I
Decisions That Carry Risk
Hiring, termination, classification, compliance. These are the calls where a wrong move becomes a lawsuit, a payout, or a lost team. I sit where people, legal, and business decisions collide.
Fractional People Partner · Founder, Total Circle HR
Confident people decisions,
Confident people decisions,
before problems get expensive.
I'm Penny McNerney. I bring calm, senior HR judgment to the moments when a wrong people decision carries real risk, so owners of growing businesses stay in control as they scale. And I don't stop at advice. We don't just tell you what needs to be done. We help you get it done.
Based in New York. Supporting businesses across the U.S.
SPHR + SHRM-SCP · 20+ years · 5.0★ across 22 reviews. Trusted by founders scaling from 1 to 200 employees.
Penny McNerney, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
Fractional People Partner · Total Circle HR
The Real Problem
Growing companies rarely fail at HR. They guess at it, and guessing gets expensive.
As your team grows, people decisions stop being routine and start carrying real risk: a misclassified hire, a mishandled exit, a policy gap that becomes a claim. Most founders carry that weight alone, right up until a quiet mistake turns into a costly one.
II
HR That Scales With You
Policies, systems, and people infrastructure built to hold as you grow from 1 to 200, without the cost or overhead of a full-time HR executive.
III
Judgment Plus Hands-On Help
Penny ran operations before she led HR, so the advice fits how a business actually runs. And she does not hand you a to-do list and leave. She works the list with you.
The Method
The Quiet Advantage Method™
Better decisions, not more HR. Three areas where I protect a growing business and free its owner to lead. Under them sits the everyday work: recruiting, onboarding, pay and benefits, payroll, employee relations, and compliance.
Pillar One
People Risk & Compliance
Hiring and termination strategy, HR audits, investigations, and crisis management, with multi-state experience including New York, New Jersey, California, and Florida. Stop problems before they become expensive.
Pillar Two
Leadership & Culture
Manager coaching, performance systems, recruiting and onboarding, and employee relations that build a team which performs and stays as the company grows.
Pillar Three
Operations & Infrastructure
Policy frameworks, HRIS implementation, payroll support, and compensation and benefits work, from salary reviews to plan evaluations and vendor coordination. The people systems that scale cleanly instead of cracking under growth.
Employee Relations
Investigations
Hiring & Termination Strategy
Recruiting & Onboarding
Salary Reviews & Pay Structures
Benefits Administration
Plan Evaluations & Vendor Coordination
Payroll Support
Handbooks & Policy
Multi-State Compliance
HR Audits
Performance Systems
Manager Coaching
HRIS Implementation
What We Help With
Your HR partner for the everyday challenges and the big decisions.
One partner for the whole people side of a growing business, from the paperwork nobody wants to the calls that keep an owner up at night.
People Risk & Compliance
Employee relations, investigations, terminations, handbooks, policy, and multi-state compliance.
Recruiting & Onboarding
Hiring plans, interviews, offers, onboarding and offboarding, and the retention work that follows.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary reviews, pay structures, benefits administration, plan evaluations, and broker or vendor coordination.
Payroll Support
Payroll processes, records, and the handoffs between payroll, benefits, and your HR systems.
Leadership & Culture
Manager coaching, performance reviews, engagement, and team structure as the company grows.
HR Operations & Growth
HR systems, process design, documentation, audits, headcount planning, and org design.
The Engagement
Built for owners who refuse to wing the people decisions.
This is a fractional partnership, not a help desk. I work closely with a small number of growing businesses so the judgment, candor, and senior attention each one needs is never diluted.
A fit if you are For You
- A founder or owner scaling a company from 1 to 200 employees
- Carrying HR alone and feeling the risk grow with the team
- Facing a people decision where guessing feels dangerous
- Leading a team that has outgrown DIY HR but does not need a full-time HR department
- A CPA or attorney who wants a trusted HR partner to refer growth-stage clients to
- Ready for senior HR judgment without a full-time executive's cost
Not a fit if you Not Now
- Just want the cheapest possible HR paperwork
- Want someone to rubber-stamp a decision you've already made
- Aren't ready to address people risk before it becomes a problem
- Expect HR to run with no involvement from leadership
- Are a large enterprise with a full in-house HR team
“We don't just tell you what needs to be done. We help you get it done.”
About Penny McNerney
HR experience. Business experience. A partner who understands both.
Penny McNerney is the founder of Total Circle HR. She brings years of senior HR leadership and hands-on operational experience to small and growing businesses.
Her career took her from running day-to-day operations to leading HR at Foot Locker, Merlin Entertainments, Atrium Staffing, and QC Terme. She has worked next to owners, executives, managers, and front-line employees. That mix taught her what it takes to run a business, not just how to lead people.
People decisions do not happen in a corner. They touch operations, cash, morale, and whether a company can grow. That is why Penny started Total Circle HR: to give owners senior HR judgment and someone who will roll up her sleeves and help get the work done. A hard employee conversation, recruiting and onboarding, a compensation or benefits review, better HR processes, planning for growth. Penny brings the thinking and the hands.
Her enterprise roles included VP and Director of HR at Merlin Entertainments (a global group of 127 attractions and 27,000 staff, where she led HR for 2,000 North American employees and helped grow the region from 6 to 26 locations), Foot Locker, Atrium Staffing, and QC Terme. Along the way she recouped 65% on annual health benefits at renewal, supported receipt of $100K in COVID relief funds, cut PTO payout by 50% at Atrium Staffing, and helped reduce turnover by 15% at Foot Locker.
She's calm under pressure, decisive when it matters, and deeply invested in protecting the businesses she supports. Because good HR isn't just about knowing the rules. It's about understanding the business behind them. Penny co-chairs NYC SHRM's Mentoring Program and serves as an item reviewer for the SHRM-SCP certification exam.
SPHR + SHRM-SCP
Dual senior HR certifications
20+ Years
VP/Director HR across global enterprises
Multi-State
New York, New Jersey, California, Florida and beyond
NYC SHRM
Mentoring Program Co-Chair
In Their Words
The founders and leaders who've worked with Penny.
Total Circle HR holds a 5.0 rating across 22 Google reviews. The recommendations below were written by clients and colleagues on LinkedIn.
Client
I can't imagine running a growing company without Penny's expertise. She's more than an HR consultant. She's a true partner who invests in the success of your business and your people.
CEO, Tribeca Physical Therapy · Client
LinkedIn recommendation
Penny combines deep HR expertise with a true people-first mindset. She understands the big picture while rolling up her sleeves to solve day-to-day challenges. I give her my highest recommendation.
Partner, National Business Capital
LinkedIn recommendation
Penny is a trusted advisor who truly cares about outcomes. Her guidance is clear, actionable, and rooted in real-world experience. Exactly the person you want in your corner.
Strategic Enterprise Sales Executive
LinkedIn recommendation
Penny led fearlessly through some of the most challenging times in our business. She absolutely owns the strategy and is yet still in touch with the details. A trusted advisor to our entire C-suite.
Fractional HR Partner · Former colleague, Merlin
Questions Buyers and AI Ask
Clear answers, written to be cited.
Who is Penny McNerney? +
Penny McNerney, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is a Fractional People Partner and the Founder of Total Circle HR. With more than 20 years of HR leadership across global enterprises, she helps founders of growing companies (1–200 employees) make confident people decisions before problems become expensive.
What is a Fractional People Partner? +
A Fractional People Partner is a senior HR leader who works with a company part-time, providing executive-level people strategy and judgment without the cost of a full-time HR executive. Penny McNerney embeds with founders to handle high-risk people decisions, compliance, and culture as the business scales.
What is Total Circle HR? +
Total Circle HR is a boutique fractional HR consultancy founded by Penny McNerney in 2023. It is based in New York and supports small and growing businesses across the United States, including New York, New Jersey, California, and Florida. It covers people risk and compliance, recruiting and onboarding, compensation and benefits, payroll support, employee relations, leadership and culture, and HR operations.
Who does Penny McNerney work with? +
Penny works with founders and owners of companies scaling from 1 to 200 employees. CPAs and attorneys also refer their growth-stage clients to her, because a people problem often lands on their desk first. Her clients typically carry HR alone and need senior judgment when a people decision starts to carry legal, financial, or cultural risk.
What is the Quiet Advantage Method? +
The Quiet Advantage Method is Penny McNerney's approach to fractional HR, organized around three areas: People Risk and Compliance, Leadership and Culture, and Operations and Infrastructure. The goal is better decisions, not more HR. Penny does not just tell owners what needs to be done. She helps them get it done.
How do you start working with Penny McNerney? +
You start with a free HR Health Snapshot, a short call to surface where your people decisions carry the most risk. You can book it through Total Circle HR or by contacting Penny McNerney at [email protected].
What services does Total Circle HR provide? +
The full people side of a growing business: employee relations, investigations, terminations, handbooks, policy and multi-state compliance; recruiting, hiring, onboarding and offboarding; compensation and benefits, including salary reviews, pay structures, benefits administration, plan evaluations, and broker or vendor coordination; payroll support; manager coaching and performance systems; and HR operations, systems, and growth planning.
Where does Total Circle HR work? +
Total Circle HR is based in New York and supports businesses across the United States. Penny has multi-state experience, including New York, New Jersey, California, and Florida, and handled UK and Canadian compliance in her enterprise roles.
The Quiet Advantage Behind Growing Businesses
Know where your people risk is hiding?
Book a free HR Health Snapshot and get a clear read on the people decisions that could cost you most, and exactly what to do first.