What is a Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)?

A Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is a senior executive responsible for overseeing an organization's human resources (HR) strategy and operations. The CHRO plays a critical role in aligning HR practices with the overall business goals and ensuring the effective management of talent within the company.

What is the role of a CHRO?

Their scope of activity of an CHRO:

• Leading the people function, i.e., HR
• Talent development and succession planning
• Training and development programs and systems
• Salary compensation structures
• Stewardship of company culture
• Owning your company's people strategy and HR budget

Closely related to these is HR technology—the systems, infrastructure, and automation of HR operations—that CHROs oversee. CHROs focus on bringing out the best in people by setting the conditions for their success and guiding them toward strong personal and business outcomes.

What are the strategic roles of CHROs?

So, how do CHROs make an impact on organizations? Here are nine strategic roles that they fill.

1. Strategic advisor

CHROs contribute to the organizational strategy through:

• A deep understanding of the capabilities and potential of an organization's people, knowing how to align them with business priorities.
• A human-centric perspective during periods of change and disruption, understanding the key drivers that sustain organizations through their people.
• Facilitating organizational design, knowing how to prioritize the elements that matter most from a human-led perspective toward meeting business goals.

Through these and other perspectives, CHROs contribute to organizations' strategic direction and positioning in more prominent ways than ever before. And CEOs are actively encouraging CHROs to play their part—70% of CEOs expect their CHRO to be a key player in corporate strategy, according to Gartner.

2. People troubleshooter

CHROs are adept at identifying systemic issues in workforce practices and management. They strive to recognize and address problems early before they become more serious.

When left unchecked, workforce cultural issues can harm organizations. Uber's recent experience is a case in point: a non-collaborative, "dog eat dog" culture in which favoritism and a lack of accountability took hold in an environment where harassment, aggression, and misconduct threatened the company's very existence.

By recognizing signs of cultural deterioration early, CHROs address and mitigate issues like those experienced at Uber.

They do this by establishing:

• A sufficient number of HR representatives who are well-trained to support and empower people.
• Open communication channels to encourage feedback that flows freely between HR and others.
• A clear set of core organizational values to help to reinforce positive cultural traits and make it easier to identify behavioral deficiencies.

3. Talent architect

Talent management is a widely used term and captures several dimensions, including:

• Workforce planning
• Employee engagement
• Learning and development (L&D)
• Performance management
• Recruiting
• Onboarding
• Succession planning
• Retention

Overseeing such a complex set of activities requires strong leadership and clarity on attracting and retaining talent and providing a competitive edge—CHROs are well-equipped to do this.

CHROs guide organizations' talent strategies by shifting the focus away from people operations and processes and towards a framework that highlights the potential of an organization's people. As a result, they promote better outcomes for people and organizations alike.

4. Organizational culture advocate

HR has a fundamental role to play when organizations respond to changing circumstances, as was highlighted during the pandemic-related disruptions of 2020 and 2021.

HR was responsible for boosting engagement and morale during a period of isolation, breaks to routine, and (in some cases) radical changes to work practices.

CHROs lead HR's efforts in these areas by establishing and overseeing the policies and systems that support people during their times of need, such as:

• Caregiving and parental leave policies
• Technology assistance
• Guidelines for emergency assistance

CHROs also support organizations by creating a culture of learning, which cultivates a growth mindset and fosters productivity and innovation.

CHROs provide the overall strategy to guide HR teams and managers in their day-to-day interactions and during times of need. They are instrumental in empowering people to bring their best selves to work, whatever the circumstances.

5. Change management facilitator

During times of rapid change, organizations need to respond quickly and effectively to stay competitive. Most organizations, however, do not manage change well—only around one-third of organizational change initiatives succeed, according to Gartner.

CHROs make a difference by spearheading HR-led change management programs that focus on the employee experience.

People's engagement, motivation, and well-being during change are paramount for the success of organizational change initiatives.

CHROs lead HR during times of change by:

• Communicate the change, why it's occurring, and its benefits.
• Promoting trust between management and employees.
• Identifying change-related risks for people's careers, well-being, and the organization.
• Monitoring and addressing employee satisfaction with the change.
• Supporting people with training and skills development.

6. Diversity champion

CHROs play a prominent role in championing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in organizations.

As DEIB is becoming more central to how organizations function, CHROs provide the leadership that drives a more inclusive, engaging, and meaningful work culture.

CHROs ensure that DEIB permeates the whole employee journey, from recruiting and talent acquisition, onboarding, and compensation structures, to the complete employee experience.

Through their visibility over a range of functions and their positions as senior leaders, CHROs provide the vision that drives DEIB efforts through the sometimes complex and nuanced considerations of DEIB.

7. High-performance advocate

A key challenge for HR, while supporting people with a strong organizational culture, is to promote and maintain an environment of high performance.

A high-performance culture keeps people motivated, engaged, and productive through various circumstances and CHROs are instrumental in this effort.

McKinsey describes six ways to promote a high-performing culture:

• Define behaviors that unlock business performance—communicate productive behaviors clearly, so they're easy to understand.
• Uncover root-cause mindsets and reframe them—help to re-position the beliefs and values that underpin how people approach their work.
• Role-model and reinforce the desired organizational culture—highlight the behaviors and mindsets that deliver the most business value.
• Create a coherent employee experience—articulate, role-model, and establish the skills and processes required for a positive workplace culture to flourish.
• Provide opportunities for overcoming personal barriers—encourage individuals to make conscious choices about what drives positive change.
• Lead the journey—Take an employee-centric view and act as a role model in a high-performance culture.

By advocating an approach that features these elements, CHROs set the conditions for high performance to flourish in their organizations.

And it's worth the effort—McKinsey's research shows that organizations with a high-performing culture generate 3x stronger shareholder returns than those that don't.

8. Data-driven strategic leader

Decision-making in modern organizations is driven by data more than ever before. Senior leaders today rely on curated, relevant, and meaningful data to help their organizations succeed.

The people functions of modern organizations are integral to this effort as HR increasingly relies on data to produce better outcomes.

As senior leaders, CHROs leverage data to guide their decisions and shape their strategic thinking. Taking full advantage of data is an emerging trend in organizations.

9. Open communication and continuous feedback advocate

Good communication and feedback promote loyalty and productivity in organizations and are essential elements of HR's remit.

By establishing and leading a strong feedback culture, CHROs ensure that their organizations develop and maintain effective employee feedback systems that:

• Capture employees' wants and needs
• Identify skills gaps
• Highlight areas that need attention and portray a reliable picture of people operations

There are several tools that CHROs can use in employee feedback systems, including:

• Online suggestion boxes
• Employee pulse surveys
• Regular one-on-ones
• 360-degree-feedback surveys

A 360-degree-feedback approach, in particular, is a powerful way to capture feedback from multiple perspectives. It's also less subjective, more development-focused, and more candid than traditional one-way feedback. It offers an unbiased, comprehensive, and holistic view of people's performance.

When combined with regular, real-time feedback, 360-degree feedback generates real-time insights and encourages frequent engagement that can significantly impact people's performance.

CHROs play a crucial role in modern performance management's multi-perspective, continuous feedback approach.

Why does a company need a CHRO?

Still not convinced about the benefits of having a CHRO at your organization?

Consider this:

• The recent pandemic has accelerated the shift to remote and hybrid work and the use of technology to communicate, share data, and boost productivity. McKinsey estimates that 20% of the workforce can now work remotely, three to five days a week, as effectively as they could if working from an office
• There's an increasing need to promote DEIB in the workplace
• Employee wellbeing underpins job satisfaction, productivity, and retention. It needs particular attention in the face of ongoing logistical and cultural changes in the workplace
• There's a need to improve performance management and measurement. CHROs will lead performance management toward more real-time, multi-faceted feedback systems, leveraging technology to garner better insights
• Some industries have seen unprecedented change in recent times, so the agility to respond to changing circumstances—and to thrive—is paramount for organizational success

A strong, purpose-driven, and focused HR function is central to all of these developments. A CHRO's purpose is to ensure that this is the case.

Whether through remote leadership, change leadership, or directing performance management and DEIB efforts, CHROs drive your HR function to deliver robust outcomes for your organization.

The CHRO is as vital to your organization's success as traditionally dominant

What are the metrics every CHRO should track?

Your CHRO will use metrics and indicators to monitor your people's progress in the areas that matter.

Engagement rate

Engaged employees:

• Are more productive and enthusiastic
• Provide better customer service
• Are more loyal

One of your CHRO's main objectives will be to motivate your people and keep them fully engaged.

Keeping your people engaged isn't always easy, as it draws on subtleties of communication and human behavior. But there are helpful employee engagement techniques that can help. Also, an essential part of any engagement strategy is monitoring your people's engagement level over time.

So employee engagement surveys are indispensable, as they assess your people's engagement levels in real-time.

Your CHRO will gain insights into their sentiments, feelings, and perspectives about your organization.

Recent Gallup research shows that only 30% of US employees feel engaged at work. So your CHRO has to be laser-focused on using actionable metrics to help boost engagement.

Discover key employee engagement survey questions to take the pulse of engagement at your organization.

Satisfaction

Are your people satisfied at work? Your CHRO will want to know the answer to this question, and a helpful way to assess this is by using job satisfaction surveys.

Through job satisfaction surveys, your CHRO can gather feedback on your people's satisfaction with:

• Their roles, organization
• Compensation arrangements
• Whether they feel valued and appreciated at work

Insights into these areas can make a real difference in addressing your people's motivations and connections with your organization.

Attrition rate

When your people's needs aren't fully met, i.e., their engagement, satisfaction, and well-being (amongst other factors) are below par, they become a "flight risk."

By monitoring employee attrition and turnover rates, your CHRO can assess the trends and levels of retention—and potential flight risk—at your organization.

CHROs support employee retention by:

• Monitoring if attrition is occurring in "waves," i.e., are there systemic issues at play in your organization, or are departures more isolated and based on individual circumstances?
• Looking for patterns in departures, e.g., if employees tend to leave after around a year, may indicate inadequacies in working conditions relative to what's available at competing firms
• Gauging the sentiment of your people by using surveys or other tools to get their feedback
• Promoting the growth and development of your people through training programs, career advancement opportunities, and knowledge sharing, amongst other approaches

Wellbeing

Your people's wellbeing underpins how they perform in their roles and how they feel about themselves.

HR leaders understand the importance of well-being. Your CHRO will be keenly interested in how to monitor and improve your people's well-being. However, it can be challenging to monitor well-being, given its holistic nature.

Gauging engagement, satisfaction, and retention levels can help, as can tracking absenteeism and productivity and collecting employee feedback using surveys and other tools.

Using a variety of indicators, your CHRO will assess the well-being of your people. They gather insights on addressing shortfalls and improving well-being through carefully designed programs.

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