Strategies For Success In Senior HR Roles In The Future Of Work

• As the labor market pays closer attention to employee well-being and emphasizes the employee experience, the future of work for senior human resource officers looks very different than it did even a few years ago.
• As the labor market continues to change, CHROs need to prepare themselves to take on larger, cultural challenges unsolvable with simple arbitration.
• CHROs should stay connected and be prepared to keep their organizations focused, honest, and employee-centered.

The shift between hybrid and remote workstyles hasn’t just changed the way employees work ( and influenced what they look for in a workplace), it’s also dramatically changed the job description for some executive-level positions.

Historically, job titles like XR Immersion Counselor and Director of Remote Work were nonexistent, and positions like Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) had very different duties.

Now these positions are everywhere, and companies are focused on scaling quickly and effectively, which can create chaotic and challenging environments.

As the labor market pays closer attention to employee well-being and emphasizes the employee experience, the future of work for CHROs looks different than it did even a few years ago.

Most human resources (HR) leaders were formerly focused on compliance and administration. Now things appear to be shifting to a greater reliance on data-driven decision-making, and the need to prioritize employee well-being. This has created an environment where CHROs must be highly consistent, and at the same time flexible, to steer their companies toward a future where culture and execution coalesce.

The shift from compliance and administration

Before massive cultural shifts and a global pandemic that accelerated changes in the way we work forever, the traditional Chief Human Resource Officer focused almost exclusively on administrative and compliance functions like the administration of benefits, payroll, and keeping companies compliant with regulations and employment laws.

Essentially, the traditional CHRO was reactive.

They dealt with problems as they arose, such as issues between employees that needed a third party, performance problems with particular employees, or other legal or compliance issues relating to always-updating regulations.

Now, CHROs must take a much more proactive role and lead high-level strategies relating to workplace culture, employee engagement, plus aligning other HR strategies with organizational values. 

This shift from proactive to reactive didn’t happen overnight. Several factors have contributed to this shift, like the increased complexity of the HR department due to technological advancements, and the impact of globalization on the modern workforce. Ultimately, they all boil down to a cultural shift that’s placed a new importance on the employee.

What was once a reactive, supporting position that was often forgotten until disputes needed to be settled, has become a more strategic role directly involved in shaping company culture and driving business performance.

Data-driven decision-making

According to this recently published survey of HR professionals, the modern CHRO needs to “operate under constant uncertainty.” Or, to take a page from Heraclitus, modern CHROs must understand that change is the only constant in life.

One way that CHROs are dealing with this reality is through data-driven decision-making. 

Predictive algorithms and self-service analytics are excellent tools, but they need someone to interpret the data provided. All the data in the world won’t help a company if it doesn’t have someone who can decipher that data and give it real-world applications. 

To effectively use data-driven decision-making, modern CHROs first need to ensure that they’re collecting high-quality data. This is as simple as using various data sources, like employee surveys, recruitment metrics, performance data, and ensuring that the data is reliable, applicable, and relevant to the current decision.

Once collected, the modern CHRO can use several techniques to interpret it, like statistical analysis and data visualization. Then, these insights can help make better-informed decisions about HR strategies and other company initiatives.

For example, a CHRO may use data-driven decision-making to identify weak points in a company’s infrastructure or talent pool. Then, after creating targeted training or development programs, they can continue collecting data to determine the impact of their solutions.

Another area where data-driven decision-making helps CHROs is in the hiring and recruitment processes. Through recruitment data, CHROs can identify specific areas that require improvement and determine what strategies may work that would attract and retain top talent.

By collecting and analyzing high-quality data, CHROs can make proactive and forward-thinking decisions that optimize their company’s recruitment process, cultural shortcomings, and other HR strategies.

It’s important to recognize that data-driven decision-making doesn’t do the work for you. The best CHROs balance the insights gathered through data collection with other factors like stakeholder perspectives and organizational values.

Prioritizing employee well-being

Modern CHROs also need to prioritize employee well-being.

This often looks like cultivating an employee-centered culture in the workplace that provides resources and support for employees to help them better manage their health.

In an asynchronous workforce, keeping up with the various time zones and employee schedules is difficult. Thankfully, there are countless digital tools and video conferencing applications that CHROs can use to stay better connected.

During the 2023 WSJ Job Summit, top HR chiefs sat down and tackled the role of modern CHROs in addressing employee mental health in the workplace. Unsurprisingly, the need for open lines of communication was unanimous.

CHROs need to focus on destigmatizing mental health issues, cultivating a working environment that values mental and physical health, and encouraging employees to speak openly and honestly with one another and to seek support when necessary.

As the labor market continues to change, CHROs need to prepare themselves to be ready to take on larger, cultural challenges unsolvable with simple arbitration.

The general public is concerned with employee well-being, but Chief Human Resource Officers must stay connected and be prepared to keep their organizations focused, honest, and employee-centered.