys, and hiring.

It’s not.

HR is the only function trained to ask:
1. What’s fair?”
2. What’s legal?”
3. What’s actually going to work for people and performance?

You wouldn’t launch a product without testing it.

So why launch a company without structure, clarity, or a people plan?

Want to know if your HR is helping or just floating along?

Ask this today:

1. What does HR own, beyond admin and onboarding?
2. Who’s coaching your managers through people decisions?
3. When’s the last time HR said something that made you pause and rethink?

If you don’t have an answer

You don’t have HR. You have risk.

Follow Mariel Peralta, CRHA  for more before you find yourself in damage control.
___

I’ve got a 5-minute self-check that shows if your HR is protecting you, or putting you at risk. Comment “checklist” and I’ll send it over.

Some days, I don’t want to show up.

In HR the work is often invisible, the wins are quiet, and the burnout is loud.

HR is emotional labor, it’s decision triage, and holding the space when others can't.

When HR feel this way, it doesn’t stay hidden.

It slows down decision-making, frustrates managers and creates drag on the entire business.

That’s why supporting people leaders is just as critical as hitting revenue goals.

Here are 3 ways to do it:

 • Give them clarity on priorities, don’t drown them in noise.
 • Create space for recovery, not just performance.
 • Recognize the invisible work that holds everything together.

Because when your leaders can’t show up fully, neither can your teams.


To the leaders doing the work no one sees, I see you.

I help SME leaders and HR teams navigate growth and culture challenges so they don’t have to do it alone.

 What helps you keep showing up when it’s hard?

Hiring managers: someone once believed in you.


The perfect candidate doesn’t exist.

And waiting for them could cost you your next great hire.

You can teach most skillsm but not:

• Drive
 • Being flexible
 • Wanting to learn

These traits show real potential and long-term ROI.

89% of hiring failures come down to mindset, not skill gaps.

Here’s what smart leaders do differently:

1️⃣ Hire for impact, not pedigree
 ↳ Ask:
     What results have they driven, even in unrelated roles?

2️⃣ Test for growth
 ↳ Ask how they’ve learned something new or solved a tough problem
 ↳ Look for stories, not buzzwords

3️⃣ Reward initiative
 ↳ Candidates who bring ideas or pre-work, that’s your differentiator.
💡 Pro tip: Ask them to send a 1-page brief on how they’d approach the role.

It reveals thinking, effort, and alignment, fast.

Potential isn’t weak, it’s strategic.

The best hires often come from surprising places.

What’s one unconventional hire who paid off big for your team?

You can be amazing at your job, and still be first on the layoff list.

I’ve seen brilliant employees let go.

Because they’re not the ones everyone depends on.

Great employees aren’t just amazing at what they do.

They’re the people everyone fights to keep.

Because they make work better for everyone else.

Here’s how they stand out, and why leaders never want to lose them:


1️⃣ Do what you say you'll do
 → Reliability builds trust that lasts through tough times.

2️⃣ Come prepared
 → Respect for everyone’s time is a sign of respect for everyone’s work.

3️⃣ Share credit freely
 → People remember who lifts them up.

4️⃣ Bring solutions before problems
 → Leaders remember the ones who make their job easier.

5️⃣ Own mistakes quickly
 → Fix them without excuses and you’ll grow faster.

6️⃣ Learn something new every week
 → Growth mindset beats experience every time.

7️⃣ Communicate before confusion starts
 → Clarity keeps projects and relationships on track.

8️⃣ Stay calm under pressure
 → Calm leaders create calm teams.

Skills get you in the door.

Your attitude determines whether people want you to stay.


♻️ Repost if this resonates with you.
 Follow Mariel Peralta, CRHA for strategies that protect your career and make you the teammate no leader wants to lose.

You're not underqualified. You're underchallenged.


After seeing dozens of new managers and professionals step into bigger roles, I’ve seen one truth:

Confidence doesn’t come before growth. It comes from it.

Here’s the real process most people skip, but leaders embrace:

1. Comfort Zone
 → Feels easy. But nothing changes.
 → You stay good at what you already know.

2. Fear Zone
 → The imposter thoughts show up.
 → People doubt you, including yourself.

3. Learning Zone
 → You try new tools, conversations, and challenges.
 → You start getting better, fast.

4. Growth Zone
 → You take initiative.
 → You don’t just respond, you lead.

5. Transformation Zone
 → You know your value.
 → You shape teams and culture, not just tasks.

What changes everything is this:

Confidence isn't about having all the answers.

It’s about showing up before you do.

So whether it’s a new leadership role, career pivot, or HR challenge you’ve never handled before

Your next level starts where your comfort ends.

Reshare ♻️ to help someone in your network.

Pay raises won’t fix your retention problem. 
They’ll make your losses more painful.

I lost 3 new hires in 6 months.

- All strong candidates.
- All gone before 90 days.

Leadership’s reaction?
"We need to pay more."

So we bumped salaries by 15%.

And the next hire quit after 3 weeks.

That’s when it hit me:

This wasn’t about money.
 It was about experience.

Here’s what I uncovered:

 → New hires left to “figure it out” alone
 → No roadmap, no milestones, no clarity
 → Managers had no tools to support
 → People quit before they even understood their role

This cost the company:
 - $180K in wasted salaries + training
 - $25K in recruitment fees
 - 6 months of project delays
 - $205K burned, and nothing to show for it

So we rebuilt the basics:
 ✅ A 30-60-90 day onboarding roadmap
 ✅ Trained managers on meaningful check-ins
 ✅ Created clear success scorecards for every role

6 months later:

- Zero early departures
- Productivity up 40%
- Managers finally confident in onboarding

Here’s what I learned:

You can’t retain people who never felt welcomed.

Retention isn’t about the offer.

 It’s about what happens after they say yes.

How many good people has your company lost because of a broken first 90 days?
Comment below 👇

Your biggest hidden cost isn’t recruiting.
It’s treating HR like admin instead of strategy.

After working with scaling SMEs, I’ve seen a clear pattern:

When HR is just paperwork, money bleeds out of the business.

Here’s what HR as Admin usually looks like:

 ❌ Endless recruiting without alignment
 ❌ Reactive turnover fixes
 ❌ Managers untrained and unsupported
 ❌ Culture damage swept under the rug

The result is:

 ↳ $500K+ in hidden costs (recruitment fees, training, lost projects).

Now, here’s what HR as Strategy looks like:

 ✅ Hiring aligned to business priorities
 ✅ Exit risks spotted early, not late
 ✅ Managers coached to retain, not just recruit
 ✅ Culture decisions made before they cost you

And the result:

 ↳ Turnover down 
 ↳ Recruiting costs cut in half
 ↳ HR driving ROI, not just forms

The difference isn’t talent.

 It’s perspective.

HR as admin drains your company.

HR as strategy protects and grows it.

Every SME leader gets to choose:

Will HR be your cost center?

 Or your competitive advantage?

This is the work I do with SME leaders: turning HR from admin into strategy. If you’re ready to stop losing money to people problems, my inbox is open.

A 10-year career gap isn’t a death sentence. 
It’s a story problem.

A friend came to me after 10 years away from his field.

He wanted to go back.

But he was convinced the market would only see the gap, not the value.

All of this was costing him:
 • Endless self-doubt
 • Recruiters who filtered him out on paper
 • 10 years of experience that felt invisible

Most people think this is a résumé problem.
It’s not.

It’s a repositioning problem.

Employers don’t care about a gap.

They care if you can deliver value now.

Here’s how we worked through it:
 ✅ Identified transferable skills from the past decade (his hidden assets)
 ✅ Reframed his story: “I didn’t leave the field, I expanded my toolkit”
 ✅ Practiced interview answers that showed momentum, not absence
 ✅ Created a 90-day learning plan to prove he’s market-ready


 Within a couple of weeks:

 - He rebuilt confidence in telling his story
 - Secured first interviews in his target industry
 - Stopped apologizing for the gap, and started owning the value he brings back

 A gap doesn’t erase your skills.

 But how you frame that gap determines if others can see your value.

For anyone who’s transitioned back after time away, what helped you reposition your value?

9 Career Mindset Shifts That Create Growth,
For You and Your Team

Most career blocks aren't skill gaps.

They're mindset gaps and exist on both sides of the hiring table.

Here's what I've learned: 

✅ Progress starts with mindset, not permission
✅ Growth comes from consistency, not titles
✅ Leadership is how you think, not just what you do

These 9 mindset shifts change careers and cultures:

1. Bet on potential, yours and others
↳ For you: Trust your value even before others recognize it
 ↳ For leaders: See what people can become, not just what they are today

2. Lead with humility, not ego
↳ For you: Ego needs to be right. Growth needs to get it right
 ↳ For leaders: Ask "What am I missing?" instead of "Why don't they get it?"

3. Act before you feel ready
↳ For you: That promotion you want? Start doing the work now
 ↳ For leaders: Give stretch projects before people as;, readiness is built 
through doing

4. Have the hard conversations
↳ For you: Address the gap between expectations and reality
 ↳ For leaders: Clarity isn't cruel, confusion is

5. Redefine failure
↳ For you: Failure isn't the end, quitting is
 ↳ For leaders: Create safety for smart risks, not just safe choices

6. Don't let fear run the show
↳ For you: Fear whispers, "You're not qualified", do it anyway
 ↳ For leaders: Psychological safety invites the best ideas forward

7. Show up even when it's hard
↳ For you: Build habits that work when motivation fades
 ↳ For leaders: Your consistency matters more than your perfection

8. Compete with your past self
↳ For you: Compare your chapter 10 to your chapter 1, not someone else's highlight reel
 ↳ For leaders: Reward development, not just performance

9. Acknowledge progress, not just outcomes
↳ For you: Celebrate the small wins that compound into big changes
 ↳ For leaders: Notice the junior who asked the tough question, not the one who shipped the feature

Growth happens when both sides of the table stop waiting for permission and start taking ownership of development, of difficult conversations, of each other's potential.

Which mindset shift would change everything for you or your team?

♻️ Repost if it made you think.
 Follow Mariel Peralta, CRHA, for people-first insights that drive real results.

Head of Human Resources @ ISN Canada Group | CRHA, Training Professional | I turn messy HR into simple systems, fast | Manager Coaching

Failure gave me more opportunities than luck ever did.


People love calling success “luck”.

But every setback pushed me into situations I wasn’t ready for.

And those moments became my best training grounds.

I didn’t get where I am because I was “perfect”.

I got here because I learned faster than I failed.

Here’s what I wish I knew earlier:

1. Failure isn’t a career killer; it’s tuition for growth.
2. Those who keep going after failure outgrow the competition.

If you’re tired, disappointed, or doubting yourself, try this:

1️⃣ Own the lesson 
      → Ask, “What did this teach me?” before “Why me?”

2️⃣  Raise your hand again 
      → Take the next opportunity even if it scares you.

 3️⃣ Track your wins 
       → Small improvements compound faster than you think.

 4️⃣ Stay visible 
       → Don’t disappear after a mistake, show you’ve grown.

 5️⃣ Ask for feedback 
       → The right feedback shortens the time to your next win.

 6️⃣  Build relationships 
       → The people you help today will open doors tomorrow.

 7️⃣  Detach from perfection 
       → Progress beats perfection every time.

Your next opportunity might come from the challenge you’re facing today.

 Don’t waste it.

💬 Have you ever grown more from failure than success?
     Comment below!

I thought saying yes made me easy to work with.
 It nearly ruined my credibility.


“Yes, I’ll take on that urgent project.”
 “Yes, HR can handle the manager conflict.”
 “Yes, we’ll figure out the compliance issue by Friday.”

It felt kind. It felt helpful.

But it was burning me out and making me unreliable.

Here's what I learned the hard way:

 1. Saying yes to everything doesn’t make you easy to work with.
 2. It makes you the person who overpromises and underdelivers.

The moment it clicked for me was when my boss once told me:
 
“I’d rather you say no upfront than yes and disappoint me later.”

The leaders I respect most aren’t people pleasers.

 They’re boundary-setters.

Easy-to-work-with leaders:

 ✅ Say no when requests don’t align with priorities
 ✅ Protect their team’s focus and energy
 ✅ Offer alternatives when they can’t say yes
 ✅ Communicate decisions clearly, not defensively

Hard-to-work-with leaders:
 🚫 Say yes to everything (then scramble to deliver)
 🚫 Create confusion about what really matters
 🚫 Let resentment build when they’re overwhelmed
 🚫 Burn out their teams with constant “urgent” requests

The truth is:

Every Yes to the wrong thing is a No to the right thing.

That shift changed how I lead, and it’s what I now teach to leaders who want HR to be a strategic partner, not a catch-all department.

Your team doesn’t need you to say yes to everything.

They need you to say yes to the right things.

Leaders — be honest: are you easy to work with… or just easy to overload?

85% of neurodiverse professionals are out of work,
and it’s not because they can’t do the job.

It’s because hiring systems weren’t built for them.

Neurodiversity isn’t a trend.

It’s simply how our minds are wired.

We don’t all think or learn the same way.

Some people have autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia,
and other unique ways of seeing the world.

Neurodiverse talent brings:

 ✅ Incredible focus and attention to detail
 ✅ Creative solutions others might miss
 ✅ Loyalty that lasts when they feel supported

That’s where Neuro Plus comes in.

They train, support, and connect neurodiverse professionals with companies where they can thrive in:
- Tech
- Marketing
- Accounting
- Cybersecurity
- Design, and more.

Hiring through Neuro Plus is building teams that solve problems differently and better.

📌 If your organization is ready to hire for talent, not sameness, send me a message and I’ll connect you with Neuro Plus.

Follow Mariel Peralta, CRHA for more valuable insights on building stronger, more inclusive teams.

Your team doesn’t need another strategy session.
 They need managers who give a damn.

They need 3 words:
“I see you.”

Great people leave average managers.

Not because they hate the work, but because they feel invisible.

No feedback.
No recognition.
No idea where they stand.

Let me put it this way:
Gratitude is a leadership skill.
 Feedback is a leadership habit.

It’s not about coddling.
 It’s about clarity.
 It’s about care.

Do you want loyalty?
Say thank you more.
Give feedback before it’s too late.

That’s how trust is built.
That’s how leaders are made.

Not through control.
Through connection.

Mariel Peralta, CRHA

I’ve never appreciated recruiters more than I do right now.


We’ve been hiring faster than I can think, and I’ve seen firsthand just how much strategy, chaos, and heart it takes to do it well.

Anyone can post a job.

But finding the right person in a sea of resumes is a whole skill. 

Helping someone get a job fast under tight deadlines is chaos.

Being able to see the potential in people is a gift. 


And for the best recruiters, it’s a calling.

It's been a while since I was a recruiter myself, and I remember now:

Hearing the crack in someone’s voice when they get the offer feels amazing!

Learning months later that someone bought their home because of this role is fulfilling!

That’s the stuff that keeps you going.

To every recruiter and hiring manager changing lives behind the scenes,

You’re not just filling roles.

You’re rewriting futures.
 
And we see you.

Tag a recruiter who’s changed your life.
 
📌 Follow Mariel Peralta, CRHA for more stories from the real side of people operations.

Every job posting is a lie. And everyone knows it.

1. “Entry-level” but needs 5 years’ experience.
2. “Competitive pay” with no number listed.
3. “Fast-paced” (translation: burnout).

And the result is:

The candidates you actually want, see the red flags, and scroll right past.

Here’s how to write a job post that doesn’t scare them off:

1️⃣ Pick 3 skills that really matter
 → Ask yourself: What would make someone fail in this role?
     Those are your must-haves.

2️⃣ Write like a human, not a template
 → If it sounds like corporate speak, rewrite it.

3️⃣ Lead with what they get
 → Growth, flexibility, cool projects, put this in the first paragraph.

4️⃣ Only require what you can’t train in 90 days
 → Everything else? Leave it out.

5️⃣ Show the salary
 → Even a range builds trust. “$50K–60K” beats “competitive pay” every time.

6️⃣ Be honest about the challenges
 → “Tight deadlines” build more trust than “fast-paced environment.”

7️⃣ Cut the copy in half
 → If it’s over 200 words, you’re losing people.

Good people have options.

 Make yours the obvious choice.

💬 What’s the most ridiculous job requirement you’ve ever seen?

Most Job Post Suck, here's how to write one people apply 

You don’t need to feel ready. 
You grow by starting, even if you’re scared.

I’ve met so many smart, capable professionals who are “almost ready.”

Almost ready to lead.
Almost ready to speak up.
Almost ready to apply for that next role.

Here’s the truth no one says out loud:

Readiness is a myth.

- Confidence comes after you stretch beyond your comfort zone.
 - Leadership comes after your first hard conversation.
 - Expertise comes after messy trial and error.

We don’t become ready and then lead.

We lead, and that’s how we become ready.

So stop waiting for more credentials, more experience, more permission.

That next opportunity you're waiting for,
It’s not looking for perfection.
It’s looking for initiative.

Start where you are. 
Learn as you go.
Step forward even if your voice shakes.

That’s how careers grow, and teams evolve.

Reshare ♻️to help someone in your network.
And follow Mariel Peralta, CRHA for more posts like this

"We keep hiring people who check the boxes but don’t move the needle."


A VP told me this last week. I can tell she was frustrated.

After her third “technically qualified” hire in a row, performance was still mediocre.

And the truth is, this happens everywhere.

We hire résumés, titles and the candidate's past.

But we forget to hire for what actually drives results:
- Curiosity.
- Adaptability.
- Future impact.

When we looked at her hiring process, here’s what we found:
 🟡 Job posts were written for tasks, not ambition
 🟡 Phone screens weren’t testing for hunger
 🟡 Cultural fit wasn’t defined for cross-border roles

Fixing this isn’t luck; it’s a repeatable. And if you want to start hiring for passion, here's what you can do today:

👉 Write posts that sell growth, not just duties
 👉 Use screens to test mindset, not just history
 👉 Define the culture you actually need, before you hire

The best candidates won’t chase you. They chase meaning, challenge, and growth.

You need to show them why it’s worth their time. 

Follow Mariel Peralta, CRHA for more.

I’ve seen leadership change lives.
And I’ve seen it quietly destroy them.

Leadership isn’t neutral.
It either lifts or it limits.

I’ve worked under leaders who led with fear,
- Who silenced voices
- Took credit
- Created chaos.

And I’ve worked under leaders who led with intent,
- Who listened
- Made space
- Gave trust before it was earned.

Those leaders:
- They didn’t just manage outcomes.
- They shaped people.

Real leadership isn’t about how many report to you.
It’s about how many grow because of you.

➟ Did you help someone believe in themselves again?
➟ Did you make hard days less lonely?
➟ Did you clear a path, or block it?

Leadership doesn’t live in strategy decks.
It shows up in how people feel after a meeting with you.

If your people feel smaller around you, that’s not leadership.

 It’s power misused.

The real impact?

 It’s what they carry long after you’re gone.

♻️ Repost if someone shaped your growth and follow Mariel Peralta, CRHA
 if you’re building that kind of impact now.

Your employees don’t come first.


Your systems do.

I heard about a 120-person company that bragged about its perks (unlimited PTO, lunches, gym).

But reviews told a different story: They said new hires were "thrown in the deep end.”

Broken onboarding can burn $205K in 6 months
(replacement, lost productivity, manager rework).

Here’s a simple 3-step system to fix it:

1️⃣ Onboarding roadmap (30-60-90)
 • Day 1: equipment ready, first task set
 • Day 30: core tasks done independently
 • Day 90: contributing to team goals

2️⃣ Manager check-ins
 • Weekly in month one
 • Bi-weekly after
 • Coaching > micromanaging

3️⃣ Role scorecards
 • One page: priorities, outcomes, metrics
 • No more “figure it out”

When organisations implement this, results include:

 ✅ New-hire confidence ↑ 60% in month one
 ✅ Time-to-productivity cut in half
 ✅ Manager stress down, no more “what now?” panic

Systems aren’t flashy. But neither is $205K walking out the door.

 Competitors throw perks at retention.

 You’ll fix it with systems.

Question: What single system gap has sunk your new hires fastest?

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