The New Role for CHROs in 2019 and Beyond

The Importance Of HR Has Seen A Dramatic Increase In The Past Few Years, As Talent Becomes The Number 1 Priority In Organizations.

The rapid pace of change in the world of work is shattering stereotypes and expanding roles for the CHRO.

The role of a CHRO is one of the most important in any organization. Today, their contribution and collaboration with the CEO matter more than ever. CEOs have often been distracted from HR concerns, but 2019 is going to the year of embracing the expertise of CHROs for strategic growth. Just like the CFOs have become the new finance experts after the introduction of analytics in businesses, CHROs can help businesses build the new world of work.

Here are some of the roles that a CHRO will take over in the coming times:

Strategic Decision Making Through Data Analytics

Data analytics is seeping into every department of an organization and HR isn’t behind. Today, organizations are defining their competitive edge by using data insights to make powerful strategies.

CHROs are also going to be catalysts in making decisions based on analytics. They have the ability to leverage data, understand its implications and use it to ask the right questions. By using data-driven insights, CHROs can build work environments that incentivize people to stay. These same insights can also help make the existing talent management strategies much more effective by knowing when to hire, whom to hire and what to implement to retain the best talent. It can also help finance teams by telling them how much compensation is adequate not just for candidate satisfaction, but also from the point of view of the company’s financial goals.

Diagnosing People Problems

CHROs can help CEOs identify and look beyond the obvious problems. Most reasons for misses are related to people problems. The numbers seen through data should be linked with the company’s social system and how people work together.

A correct diagnosis will throw light on the right cause and also suggest a remedy. This would include factors such as reward programs, leadership quality, employee growth and more. Core issues within the organization that often go unnoticed can be pinpointed and worked upon as soon as they come to notice with the intuition and people expertise of a CHRO.

Setting The Agenda For Workplace Culture

Workplace culture triumphs compensation as a factor of employee retention. The world of work is changing with a new composition of the workforce, burgeoning technologies and a scarcity of good talent. As such, the culture of a workplace has come to determine the longevity and growth of companies.

CHROs are the catalysts of the much-needed changes that existing cultures demand. Their expertise in helping a company build a culturally harmonious workplace cannot be questioned. CHROs can help organizations take diversity and inclusion seriously. The rise of a global political environment has escalated the issue of employee sensitivity to diversity and inclusion. Burning issues such as immigration challenges, nationalism, race, gender have seen a massive steer in the discussion of these topics. The engagement and awareness of such issues in social media has brought every place under scrutiny.

Building A New Age, Agile Organizational Structure

Organizations can no longer rely on traditional and static models to carry out their functions. An agile approach is a must to survive the competition, and CHROs should steer such initiatives. CHROs can choose the right strategies and technologies to design workforce models that can help organizations hire and retain better, adjust in real time and be dynamic in their approach.

For example, recruitment can no longer rely on old ways of sourcing, hiring and retaining talent. CHROs can take the lead in adjusting recruitment strategies in a way that fits the current gig economy of workers and full-time employees, by setting up processes that facilitate new work environments. This would include choosing and optimizing the right technology to bring all processes of HE under one umbrella and make it easier for everyone to see through it transparently. CHROs need to break down traditional models that deny the scope of flexibility and create nimble structures.

The role of CEO matters here because it is they who can give the real boost to CHROs to elevate organizations. Because let’s face it, only the CEO can elevate HR and bridge any gaps that might prevent the CHRO from becoming a strategic partner. For this, the CHRO needs to be freed from administrative and day to day activities and be given the chance to make a difference in fields related to talent management, performance, engagement and more. Such kind of support will be the foundation of a new wave of shifts in career paths for HR executives everywhere.