Thomas Coppens has 13 years of HR experience: payroll, recruitment, care management, business development and consulting. He worked as a consultant and freelancer for large organisations like TriFinance/TriHD, Deloitte and EY, and just as much directly for SMEs and start-ups. Along the way, he worked for at least 14 different companies. He keeps coming back to one.
Where it started: numbers, then people
Thomas studied Applied Economics, but it was payroll that gave him his first real taste of HR, two years at SD Worx, learning the mechanics of social law, salary and remuneration from the ground up. It was solid training. But it wasn't what pulled him in.
"What I found most interesting wasn't the payroll itself, it was the contact with clients. HR officers, HR topics, the people side of the business. That's what stuck with me."
So he moved toward "soft HR", and toward a company he already knew: TriFinance.
Building something from five people
Thomas joined TriFinance's Public department when it was still a team of just five consultants. His role covered recruitment & selection, HR management, and support to business development, a bit of everything, as is often the case in a team that size.
Three years later, that team had grown to 22 consultants. The service offering had expanded too, moving beyond finance into procurement. For someone who likes building things, it was a formative stretch.
"Everything was expanding. It was a really interesting period to grow, both for the consultants and for me."
It's the personal touch, the vibe, that's what makes the difference. Out of everywhere I've worked, this is where I've felt the culture was the best for me. The appreciation is real.
Leaving to become what TriHD would later become
After three years, Thomas noticed something: the new joiners around him were young and growing fast. He wanted that same experience, not from the internal side, but as a consultant himself, client-facing, out in the field.
He joined Deloitte as an HR outsourcing consultant, effectively doing, years ahead of time, the kind of work TriHD consultants do today. He worked on assignments with large corporates and stayed close to his old TriFinance colleagues throughout.
After years of learning at Deloitte, he was ready for a setting with shorter lines and more room to shape his own work.
"I prefer staying close to management: a flat company, an accessible team that's willing to listen to ideas. That's what I missed."
After three years, he left to go freelance.
Helping build TriHD from the ground up
Around that time, TriFinance's Antwerp team, by then the largest in the network, decided to launch TriHD : a consulting entity specialised in Talent acquisition, payroll activities, and HR business processes. Thomas was brought in as a freelancer to help build it from scratch: writing vacancies, recruiting consultants, and making the commercial calls that supported the business managers opening up the market.
By the end of 2021, TriHD Antwerp counted 12 consultants. In 2022, with Antwerp running smoothly, Ghent asked for the same setup, and by April, that market was up and running too.
"I like helping start up the HR process for smaller, growing companies. Getting something off the ground, that's the part I enjoy most."
Thomas wasn't actively looking for a new home. He was busy freelancing, from a stint at EY to start-ups and coaching. But the contact with TriFinance and TriHD never really faded, and eventually he came back. In January 2026, he made it official: Thomas rejoined TriHD full-time as Care Manager, working alongside Bert Celis, Leader for TriHD, on the commercial side of the business.
Back to TriHD: what made him return?
Thomas has worked with a lot of companies over 13 years. When asked what makes TriFinance and TriHD different, his answer isn't about the work itself. HR consultants, he points out, largely do the same things at the same types of clients, whether they work for TriHD or a Big Four firm.
"It's the personal touch, the vibe, that's what makes the difference. Out of everywhere I've worked, this is where I've felt the culture was the best for me. The appreciation is real."
He describes himself as a natural entrepreneur, someone who likes to build. And after 13 years, multiple companies, and a full-circle return, he's still finding the space to do exactly that at TriFinance and TriHD.
"That's the confirmation, for me, that our vision really is different from other companies."
